It's late October - what should we be doing now on our allotments?

Late October

The clocks have just gone back by an hour in the early hours of this morning. Of course various pets and young children have not yet grasped this issue and continue to waken up and hassle us at their usual time. I do continue to wonder what the purpose of this change of time is all about. I had understood it was originally to help dairy farmers but really – what you gain at one end of the day you lose at the other and in any case, the days get shorter during the winter and longer during the summer. For our young children going to school, they will still be travelling in the dark at one end of the day or the other – am I missing something here?

However, for a couple of days, people – who don’t have children or pets, going to work will enjoy an extra hour of sleeping in, until their body clocks adapt!

Oh gee! I guess I’m just being a bit cynical and annoyed that we have to go through this bi-annual tradition.

We have been forecast ferocious storms for the next couple of days – perhaps to equal those of the hurricanes of 1987 and 1990. Already, I see the sky darkening over in early afternoon of 27^th – you never know, this might be my last Blog!

I had planned to travel to London tomorrow but as I started to book my ticket I was somewhat dismayed by ‘RED’ warnings of travel disruption due to severe weather conditions.

This weather warning has been around for some days now. I have been to my plot and done the majority of the essential autumn digging. Of course, as I look around, I can see other areas I need to dig before winter sets in but, I won’t feel too guilty if I don’t achieve the digging of the extra areas I put on myself.

I think I have cleared most of the dead, dying, already harvested growth for composting. This stuff is, more than, keeping up with the space my compost bins can cope with and each day I have to wait before I can add more.

I have harvested as much as I can from my poly-tunnel – tomatoes, peppers and chillies. There are few tomatoes left to harvest and the plants should be dug up soon and composted. I must also dig over the ground in my tunnel, water well and compost well. Although I have re-cycled the ground regularly since I’ve had my poly-tunnel, I am aware that most of my crops have been of the solanum family – potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, chillies. I have planted some other crops – carrots [which have been brilliant] and over wintered cabbages – also excellent. But, the problem remains. I cannot continue to grow the same family of crops, year-on-year, successfully.

If the forecasted storm brings about the devastation which is expected I might be encourage to re-locate my poly-tunnel [but what a pain!]. The polythene cover has now been there for 4 years so, doesn’t owe me anything. If it survives, I think I will struggle through for another year with careful cleanliness and copious amounts of well-rotted manure and bought-in compost. No doubt, lots of you will disagree and think me a careless gardener!

This year, I have planted my broad beans outdoors fairly early, [7th October Aquadulce Claudia] -  and this year I didn’t chit them beforehand and plant into pots to grow on before planting out. I see that this variety has already put up growing shoots. I also planted, a couple of weeks later, ‘The Sutton’, a dwarf variety which is also suitable for autumn planting. These have not yet appeared. Anticipating another cold winter, I will cover these plants with environmesh [supported well above the young plants]. I have found that horticultural fleece can lie down on the young plants trapping moisture which can rot them. Of course, in a normal winter [what is that any more?] would any of these precautions be necessary?

I have planted several varieties of garlic – I do love my garlics and can use amazing amounts of this wondrous vegetable in cooking – [roasting, stewing, casseroles, pizzas, pasta dishes, preserves - relishes, ketchup, chutneys, etc and, of course, curries! and in preserving.

I see that my Early Purple Wight has already put up early ‘spears’ of growth above ground. I have covered the garlic beds with netting to keep the birds from lifting the emerging bulbs – I believe this is because they think the emerging shoots are worms or other similar prey but, who knows?

Early October and Using Produce - tomatoes, peppers, chillies

A Sunny Day in Early October – on the Allotment

The morning started quite misty which often bodes well for a spot of decent weather. And I wasn’t disappointed. It is a gentle sunny day, one could even say warm. One of my plot neighbours was digging shirtless.

After the rain we have had recently, the ground is in superb condition for digging and many of the deep-rooted weeds like docks, thistles and dandelions came out of the ground easily with a little encouragement.

I have been trying to make some inroads on the list of chores on my own Blog on What to do on the Allotment in October.

I have a lot to do as I have been away a few times and had several lots of visitors over the last few weeks so the only chances I've had to visit the plot have been to harvest and water my poly-tunnel and I have watched the weeds and grass growing out of control with some dismay.

I am trying to take the chores in easy stages and this morning, before I left home, I charged the batteries of my strimmer thinking I would make a start on the very untidy grass on my paths and around the edges of my plots. However, I forgot that I had removed all the tools from the boot of my car so that I could ferry visitors around and backwards and forwards from stations and airports. Never mind, I will do it tomorrow!

My first job was to harvest the tomatoes, chillies and peppers from my poly-tunnel. A couple of the tomato plants have finished cropping so it was a good opportunity to remove the plants to let more light to those which are still ripening. I also removed all the leaves from the lower parts of the plants [which are beginning to look a little sad anyway]. There are not many left now and those that are will, I feel, successfully ripen.

The peppers and chillies are a different dilemma. If they will just start to change colour from green I can harvest and use them or save them or encourage them to ripen further however, if they are still determinedly green by the time the first frost strikes, I will lose them. I could, I suppose harvest and use green peppers and chillies but, I find them fairly tasteless. I will see how it goes. Last year, which was so much cooler and duller than this season, still gave me an excellent crop of late tomatoes and peppers as well as strings of dried chillies which I've only finished this summer when making my chutneys and ketchups.

Talking about ketchups – as my homemade ketchup has been so popular with my family I have used most of this year’s over production of tomatoes making lots of batches of ketchup. I have put the recipe up several times but will add it again here. It does use a lot of tomatoes for a few pots of ketchup and that is quite extravagant for the rate my family gobbles it up. This season, as I used up my own chillies, I was forced to buy in my local market where I could only find Scotch Bonnet, apart from very mild chillies. Now, I know that Scotch Bonnet have a reputation for being quite hot but, they are tiny so, I only added about 5 – 6 to each preserving pan of tomatoes [I did include the seeds!]. The results were really quite ‘pokey’ [as my daughter described it] but, suddenly, my usual popular ketchup isn’t the first choice to take home with them, they want the ‘Hot’ stuff. And I have to admit that, even I will use it and I am not a huge ketchup fan.

Extra Hot Home made Tomato Ketchup

2Kg ripe tomatoes (4½ lbs)                             2 – 3 fresh bay leaves - crushed

568ml white vinegar( 1 pt)                              piece of cinnamon bark

190g white granulated sugar ( 6oz)                5 – 6 plump cloves garlic - crushed

1 Tblsp. salt                                                     5 red Scotch Bonnet or Bird’s Eye chillies

¼ - ½ tsp ground allspice                                ¼ - ½ tsp ground cloves

Large pinch coarsely ground black pepper                                                                

Method

·         Wash and roughly cut the tomatoes and put in a preserving pan or large saucepan with the salt, bay leaves, cinnamon bark, crushed garlic cloves and vinegar (be fairly sparing with the salt at this stage – add more in the final stages as necessary).

·         Add the chopped chillies. Use gloves when handling or chopping the chillies.

·         Bring to the boil then simmer gently until the tomatoes are thoroughly softened.

·         In the meantime, sterilise the bottles or jars – keep hot in low oven.

·         Remove the cinnamon bark and bay leaves then, sieve the tomato mixture through a coarse sieve – preferable nylon. Return the juice and pulp to a clean saucepan.

·         Add sugar then ground allspice, ground cloves and black pepper gradually, tasting frequently to ensure the flavour is not too strong. Remember, when the ketchup is cold, the flavour will be somewhat milder. You may also want to add more salt if needed.

·         Simmer the mixture until it starts to thicken. Don’t make it too thick at this stage as it thickens as it cools and stir frequently to make sure the ketchup doesn’t ‘catch’ and burn.

·         Put the heated sterilised bottles/jars on a wooden surface and fill them with the ketchup while it is still very hot. Seal the jars immediately. This ketchup should keep for several months.

Try also:

Hot Red and Green Pepper Relish

I have developed this recipe to use up the significant quantities of half ripe peppers I have grown. I have used a mixture of bell peppers and pointed peppers. Of course you could use half green peppers and half red peppers.

10 – 12 good sized red/green peppers [washed, and chopped with seeds, cares and stems removed]

4 medium onions [peeled and chopped]

2 good sized fresh red chillies [ I’m using Joe’s Long]. Leave the seeds in if you like your relish to be hotter

1 good Tblsp salt [tablespoon]

1 ½ pts vinegar – preferably white [ brown is fine but, won’t look as good]

8 oz [175gm] granulated sugar – do add a little more if you like your pickles sweeter.

2 tsp allspice

Method

·         Wash and split the peppers – remove seeds and stems and white..ish inner parts.

·         Chop them fairly coarsely. Put the chopped peppers into a large colander over a bowl into which the colander should fit comfortably.

·         Pour boiling water over the peppers and leave to sit for 5 minutes. Drain the water off and repeat the process, allowing 10 minutes for soaking.

·         In the meantime, chop the onions and chillis and put them with the vinegar, sugar, salt and allspice into a large pan. Bring the mixture to the boil gradually allowing the sugar to dissolve.

·         Drain the peppers thoroughly and add to the vinegar mixture. Bring to the boil then simmer until the mixture has thickened and the vegetables are well cooked and blended.

·         Taste for salt and heat [ taking care as the mixture will be extremely hot] You may want to add more finely chopped chilli if you like your relishes to be very hot. Add any extra chilli before the end of the cooking process to ensure it has cooked.

·         Pot up into hot, sterilised pots. Cover, seal and label. Allow at least a couple of months before eating to allow the relish to mellow.

And:

Hot Spicy Roasted Pepper and Tomato Chutney

2 kg ripe tomatoes - peeled

4 large ripe sweet peppers – any shape will be good but use only red or yellow peppers

3 large onions – peeled and finely chopped

4 good sized garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed

3-4 hot red peppers (remove the seeds if you don’t want your chutney to be too hot)

1 tsp ground cinnamon,        1 tsp ground cloves,       ½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp salt

850 ml vinegar (1½pt) – white vinegar is best but malt vinegar will also do

700g (1½lb) sugar

Method

·         Skin the tomatoes and chop – (skinning tomatoes can be done in several ways:

* – on a fork over a gas flame – great for a couple of tomatoes!

* - in a bowl with boiling water poured over – great for a handful or so.

* - For a large amount – cut out the core and put in the largest bowl which will fit in the micro wave. Microwave on full for 20 minutes, then, just lift off the skins. Chop roughly.

·         Put the peppers into a roasting tin in a hot oven 200°C or No 6 Gas for 30 mins or so. They should just start to brown or char. Leave them to cool.

·         Remove the skins and the seeds as far as possible then chop roughly.

·         Put the chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, chopped onions, chopped garlic, vinegar and sugar into a preserving pan with the spices and seasonings.

·         Simmer slowly until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit/vegetables have softened.

·         Bring to the boil and cook, stirring frequently to ensure it does not stick and burn until it starts to turn thick.

·         Pot up in hot, sterilised jars. Cover and label.

I have now harvested all of my pumpkins and squashes and am bringing them home in bags as heavy as I can manage – they really are quite hefty vegetables, even my small and medium varieties. I have ended up with about 70 or 80 individual fruits although, about a third of these are the very small varieties – Baby Bear, Hooligan, Jack be Little which are brilliant. I have given lots away to friends and my daughter took about 20 of the larger varieties away in her car – she does love the flesh of these fruits in her curries. I still have many to bring home and then store. They must then be stored in a cool frost-free place to over-winter successfully. At the moment I am setting them out on my patio and on my patio table to dry off and allow the skins to harden.

I am continuing to harvest my last 2 ridges of potatoes – Sarpo Mira – they are late maincrop and I am reasonably happy that they will not be susceptible to blight – I do love these potatoes but, unfortunately I haven’t managed to grow enough to see me through the winter season… ever! But, then again, I do like potatoes, they are my carb. of choice. By Christmas, I will have to buy them from the market again.

In the process of digging them up, I have cleared an area which I had planned to plant my autumn sown Broad Beans – Aquadulce Claudia, one of the few bean varieties which is good for autumn sowing. I have, over the years, tried several different methods of germinating, planting out and growing on – all of which have had some success but not every year in every set of conditions. This year, I am sowing mine in early October when the ground is still warm but, is forecast to turn cold – if they germinate, I will cover them for the winter and will report back on this.

I have just received my garlic bulbs for planting this autumn. I am planning to put them into two or three raised beds but, I need a top-up of organic compost which I’m hoping to buy from my Allotment Association for these beds. Once I have that organised I will plant my garlic. Although it is recommended that garlic is planted a couple of centimetres below the surface of the soil, I have always sown mine just below the surface as the ground is so heavy – even this depth led to a problem with harvesting them at the right time as they were ‘cemented’ into my rock hard soil. Those that I did manage to ‘hack’ out are now brilliantly saved and hung up in my kitchen. Those bulbs which I waited to harvest when the ground was softer after some much needed rain are also good and well saved but, the outer leaves are dirty, grey and I find I’m inclined to avoid them when choosing a garlic bulb for cooking.

I am also uprooting and transplanting the wallflowers I sowed earlier this year. I do like a display of these in my garden at home – I love the perfume in mid spring which reminds me of spring holidays in Paris in my youth. However, I have nowhere to sow and bring on the young plants at home and although, they are mostly biennials, I prefer to grow them as annuals.

October on the Allotment

October on the Allotment – What should we do this month?

There has been a noticeable change in the weather as October arrives. The big advantage of this is that it is more comfortable to sleep at nights but, of course it is dark earlier in the evenings and in the mornings, it is still quite gloomy until 7.30 or 8.00. It is only two and half months until the shortest day so our days will appear to shorten very quickly now. British Summer Time (BST) will end officially in October. So, our clocks will go back an hour at 2am on Sunday, October 27, 2013, when BST ends and the country reverts to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

There are still lots to do on our plots this month.

Maintenance

Ø  As crops finish their harvest, remove the spent plants and compost them;

Ø  Keep winter crops – brassicas, leeks, parsnips, etc, clear of weeds and watch out for pests like white fly on the brassicas;

Ø  Keep perennial crops, asparagus, globe artichokes and fruit bushes, canes and trees free from weeds;

Ø  Keep paths and edges tidy and cut back to prevent perennial invading the plot  - the grass and weeds are still growing, especially in the south of the country [and you neighbours’ plots];

Ø  Drying beans eg. Borlotto, Yin-yang, Jack Edwards, etc. [if you have grown dwarf beans, it is important to harvest them before they rot or are harvested by mice], should be ready to harvest as they have almost dried well on the vines. – you will probably need to pod and dry them thoroughly before storing. Lift the canes, clean them and store them where the canes or their ends are not sitting in wet conditions, which will rot them. Carefully looked after they should last for several years;

Ø  Crops in poly-tunnels and greenhouses may still be ripening for a few weeks unless it becomes very cold so, make sure you keep the plants well watered and free from pests.

Ø  As you finish using tools, cloches and netting, ensure they are clean and store in a safe and dry environment;

Ø  If you have netting over fruit cages, it is advisable to remove it before winter – particularly on the ‘roof’ as the weight of winter snow can collapse your cage;

Ø  Cut back established asparagus beds as the ferns turn yellow;

Ø  Clear away and compost dead rhubarb leaves. This is a good time to rejuvenate mature rhubarb clumps – dig up the crowns and split them. Replants the strongest pieces. An uncle of mine, who was an excellent gardener, advised me to ‘throw the rhubarb crowns at the back of the manure heap for the winter to let the frost at them, then plant them in the spring’. I haven’t found it necessary to do this often but, when I have tried it, I have found it has given me strong healthy plants. Discard any small pieces and plant the best ones. Don’t did up all of you old rhubarb plants in one year or you will have nothing to harvest the following year – the plants should be allowed to establish for a year before harvesting.

Ø  Cut back and cover globe artichoke plants before frost becomes severe. It is recommended that they should be covered with straw but, on an exposed site, your straw may blow away – environmesh or plant fleece will make good substitutes but, don’t allow the fabric to rest on the plants.

Ø  Put glue bands around the trunks of fruit trees, especially apple trees to capture moths which can damage the crop in the following season.

Preparation and Planning

Ø  As summer cropping plants finish their harvest, clear the areas of plants and perennial weeds then, start digging, especially if you have a large plot to dig. You may find that there will be fresh weed growth before the winter but it is better than leaving the digging until the spring. On heavy clay soil particularly, the difference between autumn dug and spring dug ground is significant;

Ø  Prepare beds for autumn planting perennial crops, fruit trees, bushes and canes;

Ø  Prepare ground for autumn plants onion, garlic and shallot sets and broad beans;

Ø  Now is the time to order or buy garlic, shallot and onion sets.

Ø  Asparagus can be planted in autumn and I see that Dobies [of Devon] is advertising asparagus crowns in 3 litre pots which can [they say] be harvested the following year. Although they seem expensive if bought individually, they have deals of buying in groups which just about makes this a feasible proposition – why not try them in large ‘grow sacks’… like potato grow sacks in your back yard. I haven’t tried this so, I can’t say how successful it would be.

Many of the large seed house are sending out their autumn catalogues now. Write to them to request a catalogue or find them on-line – see our website for contact details.

Sowing and Planting

§  Spring cabbages can still be planted into their final growing place – as with salad crops, it is important to protect them from the plethora of pests which will destroy them long before you can usefully harvest them. I have found it useful to plant some in my poly-tunnel once the summer crops have finished [a while to go yet!] but this will give me a welcome crop of green vegetables in springtime when little else is available.

§  Set up new strawberry beds with rooted runners or with new plants. Tidy established beds of dead leaves.

Harvesting

Ø  Winter squashes and pumpkins are now maturing and should be harvested and stored in a cool dry place before the frost starts as this will rot them. I have had some which have kept until May of the following year but, only a few. Check them regularly throughout the winter and remove any which show signs of rotting;

Ø  Tomatoes peppers and chillies are reaching the end of their growing season. They can be hung up in a dry place [the greenhouse or ploy tunnel is fine as long as it is not too damp to allow as many as possible of the fruits to mature]. Thin skinned chillies will continue to ripen and dry for some time, even in a warm kitchen if hung up in strings. Storing tomatoes or peppers can be done by freezing, or in preserves;

Ø  Potatoes – lift main-crop potatoes as the top growth dies back [of course you can continue to lift them at any time for eating straightaway]. The potatoes should be dry before storing in paper or hessian sacks in a cool, dry, dark place. You can lift them and leave them on the ground for a couple of days in dry weather to allow the skins to dry off. Avoid leaving them out for longer as the potatoes will turn green – green potatoes are poisonous! Check for damaged potatoes and store only those tubers which are healthy;

Ø  Main-crop carrots should be harvested and healthy, undamaged roots can be stored;

Ø  Brassicas – some varieties of Brussels Sprouts, broccoli/calabrese and late cabbage are available now. Early kale can be harvested but may be best left until winter;

Ø  Early leeks are harvestable now;

Ø  Salad crops, of course are still excellent where we have managed to keep the pests off.

Ø  Fruit – autumn harvesting raspberries are still available;

-          Apples, depending on the variety should be harvested – if they come easily from the stem they should be ready and can be stored. If you allow them to fall, the resultant bruising will mean that they must be used immediately. Check also for insect damage – those fruits also must be used immediately or discarded.

Our birds can also look forward [do they do this?] to a short time of not raising broods but, for them winter can be a harsh time so, do think about feeding them and providing water for them during the cold months.