Our harvest report for this week looks rather sparse. It's not that the plot isn't providing us with fruit and vegetables but the emphasis is gradually shifting and we are using vegetables from our stores that have been harvested earlier.
We are also making sure that we use those vegetables that if left in the ground would quickly spoil and so last week we ate quite a lot if cauliflower that was harvested the previous weekend.
This week a priority crop was cabbage.
The alpine strawberries and raspberries are just about exhausted. The blackbirds will be left to enjoy the remaining small autumn raspberries in peace.
I also think it is likely that we have picked our last posy of plot grown cut flowers. If the predicted cold spell materialises we will probably be digging up dahlias next week.
We like to have carrots to hand so most week's from now on these will feature in our harvests. We leave the carrots in the ground over winter as, having tried other storage methods, we have found this way they seem to stay in better condition. They are given some protection under a fairly thick layer of straw which is fluffed up to trap air and help with insulation.
Beetroot and parsnips have been given the same treatment although in the case of parsnips, which don't really need frost protection, the straw is more to try and stop the ground from becoming too hard to dig them up. Having not yet tried any parsnips I only hope that whatever we find beneath ground warrants the straw blanket treatment.
A complete list of our October harvests here.
Once again I am linking to Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions.
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Beautiful harvest!
ReplyDeleteThank you Normala
DeleteYour "sparse" harvest is 100% better than anything I am producing right now lol. I am astounded that you are still picking strawberries - mine were done months ago, how on earth do you manage to keep them going for so long?
ReplyDeleteYour cut flowers look amazing too - again mine were done ages ago.
They are on;y the alpine strawberries, Linda which usually produce a few berries up to the first week of November unless we have an early frost The cosmos are hanging on in there.
Deleteamazing to think you are that much further north than me, my plot has been put to bed and you are still picking
ReplyDeleteI hope that we will have something to crop through winter, David as we haven;t started on the leeks, sprouts, red cabbage, savoy or parsnips yet.
DeleteI always dig up my carrots and store them in various ways. But we get a lot colder here. I know there are some people in the area that store them in the ground over winter, but it can freeze a long way down into the soil and it is hard to mulch that much. Plus I hate freezing my butt off going out and getting them.
ReplyDeleteOur carrots have survived in the ground every winter so far, Daphne even the harsh winter in 2010
DeleteDo you not find that much of the straw gets blown away? I would have expected you to need to net it.
ReplyDeleteIt does stay put, Mark even when it is very windy,
DeleteI'm a wee bit envious of anyone who can grow carrots. My soil is as dense as concrete, so there's not a chance for me.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried digging a trench to fill will compost and growing the short stumpy carrots, Lisa. Our soil is fairly heavy clay so we often get vizarre shapes but it doesn't affect the taste.
DeleteBeautiful harvests - especially drooling over the raspberries and strawberries...
ReplyDeleteThat's the last lot, Margaret so drool no more.
DeleteSoft fruits still! I'm amazed. Your carrots look fab.
ReplyDeleteJean
x
No more now, Jean :(
DeleteLovely flowers, and in November too. I'd like to try dahlias at the allotment next year, but in the past I've not been able to store them. Out of about six or seven only a couple of tubers survived. I have two in pots by the back door that I don't lift and they always survive, although they aren't particularly happy.
ReplyDeleteWhen we had a large dahlia bed . CJ we used to leave the tubers in the ground and cover with a pile of straw that was then covered with black polythene,
DeleteI'm amazed how much you are still harvesting, the cabbages look wonderful, I wish I had planted some! This reminds me that I should think of protecting my carrots and beets which are still in the ground.xxx
ReplyDeleteSoon there will ve a change in the type of crops harvested, Dina but hopefully still lots to come.
DeleteGreat little harvest.. we have grown great carrots this year, still have some in the ground too. Your last posy is very pretty.
ReplyDeleteThere's little can beat home grown carrots, Julie.
DeletePretty flowers Sue! I see you harvested good thick carrots, will you store them or eat right now?
ReplyDeleteI've stored some zucchini in Sept , today I had a look at them: one was rotten, it was pity!
We just dig them up as we need then Nadezda so they will be eaten fairly quickly - in fact some have already been eaten
DeleteMark asked the question I was going to, about the straw getting blown away. Very satisfying to still be eating so much allotment-grown food.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first used straw I did think wind would be a problem Janet but it's never been an issue.
DeleteAll that soft fruit! The birds have enjoyed the last of mine already and I think a muntjac deer ate the last of the sweetcorn. My allotment has been bedded down for the winter. Don't mind being cold gardening nearer to home .... fair weather woman!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely no more soft fruit Patricia
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