Again we made just a couple of visits to the allotment last week but we didn't come away empty handed.
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| 1 October |
It's turned quite cold now so I don't think we will be picking any more tomatoes from the plot. The lack of blight this year has reminded us of why we grow some tomatoes outdoors. Some years ago before we had a greenhouse on the allotment we grew most of our tomatoes outdoors. At this time there were more overgrown plots than those being gardened and we were surrounded by head high weeds. I often think that this meant blight didn't spread as much as there were fewer host plants. I think it is also why tomatoes grown at home are less affected. In general I think there were less pests and diseases evident on the allotment.
We have maybe also collected the last of our apples, although there are still plenty of windfalls left for the birds to enjoy.
Most probably we have picked our last bunch of cut flowers. Last night the temperature plummeted so I am expecting the flowers to have been cut back, especially the dahlias which soon succumb to any frosty weather.
I did manage to gather more dried flower material so at least my collection should make a start to a pot pourri mixture.
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| 5 October |
We've now picked all the quinces from our Meeches Prolific quince tree. It certainly lived up to its name. It usually produces a good crop, however this year it has produced the best crop ever. We have harvested 32.6kg, (nearly 72lb). With freezers already bursting at the seams, space will need to be found for quince compote. Martyn has already made two large quince crumbles.
After a year without carrots, we are really pleased with this year's crop. So far we have only lifted one variety - Early Market - so we are hoping that the other varieties are as good. It seems all the watering has paid off here.
We have a Madeleine Sylvaner grapevine growing along one side of our shed. Up until this year the grapes have never really swelled to a size worth picking. This year the vine produced an abundance of grapes. I removed about half but we were still left with lots. This year I watered it more often, maybe in the past I haven't watered the vine enough or maybe it has just enjoyed this summer's weather.
Whatever the reason, this year the grapes swelled to a usable size so we picked them. We are not wine makers so now we have to decide what to do with them. Is there such a thing as grape compote?
Notice the single strawberry nestling on a vine leaf. It's been a poor strawberry year for us. We bought some new plants which were supposed to fruit this year. They didn't, but produced lots of runners, some of which I potted up. These have been growing on at the allotment but we decided to bring them home so that they could spend winter in a cold frame.
I have bemoaned the fact that our potato harvest has been pathetic this year. This opinion has been echoed by many other growers and in the main we have put this down to lack of water and our decision not to water our potato plants.
Reports of potato shortages featured in the news last week and a farmer suggested that the main problem for potato growers this year had been the heat more than anything else. He said potatoes stopped growing at 25C (77F)
I decided to follow this up and a search of Google resulted in lots of links to scientific papers showing results of heat on potato growth.
Sifting through all the science it seems that the top growth of potato plants is at its best when the temperatures are between 20C and 25C (68F and 70F) but that for tubers to grow well the temperatures need to be lower between 15C and 20C (59F and 68F) On top of all this tubers won't be triggered to develop if temperatures are between 23C and 30C (73.4 and 86F). The worst time for the plants to be subjected to being too warm is apparently the first half of June when most days our temperatures were 20+C (68+F). In July no days fell below 20C (68F) On top of all this lack of moisture makes the situation worse.
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| 20 August |
So from this I conclude that even if we had watered our potato plants, the heat this summer would have meant that out harvest would have been poor and that we would have still had few larger potatoes. It sort of makes me feel better.
It looks like we'll be eating more rice and pasta this year.
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