Monday, November 7

Out after dark

Not a large harvest again as we have been out and about again and the days when we were free to go to the plot, the weather hasn't been encouraging.

 We are carrying out some major clearance and tidying work on the plot which meant we ended up with quite a heap of debris.

Our allotment rules state that we can only light bonfires an hour before dusk so as not to upset the neighbours or other plot holders. As, here in the UK, our clock were moved back one hour at the end of October meaning dusk moved forward an hour. Whilst the weather remained dry, on Monday we took the opportunity and the fact that Bonfire Night was close by to burn as much as we could.
31 October
Monday was also Halloween and so it wasn't without considerable risk that we remained at the plot after dark.


Debris disappeared in a puff of smoke and we managed a small harvest.

Yes that's another bucketful of quince and still more remains on the tree. It is likely that the remaining fruit will be past its best especially as last week saw the first frosts of winter.
It was challenging picking alpine strawberries in the gloom. To give you some idea of the conditions, at one point Martyn had to ring my mobile as he couldn't find me in the darkness. No doubt the frost will have damaged any strawberry flowers and brought that harvest to an abrupt end.

 I guess this may well be the last if the plot flowers too. The dahlia will definitely have been cut back by the frost.

The calendula is self sown and I just love the colour. I really must remember to collect seed. As it is growing in an isolated position I am hoping it will come true to the colour.
Having cleared the plot greenhouse, I was able to dig up and move the chrysanthemums under cover. As some have buds beginning to open I just managed to protect them from any potentially damaging frost and so my cut flower season will hopefully be prolonged.

We have been harvesting salad leaves from the garden but these are rarely photographed.


I harvested a handful of parsley to try cube freezing again.


This time I didn't dry the leaves before chopping and the frozen parsley did form cubes but the problem was that the cubes wouldn't come out of the ice cube trays easily. Still, never mind, I have some frozen parsley even if it isn't in cubes.




Posted by Sue Garrett at 9:01 am 33 comments

Friday, November 4

One day I WILL come out on top

We have a tayberry on the plot. We didn't plant it - it was inherited. There is only one way to describe it - it's a thug. Since we got rid of our thorny blackberry hedge, and planted instead a thornless blackberry, it has become my least favourite plant to deal with. That's putting it politely. The blackberry only relegated it into second place as there was far more of it.
Not only are the long canes equipped with lethal thorns but each year the plant produces new canes at an alarming rate. The new canes make it their mission to reach out and attack a busy gardener as he/she passes by and to crown it all the new canes hide the fruit making picking difficult. Although the blackbird has no problems.
Each year I am ruthless when pruning. I described my method in a previous post here. This year I have decided to be more ruthless than ever and have left very few canes in place.
On top of that I aim to attack any new shoots that appear with gusto even if it means a year without fruit the following year.

 I intend to cut all new shoots from the clumps above. There is another clump of root behind the shed that has been cut down completely. The idea is that I will allow a few new shoots to grow from that next year and so the clumps will in theory fruit in alternate years and also be more controllable. That's the theory and may not be the actual reality. So far it has been null point to me but one year I will triumph.
At least the wildlife loves it especially the bees.



Posted by Sue Garrett at 9:20 am 24 comments

Wednesday, November 2

Beamish Museum - County Durham





Posted by Sue Garrett at 9:00 am 27 comments
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