There's no denying it now, autumn has arrived. The blueberries can testify to that as their leaves change to flame colours.
The berries are all picked and the nets are off and stored away.
As I mentioned in my last post we have also had some long awaited rainfall which arrived in abundance, accompanied by strong winds. Thankfully, our visit to the allotment on Sunday, revealed that no real damage had been done. The wind had blown lots of apples and one or two quinces off the trees along with a few twigs but we seemed to have got off lightly.
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| Quince |
I was also concerned that the heavy rain may have battered the tiny annual flower seedlings, but they appear to have relished the rain, although I fear the slugs have had a nibble - just hope that they don't do their usual trick of mowing down the lot.
The brassicas, have, as would be expected, enjoyed the rain and put on quite a lot of new growth.
What wasn't expected was to find that the garlic, planted less than a week earlier, had sprouted.
Nor were we expecting this ...
The vine growing on the side of the shed has produced edible fruit for the first time since it was planted. It's one plant that has thrived in the summer's heat. It's been loaded with fruit but will we get round to picking and eating all those bunches before they are spoiled. As far as I am aware you can't freeze grapes and we are not wine makers. The grapes taste lovely but have one disadvantage in that they are not seedless. We did, however pick a small bunch to take home.
For me, one major task last week was to harvest all the squash. As it turned out this was a fortunate move as the squash were safely tucked away in the summerhouse before the torrential downpours hit us.
Last Monday we brought home quite a haul from the allotment with squash dominating the collection.
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| 17 September |
The main challenge was to get everything into the car for transporting.
With a bit of careful packing we managed to get everything safely back home. The squash have joined the onions and shallots in the summerhouse where they will live until needed.
We picked the first of our Egremont Russet apples and also decided to bring home the Invincible pears just in case they didn't prove to live up to their name when the forecast gales hit us. As it happened another wise move. The pears aren't fully ripe yet but will continue to ripen off the tree so we will just have to keep checking on them.
Martyn, dug another row of potatoes, this time the variety was Cara. Unlike their predecessors the tops were still green as they had nudged their way into our watering regime before the tops died down. The harvest was greater in weight, but watering seems to have a disadvantage in that the tubers had attracted the attention of what were no doubt hungry slugs. The damper soil would have proved to be a more hospitable environment.
So far we have been pleased with the carrots, There are some slightly green shoulders where the roots have pushed up into the light but that is not of major concern.
The mesh has now been removed from the carrot bed as it should now be safe from attack by carrot fly. We leave the roots in the ground over winter and dig them up as needed
There are still flowers to be picked for vases.
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| 23 September |
We are just managing to pick a few sweet peas from the quickly fading plants. The stems are now very short and I expect each picking to be the last. The dahlias on the other hand have longer stems than those of the earlier flowers.
I had intended to grow enough dried flowers to replenish a large bowl of pot pourri. Unfortunately, with so much time being spent watering the plot, this project has been neglected. I did however, manage to gather some material from a patch of flowers and grasses grown for drying.
Not as much as I need but there's always next year.
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It looks like you have a lot of winter squash there! Some do look like what I call 'neck pumpkins' which are an early form of butternut before they bred them for a short, straight neck. Our blueberry leaves are mostly falling off instead of turning, but either way it's a sign autumn is here too.
ReplyDeleteSo envious of your squash. So much beauty.
ReplyDeleteWow you have a little of everything. I love frozen grapes, but I have never tried it with seedy grapes. Everything looks fabulous. I'm glad to hear you finally got rain.
ReplyDeleteWhat a colourful lot this week! The rain is doing everything a power of good here too, and given some of the dahlias a new lease of life. I love seeing those new garlic shoot.. the start of the next season for sure.
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