July on the Allotment 2014

July on the Allotment – 2014

It has been quite dry for most of June and very pleasantly summery. July has started with more showery weather but still warm and sunny in intervals. Wonderful growing weather – especially for the weeds. Having been away a lot lately I find the weeds are getting very far ahead of me. But, really that is a small complaint.

This season has, so far, provided me with wonderful fruit – strawberries, raspberries [ from last year’s canes which have now finished and I will cut them back as the new season’s canes are starting to put on their fruits which also look like providing a heavy harvest], redcurrants, gooseberries and blackcurrants. My whitecurrants are also starting to ripen – I haven’t covered my whitecurrants either last year or this. For some reason the birds have not homed in on them and I can pick them at my leisure. Perhaps they don’t recognise the fruit – they are not commonly grown on our allotments or perhaps because they don’t have a lot of flavour – I suspect the former. This year I lost half of my redcurrants as I had assumed that as the fruits were still green I had time to cover them. However, the fruits of the redcurrants and blackcurrants in that area of my plot disappeared very early. Fortunately I have another area which was covered quite early.

I’m not a huge fan of sweet food so I rarely eat jam but, I do love any kind of pickle, relish, chutney or super spicy jelly which I can serve with savoury food. Fortunately, my family can absorb all of the jams and jellies I can make as well as the pickles, chutneys, ketchups, etc, which I can create – the hotter the better.

I have tried in the past to grow silver skin onions for pickling, growing Paris Silver Skin. It has not been particularly successful and although I had salad onions to eat, I didn’t have a usable crop of pickling onions.

This year I have grown Pompeii – a spring onion suitable for pickling as a ‘silver skin’. It has been amazing. If I had known it was going to be so good I would have sown several packets hoping for a good crop for pickling. However, they can be sown from March until mid to end of July. I have now sown another packet in the hope of getting another outstanding crop. I have found that late sowings are never so good but< I will report back on this.

My peas, this year, have been brilliant. I did sow a packet of sugar snap peas this year – Sugar Ann from Dobies. I’m not a great fan of mange-tout peas although I am happy with sugar snap. Unfortunately, I had to be away when they were at their best and I am now harvesting them as mature peas – not a great advertisement for these peas but, not their fault.

As usual, my maincrop [or perhaps my default crop] is Hurst Greenshaft. I have just finished harvesting my last large bucketful which I must spend my evening ‘shucking’ and freezing. My four packets of seeds sown into four rows has given me five buckets full of filled pea pods and a drawer in my freezer filled with packets of peas for the coming winter, as well as some to share with my family.

This has been a useless year for cauliflowers – the ground and the weather were too dry when they were heading-up and I had neither the time nor the energy to give them the water they needed to provide good heads but, as always. Each year gives its successes and its failures.

So far, potatoes this year, have been brilliant. My First Earlies – Epicure [ a variety I have not grown before] has been outstanding and very tasty. Of course my preference is for floury potatoes. Epicure are certainly not waxy but, otherwise have excellent applications.

My Mayan Gold, this year, have been so delicious. The plants provide a crop which is very abundant though doesn’t give huge tubers – wash them and steam, chip or roast. The steaming time is 10 – 15 mins when they will start to fall apart but the flavour is amazing – a plateful of these with butter and black pepper – yum!

Maintenance around the plot and in greenhouses or poly-tunnels –

·         watch for caterpillar attacks on tomato plants – pick off and destroy as you find them – tomato caterpillars, which can be green or beige coloured and really quite chunky will feed on leaves and fruits , destroying the fruits and allowing botrytis [grey mould] into the plants.

·         Watch, also, for red spider mite on indoor plants – they like dry warm conditions and can take over and destroy your indoor aubergines, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and chilli plants. The leaves of affected plants will take on a mottled unhealthy appearance. On closer inspection you will see webs, mostly on the backs of leaves and when the infestation is severe, between leaves and stems [if the infestation reaches this level, it is best to dig up and remove the infected plants – keeping a close eye on nearby plants for similar infection].

·         For me, at any rate, slugs and snails are not a problem indoors but can still be a serious issue on outdoor plants, especially brassicas. Do keep an eye on their activity – slug traps, pellets, etc are useful though, they can be quite a pest underground with root crops and potatoes.

·         Birds are always a problem though, thankfully, not indoors. Netting brassica plants is essential. Berries, especially gooseberries, are especially susceptible to harvesting by blackbirds. They also enjoy redcurrants and whitecurrants. I have found, over the years that blackbirds will take the ripe [red] sides out of ripening strawberries and will harvest the odd raspberry, it is not worth the trouble and expense of covering these fruits though redcurrants, cherries and gooseberries are a whole different ballgame – the birds are not prepared to share but, will take the lot.

·         A couple of years ago I also noticed that my rows of carrots were diminishing daily. One early morning I saw a plump pigeon eating off the lush green tops of my developing carrot plants – and I thought the only problems were poor germination and carrot root fly. Carrot Root Fly – an ongoing problem in the UK for carrot crops. I have tried many methods of beating this pest, including planting above 30cm or in raised beds. I have sown in a carrot box – made for me by a kind neighbour – about 1 metre off the ground. It seems the carrot fly on my allotment field have not read the instructions. Last year I grew an excellent crop in deep tubs in my back garden – as no-one locally was growing carrots, root fly were not a problem. However, as my crop was nearing the first thinning stage I was astounded to see that my crop had disappeared. There was no indication of slugs so I assume pigeons were the culprits. I do have a bird feeding station in my garden and feel somewhat miffed that they were not satisfied with the food I was putting out daily but, next year I will try again with netting!

·         Aphids - particularly on all beans, whitefly [on brassicas], caterpillars can all weaken or eat you precious young plants. Watch out, also, for ants [especially red ants which seem to be more destructive and quicker to bite than their black ant cousins] – while they don’t, in themselves, damage the plants, they encourage aphids and will build their nests under plants undermining them. Broad beans are particularly susceptible to black aphids. Remove the top growing points as soon as the plants have set pods at lower levels. While this does not eliminate the aphids it should discourage and hopefully encourage them to move elsewhere.

·         Continue to pinch out the side shoots of cordon tomato plants as they appear [not from bush tomatoes], on plants already growing on in green houses and poly-tunnels. Stake or tie up tomato and cucumber plants as they develop to keep them upright. By now the plants should be setting the young fruits;

·         Peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, courgettes and squashes are greedy feeders and are thirsty. They will require regular feeding and watering especially in warm dry weather;

·         Pick courgettes regularly to prevent them from becoming too large and to encourage the plants to produce more;

·         Strawberries will now be sending out lots of new runners. Peg these into the ground near the ‘mother’ plants or into pots of compost, to create new plants. They will need to be watered regularly especially if in pots.

·         Keep the plot tidy - cut grass on paths regularly to prevent weeds and grass from encroaching on your plot and to reduce slugs and snails.

- Weeding – keep seed beds, particularly, free from weeds. Hoeing is useful but take care to not damage young plants [hoeing is not very effective in wet weather as the hoed weeds will often re-root].

·         Preparation and planning - re-dig beds as soon as crops are harvested, to create a good workable tilth - ready for planting out.

Although it is early for ‘autumn’ digging, I will start to dig ground where crops have been harvested which will give me a chance to do the necessary digging [I have a large area to cover and opportunities for digging can easily be missed]. Areas such as pea beds and those for early brassicas can now be turned over.

Don’t forget that strawberry beds which are three years plus old should now be cleared – the ground re-dug and a new area set up for the young runners when rooted.

·         Sowing and planting

-      Of course, carrots can be sown until the end of August, if you have suitable conditions although, I have found that I have had more success with earlier sown carrots;

-      Florence Fennel – a wonderful vegetable whose fresh aniseed flavour is such a wonderful addition to salads – sow from May until July outdoors;

-      Leeks can be transplanted as soon as the ground can be prepared. If it is very dry, water it well beforehand;

-      Spinach and Swiss Chard can still be sown;

-      Salad crops – lettuce, radishes, rocket, spring onions, can all be sown outdoors;

-      Turnips can be sown until the end of August for harvesting into winter.

-      See Pompeii Onions above

·         Harvesting –

Second-Early and Early-Maincrop potatoes are now be ready for harvesting.

Lettuces and spring onions [see above]. The lettuces won’t sit too long in the bed – eat them quickly or give them away and replant with new seedlings. [ I am really bad at harvesting my lettuces and waste so many of them in-spite of offering them to others- I should rethink the varieties I grow and the quantities

Globe artichokes are still harvestable although watch out for greenfly and black fly – they are quite a nuisance now coming into their main harvesting season.

Soft fruit - redcurrants, blackcurrants and white currants as well as gooseberries, Keep them protected from birds – they do seem to love redcurrants and gooseberries particularly. If you have lots of fruit, make sure you have containers for freezing and lots of jam-pots ready for preserving. If you still have produce in your freezer from last year, now is the time to use it up so that you have space for the new crops.

The Joys of a cool wet summer

A Cool Wet Summer – the positives!

I think I’ve been whinging on for the last few blogs on our miserable, cold wet summer, or lack of summer even. Yes, everything is true and the problems I’ve talked about do continue but, as always, there is a plus side.

When I go to my allotment or gaze out into my garden, I don’t see drowned devastation. While many crops have been disappointing or even failed completely because of the weather, there really are many crops which are just loving it. Let’s face it, if the weeds on our plots are thriving so will lots of other stuff.

Slugs and snails are having a field day [no pun intended] and I have been ranting on incessantly about red ants in my poly-tunnel but, apart from in March when it was very dry and I was trying to establish my brassicas, I haven’t seen any flea beetle and, I believe I’ve seen one – only one - white fly since early spring. Similarly, although I saw a few aphids on my roses early in the year, they have also been noticeably absent. During the last few years all of these pests have caused immeasurable damage to my crops and have weakened them to allow in further damage from mildew and scale bugs. Not so this year.

In my poly-tunnel, while I’m complaining about red ants and caterpillars on my tomatoes – there have been only a few of the caterpillars and I hope I’ve managed to remove most of them. Since they only appeared a couple of years ago for the first time when we were having a series of long dry summers, perhaps this cold wet one will remove the moths these caterpillars have come from. The red spider mite which was  a significant pest in my tunnel a couple of years ago has not appeared at all this year – something of a surprise as I always believed it was impossible to eradicate.

I have almost finished harvesting my 2nd pea crop – Hurst Green Shaft – and it has been more than satisfactory. These peas are sweet and tasty. If not left to become too big they are delicious eaten raw. In spite of suggestions from neighbours that they were likely to have maggots this year, these have not been apparent. I have already filled a drawer in my freezer with bags of shelled peas and might just get another half bucketful before I compost the vines. I have wondered about the possibility of growing a late crop of peas. The seed company [Dobies] have stated on the pack that they can be planted up to [and I’m assuming that means, ‘including’] July. Since I had the seed, I have, in any case, sown 4 more heavy rows in a couple of cleared raised beds. There should be time for them to grow and crop and I will report back on the success of the strategy.

After a difficult start in early spring, all of my brassicas look very healthy and promise good crops. After complete failure of my Brussels Sprouts last year, I have tried a variety I bought from The Real Seed Catalogue – Seven Hills [suitable for exposed sites, and I know that, compared with many areas of the UK, my site is definitely not exposed but, I am on top of a low hill]. I sowed the first round of these at the end of February in  my poly tunnel and from these, planted out some weeks later, I now have three rows of strong healthy plants where already I can see the nubs of the developing sprouts. Two further sowings have now been planted out and will hopefully provide me with sprouts to see me through the autumn and into spring. While the earlier transplanting of All Year Round Cauliflower suffered from the exceptionally dry early spring and bolted, those plants which were later or smaller, might yet provide me with good heads and will, no doubt, have me wondering what to do with twenty or thirty large heads all coming to maturity at once. I live in hope!

My sweetcorn, F1 Earlibird, sown on 10^th April in my propagator and then grown on in my poly-tunnel has now produced its male flowers and the silk of the females is just beginning to appear. I have planted them much closer together this year – 20cm or 10” apart – as in previous years I’ve some problems with the pollination of the female flowers. A later sowing of Rising Sun [both from Dobies]– sown on 2^nd May in the same conditions, is already as tall as the Earlibird but, hasn’t yet produced any flowers. Like peas, sweetcorn freezes well when cut off the cob and provides a welcome addition to the fresh winter vegetables.

Potatoes have been disappointing so far. The First Earlies [Vale’s Emerald], I tried for the first time and found them very disappointing – flavour, texture and cropping. I won’t grow them again.

I grew Red Duke of York as a Second Early – the cropping was disappointing but, as everyone is complaining of poor crops, I will put that down to the weather. The texture and flavour of these potatoes is excellent and I will be happy to grow them again next year.

The Purple Majesty [Early Main crop] are just beginning to bulk up and, of course, provide an interesting, healthy and tasty alternative to the usual white potatoes – try them boiled in their skins or mashed – I have tried them as baked potato but, was not really impressed. The colour is wonderful.

Different varieties of squashes and pumpkins are developing well and look very healthy though, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, they have had an uncertain start. I think I may have too many, not really a complaint - they store well and are always welcome  to my family. [or maybe I'll have too few, I find this difficult to judge]

My gladiolas have been astounding this year, For the last two to three weeks I have been bringing home white and purple heads by the armful. They don’t last long as cut flowers, 3 – 4 days, but they just seem to keep on producing. The brighter colours are just beginning to send up their flower stalks and hopefully will be just as prolific.

While fruit this year has been disappointing, I still find that I have so much produce to turn into preserves. I have frozen many of my early crop of raspberries and made Strawberry Conserve with the much-reduced crop of strawberries. see last blog for recipe.

I found that I still had quite a few tubs of raspberries in my freezer from last year so have made raspberry jelly from those – very intense flavour but, delicious.

However, the star of the season so far, is my Gooseberry and Chilli Jelly. My neighbour, Christine, gave me the recipe for using windfall apples and as I have no apples ready yet and no crab apples at all [one of my complete failures this year!] I decided to try it with gooseberries which also give a good, sharp, flavoursome and reliable set – last year I made Mint Jelly and Rosemary Jelly with my crop. Do give this a try.

Christine’s Chilli Jelly

4lb fruit [ cooking apples or slightly unripe gooseberries]

2 pints [ 1200ml] water - a little of this, perhaps half pint could be replace by cider vinegar for sharpness

3 chillies whole [These can be fresh or dried. The season will affect the heat so  you might like to add seeds or not according to how hot you would like your jelly. The variety of the chillies will also affect the heat of the product]

1 cube [2cm – or 1 inch] ginger root - I used twice this amount and felt I could have added a little more - M.

1 garlic – whole, crushed

Method

·         Wash the fruit and remove any leaves or stalks – no need to remove cores.

·         Put the fruit and the water into a preserving pan and gradually bring to the boil.

·         Simmer gently until all the fruit is well soft.

·         Allow it to cool slightly then, put through a scalded jelly bag and leave overnight to allow the juice to strain.

·         Next morning, carefully measure the juice and return it to a clean preserving pan – allow 450gm [1 lb] sugar to each 570ml [1pint] juice.

·         Add the sugar to the juice in the pan and bring it to the boil stirring frequently to ensure all the sugar has dissolved. Add the chopped chillies [I added 1 at a time and tasted between each - M].

·         Boil rapidly until setting point is reached [use a sugar thermometer or when you feel you are getting close to the setting point, put a spoonful of the juice onto a saucer and place in a cool place – in a fairly short time, 1 min or so, when pushed by a finger, the jelly should wrinkle obviously].

·         Remove from the heat. If you wish, at this time you can add well washed and dried herbs [finely chopped mint, rosemary, ginger, or thyme. You can also add the chopped chilli at this time].

·         Freshly chopped herbs have a tendency to rise to the surface. You might want to wait a short time before the jelly sets and stir it to ensure the herbs are mixed in well.

·         Allow to cool slightly the pour into sterilised, warmed pots and seal immediately. Label.