Autumn Planting

Frost!

It was a very very cold morning!

Bought 1/2 pint each of Sutton and Aquadulche Broad beans from the Allotment Hut + 2 bulbs of their garlic - one for us, one for mum.

Dug over both the broad bean and garlic bed.

Planted 2-double rows of each variety of broad bean about 10-15cm apart in a spade's width flat bottomed drill about 2-3cm deep.The rows are running in a controversial vertical, rather than horizontal, line.Planted 4 different types of Garlic this year, which were:

22 cloves from the Hut-bought variety in one bed,
12 cloves from a bulb from our harvest this year
6 cloves each of two unknown varieties bought in scotland from the Really Garlicky Company.Each clove (44 in total) was planted roughly7-8cm down with about 20cm between each.

Still no sign of the green manure, however it hasn't been that long and its been SOooooo cold!

The autumn planted onion sets are looking good and healthy.Removed the last of the carrot-fly infested carrots.

The allotment is now pretty much ready for winter (fingers crossed).

Continuing winter preparation...

Monday 14th (frost) - worked on clearing out all the old growth from the summer from the Legumes bed - including removing all the grass!, weeds, old runners (plus their bamboo poles), old squash and old courgette plants. Cut back the asparagus to about 1-2" from the ground. Moved this years rotting compost into the 1st bin, which is being left to mature over the winter, the 2nd bin is now the active bin, whislt the 3rd bin is still being used as a collection point for couch grass and other nasty weeds we don't want in our compost.


Tuesday 15th - continued clearing the legume bed - finished it. - sowed Hungarian Rye Grass green manure (very late, but worth a try).

Wednesday 16th - went to Notcutts and bought 10 late raspberry canes plus two blueberry bushes - looked into ericanaceus compost, but all contained peat! grrrrr. Planted Raspberry canes in the new soft-fruit area on the 3rd post-wire support. Planted one blueberry bush in our homemade 3-tier tyre system with a mixture of general purpose compost and leaf-mould from the back of the plot. Planted 15 primroses infront of the soft fruit. Removed weeds (espesically docks) from the front area near the flower garden.
Thursday 17th - finished planting the 2nd blueberry bush in another 3-tier tyre system - same method except for a top dressing of our own compost.

The Onset of Autumn....

Created the new soft-fruit supports and big fruit cage out of 2"x2" treated fence timber.
We are still havesting the following:
- Cabbages
- Swede
- Broccoli
- Beetroot
- Jerusalem Artichokes
- Parsnips
- and Carrots

There are quite a few jobs to be done on the site - pruning, digging, sowing the Rye Grass green manure etc. We hope to get some of these done tomorrow, the most important of these being getting the Rye Grass into the ground. We also need to start thinking about the overwintering veggies - garlic and the broad beans especially.