25 Sep - Harvesting Butternut Squashes

We've had a few days of sunshine & showers during a week that saw the Autumn equinox. It feels cooler and fresher in the early mornings now though the daytime temperatures are still around 18C. I've continued to tidy up the allotment and prepare it for the long Winter that's just around the corner. (Pic - a fleeting rain shower causing puddles in my plastic sheeting).

After clearing the sweet corn (see post 20th Sep) I got around to clearing the weeds and any remaining stalks from the area and gave it a quick dig over. I also picked the butternut squashes which have provided a decent harvest this season; much better than last year. I got a very heavy crate full and I'm very pleased indeed. (Pic - Butternut variety Hunter F1).

Overall the Winter squashes have done well. I'll continue to plant butternuts, especially the varieties that have been bred for the short British Summer such has Hunter F1. I'll be nosing through the seed catalogues for any new improved butternuts too, time doesn't stand still. I've a few Turks Turban this year as well, I planted these as 'gap fillers' from last season's seed and they have grown larger this year than last. 

I always try and grow something new and this season it was Crown Prince, another Winter squash to add to my collection. We've been very impressed by these as they are both tasty (though they smell like watermelon before roasting) and grow to a good size. One of my middle sized Crown Prince contributed to three meals. Winter squashes are one of the real joys of the Autumn Harvest. (Pic - Turks Turban and, in the background, a silver-grey Crown Prince Winter squash - photo taken just before harvesting this month).

Since the all the Winter squash have now been gathered in, I have finally cleared the bed of withered vines and weeds. I've run the tiller over the area and have covered the beds with plastic covers. Any weeds that germinate now will be choked due to lack of light and I find that covering helps to stop my clay soils compacting over the Winter. 

The plot is beginning to look a bit sad now. The north (shed) end has two out of three beds covered with the remaining bed containing the Winter veg: sprouts, Winter cabbage, kale, leeks and parsnips. The south end has two beds covered with the remaining main crop potatoes being slowly cleared from the last area. The south end also contains the fruit bed which needs a real sorting out! (Pic - the allotment is rapidly being put to bed for the Winter months).

That's it for this update. Bye for now.

20 Sep - A Busy Weekend

We had some lovely warm weather on the weekend (17th-18th) and I spent most of it at the allotment. I suppose I had the urge to start to get things tidied up as Autumn seems to be well underway and Winter is just around the corner.

The first job was to continue to harvest some of the squashes, mainly the Turks Turban and Crown Prince as the vines on these two varieties have withered and there seems little point leaving them on the ground. Likewise I brought my sole pumpkin indoors with the hope that there are no nicks or cracks on the outside so it stores nicely until the end of October. The only squash left in the plot now are the Hunter Butternut. (Pic - Turks Turban & Crown Prince Winter Squash).

On that side of the allotment I also cleared the sweet corn plants. It's been a great year for sweet corn on our site as everyone who has grown it this season have had great results. I literally ended up with a wheelbarrow full which took a few hours to prepare for the freezer. (Pic - just a small sample of this season's sweet corn crop).

On a less positive note, my carrots weren't particularly great. I had some half decent Sweet Candle carrots but nowhere as large as they were last year. Also, most had some evidence of carrot root fly so my method of protection proved to be inadequate. Between the Sweet Candle and the Nantes I did end up with around a carrier bag full so things aren't too bad. (Pic - Sweet Candle carrots).

Having had enough of runner beans and with a few bags in the freezer, the bean poles have been taken down and the area in front of the shed cleared and dug over. There's only the brassicas, leeks and parsnips on that side now.

Talking of the brassicas, I needed to weed around the cabbages and Brussels sprouts so decided to bite the bullet and take the frame and nets down. There are still cabbage white butterflies around but the temperature is cooling; I'll keep an eye out for caterpillars but I'm hoping there shouldn't be too much of a problem. I gave the Winter cabbages and the Brussels sprouts a light top dressing of fertiliser to give them a bit of a boost as they start to develop lovely green marbles.

The weather forecast was rain for Monday, which proved correct, so I was glad I put a few hours in over the weekend. I decided to put the covers on the newly dug over area as the sycamore tree near the shed is absolutely laden with helicopter seeds which I don't really want all over my plot - the plastic stops them rooting.

That's it for now, bye.

06 Sep - First Of The Squash

It's the start of September and there's already a definite feeling of the season winding down. The onions and garlic are drying in the shed; the last of the early potatoes are dwindling; there are yellow leaves on the runner beans; the lettuce have been eaten or have gone to seed; the Summer cabbages look worse for wear and, there are big gaps on the plot that have been cleared and dug over.

There are a few things still to look forward to though. The sweet corn looks pretty good and I think I'll pick a few cobs this week. Also, the Winter squash look wonderful, multi-coloured and bright in the sunlight as their vines quickly wither. We tried our first Crown Prince squash on the weekend and it was rather tasty too. We were a bit worried as it had a water-melon smell when raw but this disappeared into a a lovely buttery squash taste when roasted. (Pic - Crown Prince squash).

I finally picked the plums that had been slowly been dropping off the tree to provide the chickens with an unintentional tasty treat. I took 12lb of good plums and have turned them into three gallons of plum wine which is currently bubbling away in demi-johns.This will ferment out over the next week and will be racked off and cleared. I'll be bottling this lot and keeping it for a few months. I've also been out picking blackberries and elderberries to make a few bottles of red - the fruit is in the freezer at the moment until I've collected enough for a gallon or two. (Pic - plums being prepared for fermentation).

Autumn is a great time to make some wine, traditionally I use it to stock up on a few bottles for the new year. You can make a decent little wine just by using supermarket raisins though plums, apples, blackberries and elderberries and plentiful this time of year. I've written more about making wine here.

That's it for a quick update. I'm off up the plot to have a bit of a tidy-up now as the season is swiftly marching on. Bye for now.