November on the Allotment - jobs to do

November on the Allotment

It has been wet and dreary for some time, allowing little opportunity for working on my allotment. I have only visited to feed the birds and pick vegetables and herbs for my kitchen. I even managed to freeze a last box or three of tarragon, parsley and mint. While frozen herbs do lose some of their flavour, I prefer them to the bought dried variety, I just use a bit more. However, for the last week it has been mostly dry. We have had a few showers, quite a bit of early morning fog and some rather overcast days but, in between we have had a few pleasant, sunny days. I wouldn’t say it has been warm but it has definitely been unseasonally mild.

After last winter’s disaster with my globe artichokes when I failed to cover them and lost at least half of my plants, this year I have been ready. As soon as the forecast gave heavy frost warnings I was prepared. I know that it is always colder in the countryside than in the city centre but I didn’t plan to take any risks. Being in the city I don’t have a ready supply of straw (well, I suppose I could go to a pet shop and buy a small bale of rabbit bedding), but last year I invested in a large roll of gardening fleece (125metres). It does get torn and dirty but it will wash (don’t put it in your tumble dryer as it will melt!). Mice in my shed, where I had stored some of it from last spring have enjoyed munching it up and using it as a bed for their babies over the summer but, I’m glad to have been of service! Anyway, back to the artichokes – they have put up healthy new growth which has been lifting the fleece and in a couple of places growing through it. So much for being prepared.

I’m glad I did most of my autumn digging before now. Although, it has not rained much in the last week, the ground is very heavy and difficult to dig. I’m hoping for a few more dry days so that I can finish the job. But, if not, it can keep until springtime.

I have a long list of chores which need to be done:

·         Cutting back the asparagus ferns – I have been waiting until they start to turn yellow so that the nutrients in the stems can go back into the roots to strengthen next year’s crop. If you can, burn the prunings which will get rid of some of the asparagus beetle hibernating in the old stems. Unfortunately, many of them will hibernate in the soil and will be ready to attack your crop again next season. On an allotment, this is just one of the problems of growing. You might get rid of the pests, bugs, diseases, viruses, blights, etc, from your little area but, they will move in from your neighbours. You can use systemic pesticides on your crops but, I prefer to just pick them off, every time I see them and crush them. While I would prefer to have a crop rather than lose it, so will use non-organic methods if I’m pushed to it, I see no point in covering my crops with the same chemicals as the food we can buy in the supermarket.

·         Burning rubbish – I’ve had one major bonfire early in November, of all the prunings and organic rubbish I’ve been collecting all summer. The ash can be dug back into the ground. Any further burnable rubbish I collect will go at the bottom of one of my main compost heaps and just break down slowly. If you do have a bonfire, stick to the rules of your allotment association or council and make sure the fire is out before you leave it.

·         Compost heaps – I have two main compost heaps and a few bins. I’m not good at making and maintaining compost heaps. I just keep throwing everything in – including perennial weeds, prunings, finished brassica stems, potato haulms, damaged and undersized potatoes, etc. When the bin area is full, I cover it and leave it for a year. Anything which has not broken down in that time will go back into the bottom of the new heap to be re-started. There is no place where you will find this as a method for making compost but, so far, it has worked for me and today I have been putting out barrow loads for wonderful compost and loads of worms onto my permanent fruit and herb garden. I still have several loads to go, but then again, I still have a lot of the fruit/herb area to clear. The prunings, weedings, clippings, etc, will go back into the new compost heap.

·         I have used the last of last year’s well-rotted manure in my poly-tunnel and have just taken delivery of a new truck load. Half of my poly-tunnel still has crops growing – a few brassicas, a few leeks, a fennel bulb or two and some chilli plants which haven’t quite finished. The other half has been covered in manure and spent compost from my carrot box. It’s important to make sure it doesn’t dry out over the winter as it is difficult to bring it back to a workable condition in the spring so, just occasionally, give it a good watering. The poly-tunnel will also need to be cleaned. This may also apply to glass houses. I find I have a rich growth of green algae growing on the inside surface of my tunnel. I have only used water with washing-up liquid to clean mine but, a colleague says he uses Jeyes Fluid. I have been reluctant to do this as I’m afraid of it damaging my ground. If anyone has any thoughts on this I would be pleased to hear about it.

I’ll write another Blog soon about winter cropping vegetables which we need to plan for now and what we can plant now for next spring, next year or even for over-winter.