Life on The Weald - October 2024
and other distractions
1 - 4 October
The month started with distractions! On Tuesday 1st, the starter motor on our car packed up leaving us stranded in Horley and hours waiting for the RAC. The following day we were off in our campervan for a few days away in Norfolk to visit my brother. The weather was glorious and we stayed in a pub car park with excellent facilities right on the coast at Bacton.
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| 3 October - Bacton Beach 8.44am |
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| 3 October - Bacton beach 8.44am |
5 October
Back home, and Saturday was a hot sunny day. I decided to sow directly some broadbeans (aquadulce) which I bought from the allotment shop. I started by removing any weeds from the bed.
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| 5 October - Preparing a bed for broad beans |
Having sown them, however, I discovered I had run out of fleece so was unable to cover them. Broad beans, sown directly in the soil are very vulnerable to rodent attack, but the mice usually wait until the beans have swollen a little and about to sprout before digging them up, so I thought they would be safe for a few days.
6 October
By contrast, Sunday was overcast with occasional showers, but I managed to get some fleece from the allotment shop and covered the broad beans, firstly with the fleece and then some old wire shelving to try to keep the rodents at bay until the shoots surfaced - then the enemy will be slugs.
7 October
At home I planted some more tulips in pots, Rococo, which have red, green and yellow flowers. I also had a few organic broad beans left over from last year and I sowed these in trays which I placed in the mini-greenhouse, hoping that they would germinate. I also took some rosemary and sage cuttings.
8 October
It was up to London on Tuesday to see a new Musical, Cable Street, at Southwark Playhouse at the Elephant & Castle but it was not a day for gardening as there were thunderstorms and heavy rain.
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| 8 October - Southwark Playhouse |
9 - 10 October
After the night time thunderstorms there were occasional showers throughout the day on Wednesday 9th and it was decidedly chilly with a maximum temperature of 13C. On Thursday morning there was more rain and it was even cooler with a maximum temparature of 12C. On the Wednesday we had to be at home all day anyway. waiting for a mechanic to fix our car's starter motor, and glad to be indoors.
11 - 13 October
A brief respite from the rain on Friday 11th and I decided to pick most of the remaining squashes and leave them in the sunshine (while it lasts!)
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| 11 October - Squash harvest |
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| 11 October - 3 Sisters bed |
I pulled up the remaining sweetcorn plants, ready to be chopped up and added to the compost heap and also removed any annual and perennial weeds.
I then laid some cardboard and put the weeds and other greenery in cardboard trays on top, to die down and ready to be sorted when I have the time. The perennial weeds will be chopped and added to compost bins, the annuals will be spread on the cardboard with some manure & compost, when I get round to it, and left exposed over winter.
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| Clearing the weeds |
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| laying cardboard, sorting weeds |
The weekend might have been an opportunity for some more work on the plot - although very muddy underfoot - but we were off to Geneva for an anniversary re-union with some former colleagues.
14 - 16 October
Further problems with the car! - the new starter motor packed up so it was another day indoors waiting for the mechanic.
It was a bit of a squash in the kitchen - as we had brought them all indoors in case of rain.
It was a week of flu and covid jabs, chiropody appointments, meetings and social events so little contact with the allotment apart from Tuesday when I moved a few stones and Wednesday when Sylvi was volunteering as a "forager" collecting food from local supermarkets in the evening for the allotment's Community Food Project
A near neighbour had cleared and redesigned her pond and was offering the surrounding stones for free, and I had put in an immediate bid. I hadn't realised how big, or heavy, they would be and it was quite a task moving them - even with the car (which is now functioning. 🤞)
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| 15 October - The stones |
It may be some time before I get round to dealing with the pond so, for the timebeing, the stones provide a majestic entrance to our plot.
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| 16 October - The stones |
We have a plentiful supply of nasturtiums, which provided a tasty addition to a salad. They are a great substitute for Watercress. I find that the flowers have a rather indifferent taste, compared with the leaves which have a strong peppery taste, but they make an attractive addition. Later in the year, the seed pods can be pickled and used instead of capers.
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| 16 October - Nasturtium and Rocket salad |
17 October
It was a bright sunny day but not too hot so we spent several hours on the plot. Sylvi did an amazing job clearing weeds and couchgrass from the rhubarb patch and I followed with a fork to dig out any remaining bindweed and couchgrass roots, whilst Sylvi concentrated on removing brambles and weeds from the raspberry patch.
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| 17 October - bindweed roots |
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| 17 October - the rhubarb patch |
Having cleared the area around the rhubarb (I'm sure there will be more bindweed under the rhubarb which can only be removed by lifting the crown, which I decided not to do), I left any rhubarb leaves on the ground to rot down naturally.
The brambles and bindweed are so invasive that they are coming up in and around our "dalek" compost bin between the rhubarb and the raspberries. The raspberries have also moved eastwards and are now coming up all over the asparagus bed! This calls for drastic action. The problem is that the invading raspberries cannot be removed without disturbing the asparagus, which means we may not get a crop next year.
Our tumbler compostor has given us good service since we acquired it a couple of years back but the seam is rusting away and needs some serious repair. It also takes up a lot of prime space, so we have decided to give it away.
We partly emptied it and it has produced some rich organic compost. It did contain some woody stems, however, that have not fully broken down. If we wanted to use it immediately it could do with sieving but I decided to just pile some of it on cardboard and leave it to nature over the winter.
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| 17 October - Compost from the tumbler |
18 October
The weather forecast said there would be a maximum temperature of 15C, but there was no wind, and with cloudless, sunny, clear blue skies, it felt much hotter. I continued with clearing the asparagus bed of raspberries and the front of the plot is looking a lot tidier.
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| 18 October - Rhubarb and Asparagus patches |
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| 18 October - Garlic and Elephant Garlic |
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| 18 October - Garlic |
I had been impatient, however, and didn't wait for the shop to get stocked up and I had already bought some hard neck garlic online which I had planted earlier (Kingsland Wight) and I was awaiting delivery of another hard neck variety (Eden Rose), but I will buy a soft neck variety and perhaps some Elephant garlic from the site shop.
19-20 October
Heavy rain had been forecast for Saturday morning and that is what we got, although it did brighten up later in the day, but on Sunday, Storm Ashley arrived with wild, wild winds and heavy rain.
22 October
Fortunately the storm had done no damage on our plot, although a near neighbour had lost their polytunnel. I finally emptied the remaining contents of the tumbler compostor. I advertised the tumbler on the Allotment WhatsApp group and had an immediate taker.
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| 22 October - preparing to say goodbye! |
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| 22 October - emptying the contents |
I had laid cardboard in the bed near the pond, where I would be planting broad beans. Two years ago, I had buried some large logs and other organic material under this bed - effectively a sunken Hugel bed (John's blog October 2021) (John's blog November 2021)
I spread the contents of the tumbler compostor on the cardboard and intend to top this with some rotted manure and more compost before sowing my second crop of broad beans.
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| 23 October - spreading the compost |
The contents of the tumbler were not fully composted but the process would continue in the bed. The process of breaking down organic matter requires a lot of nitrogen and spreading partially composted material would not suit all plants as it would deprive them of an essential nutrient. Broad beans, however, fix nitrogen in the soil through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in the soil. (See Kew Gardens) so I am hoping all will be well.
The fleece had been removed from the Kingsland Wight garlic which had been planted on 16 September and the cloves seem to have rooted well and were producing healthy shoots.
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| 23 October - Kingsland Wight garlic |
24 October
I carried on clearing the 3 sisters bed of the squash plants, beans and sweetcorn, and the weeds.
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| 24 October - sweetcorn stems ready for composting |
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| 24 October - weeds removed from 3 sisters bed |
I laid cardboard....
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| 24 October - contents from a wormery |
25 October
The tomatoes at home were nearing their end but I was still picking some Sungold cherry tomatoes and a few Yellow Perfection
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| 25 October - Sungold & Yellow Perfection |
There was a dramatic sky that night, predicting good weather the following day.
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| 25 October - Hove sky |
26 October
I lifted some of the Jerusalem Artichokes. The reason they are called Jerusalem Artichokes and the difference from Globe Artichokes are in my blog at Jerusalem Artichokes. We roasted some in their skins - the easiest way to deal with them, but peeled and boiled some and then pureed them to go in the freezer. They are excellent to add to soups through the winter. I did post a couple of Recipes a few years back.
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| 26 October - Jerusalem Artichokes peeled for purée |
27 October
It was a bright sunny day and I removed the fleece from the onions and broad beans.
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| 27 October - broad beans under fleece |
The broad beans had been sown on 5 October and were doing well...
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| 27 October - broad beans (sown 5 October) |
...and last year's organic ones, sown in modules at home on 7 October, were looking very healthy and would need planting out soon.
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| 27 October - organic broad beans sown 7 October |
We managed to persuade our grandson, Jerome, to deliver 4 barrowloads of manure to our plot (with a little financial incentive)! Some was put in the bed by the pond on top of the compost from our tumbler...
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| 27 October - a second bed for broad beans |
...and some on the 3 sisters bed which we plan to use again for 3 sisters (sweetcorn, squashes and climbing beans) next year.
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| 27 October - 3 sisters bed |
The rhubarb patch had been cleared a few days earlier but now fresh shoots were appearing. It is probably a little early but I decided to try forcing some by placing a recycling box over the emerging shoots.
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| 27 October - emerging Rhubarb |
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| 27 October - forcing the rhubarb |
Meetings and getting the electrics sorted on the campervan put paid to any more visits to the allotment this month, but getting the van sorted did result in a visit to a delightful garden centre in Horsham where we bought a few plants for the tubs that had been planted with bulbs, to give us a bit of colour through the winter months whilst waiting for the tulips.
Autumn is officially over and winter beckons!
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