Community Garden Journal September 2019

It's been a busy month in the garden and lots of weather. We've had some lovely warm sunny days, usually when I am at work, or going out - the Cambridge meetup was an especially lovely September day. But when I am at home and wanting to do gardening jobs we've had rain and high winds.

A mild sunny day just now but more rain forecast for this afternoon.

Most things have been done, though: onions and potatoes have been harvested; shrubs and rose trees pruned; hedges and ivy cut back and growing beds prepared for winter planting.

Runner beans are still going strong and the last tomatoes are turning red. I'm keeping an eye on the night temperatures and leaving the tomatoes outside as long as I can to benefit from the last warm rays of the sun.

After summer feeding from my garden, I've gone back to organic fruit and vegetable box deliveries. I'm enjoying the anticipation of what will arrive in the box and concocting meals from the contents.

Jamie Oliver has a new series Meat-Free Meals, with ideas for making speedy tasty vegetarian meals. I don't go along with everything - Cauliflower Cheese Pizza Pie, for one - but he does encourage creative thinking.

Source I always want his kitchen, especially the pots of fresh herbs growing by the window. He prepares a couple of dishes in each programme, as well as making a little trip around the world to get ideas from how other people prepare vegetables. I especially enjoyed the trip to Israel and the feature on warm salads. One of the best things I did was buy a set of duck-billed tongs and a griddle pan - char-grilled vegetables (lettuce, radish) are delicious.

Onions

I grew two new crops this year: onions and potatoes. I can recommend onions, they were very easy to grow from sets (tiny seedling onions) and need little looking after. The only real task was keeping down the weeds.

Harvested onions and trimmings from the bay tree for drying and propagating.

I crocheted net storage bags for the onions, you can find the pattern here.

Half a dozen onions had been ravaged by garden creatures and a few were very small - I pickled these for Christmas. It was quite easy and they looked very pretty with added chillies, star anise and cinnamon sticks.

Potatoes

Some of these I planted in pots to harvest through the summer as "new" potatoes and the remainder I planted in larger containers and harvested in September. These were intended as maincrop potatoes to store through the winter and supplement the organic box deliveries which don't always have enough potatoes.

Harvesting container grown main crop potatoes over the weekend.

The pot grown new potatoes were a great success. Each 10L pot held enough small potatoes for three or four portions. The potatoes kept well in the pot until I was ready to harvest them and were delicious!

There was some additional work early on looking after them - taking them out in the morning and bringing them in at night when night temperatures were still very low (I guess I could solve this by having a frame or poly-tunnel to provide some protection) - the results were worth the work.

Source It was a different story with the container grown main crop potatoes. A large number of these had scab. One way of controlling this is to ensure the soil doesn't become too dry when the tubers are forming (more information here). There were some very dry conditions earlier in the year.

I will definitely try the pot grown new potatoes again. Next year, I think I will try main crop potatoes in the open ground and see if they fare better. A more acidic soil is also better for controlling scab, and crop rotation is going to become important to avoid problems - I'd better make some notes.

Other Crops

The last crops on the tomatoes are slowly turning red. These are a really delicious plum tomato and I also have some late crop beef tomatoes. I bought four plug plants this year from Victoriana Nursery and they've done very well. This seems a more cost effective way to get a variety of tomatoes and four plants produce enough tomatoes for the whole household.

Runner beans are still cropping, once they get going, there are lots! I may have to pickle a few. I'm leaving some pods on the vine to grow and dry and provide seeds for next year. I'm also still getting dwarf French beans. Beans are among my favourite vegetables, fresh and dried.

Herbs

I trimmed the bay and rosemary this year, the bay was getting very out of hand. I've dried most of the trimmings and taken some cuttings to propagate. I'm looking forward to taking some small plants to the plant exchange at the Botanic Garden next year.

I also have sage, several types of mint and thyme. I tried growing coriander from seeds I'd saved from last year but it was a terrible failure. Rocket and oregano survived from last year and have needed cutting down several times.

Flowers

Lavender has finished flowering and each of the little bushes we planted last year trimmed for the winter. There are still one or two to do in the main garden. I haven't taken a picture of the rose trees as they have been trimmed too and are mainly just stalks!

The pots and hanging baskets near the house have been re-potted with fresh compost for the dormant bulbs and some winter pansies. I'm always surprised by the scent of these and love having them around the doorways to the house. I have some wallflowers and hyacinths (both deliciously scented) waiting to be potted this afternoon.

Gardening Jobs

I've been busy clearing some of the beds ready to be sown with green manure for the winter. The tall leafy plant is a cardoon. This one has been chopped down once already - they grow to about seven feet with large thistle-like flowers that are very attractive to bees and insects. Apparently, you can eat the stems, but it is a bit of a palaver and they are very bitter. Maybe you are supposed to crop them earlier - perhaps when they are about this size.

I'll be planting some over-wintering crops in one of the beds. Since I got on so well with the onions this year, I've bought some red onion sets. The garlic was sitting right next to them on the display. One of the things I like about Wilko's is that you get good growing instructions on the packets.

I'm not sure whether this chilli plant is going to produce any fruit this year. It spent most of the summer looking very poorly (its two companions didn't survive at all) and then suddenly started to thrive. It will soon be time to bring it indoors to a sunny spot. The asparagus plants have suddenly started throwing up spears, too. Behind them you can see some Buddleia cuttings that are ready for potting. These are wonderful plants for bees and butterflies but tend to take over - they need a lot of space for their branches and long racemes of flowers.

We have a lot of trees surrounding the garden and sweeping paths will be a daily job for the next few weeks. I've also been trimming hedges and cutting back ivy. We cut the privet hedge that borders the garden in August, but it will need another trim before the winter season starts.

September is a really busy month in the garden, even when rain prevents you getting on with much. There always seems to be another job to do as twilight fades and you can't see anything. Lots of things - cleaning plant pots, organising materials - are getting left until October!

Community Garden Journal is hosted each month by @simplymike. Visit the latest post for more information and to find the stories of other gardens.