| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Behemoth |
October: Sowing, Harvest and JobsOctoberAs promised here’s a prompt for what to do in autumn. It's not a complete list so please add any other tips and let us know what you are doing - what success and failures have you had? What are you planning now for winter and spring? I'll be deliberately running a month ahead so as to prompt you rather than remind you when it's too late, so I'm sure we'll have a bit of overlap on this month/next month. October could see the first of the frosts for the more northerly folk – here’s a link to some indicative frost maps: http://www.keirg.freeserve.co.uk/diary/tech/frost.htm October Sowings Outside Broad beans for an early spring crop – Aquadulce are a good overwintering crop or Sutton on exposed windy sites. So in mid/late October to harvest late may early June. Garlic – to harvest in July. Onions – up to early Oct ovever wintering sets can be planted to harvest in July Shallots – new atumn planting varieties such as Griselle. Plant in mid Oct to harvest in June. The good thing about these plantings is that you can follow them with French beans and the like after the frosts have past. Transplant spring cabbages sown in August to their growing site. Plant gooseberry and currant bushes, and raspberry canes any time until February Under cover You can sow mizuna and mibuna, land cress, lambs lettuce and oriental greens. A late sowing of kohl rabi can be sown in tubs and planted out in November for new year harvest. Sow perpetual spinach in tubs for transplanting. Half a dozen plants can produce a continual supply of leaves in early spring Onions – sets grown undercover will be ready by early march, try Radar. Carrots – sow an early variety such as Early Nantes or Amsterdam Forcing for a cheeky harvest of baby carrots in the spring. Lettuce Harvest Keep harvesting the summer produce up to the first frosts. Pumpkins and Squashes – I light frost will scorch the leaves but harvest them if a heavy frost is predicted. Cut the stem to leave ahandle which will help them to store longer, cutting the stem short can lead to rot. Apples and pairs – depending on your varieties Autumn raspeberries – if you can cover and protect from frost you can extend the harvest Carrots, beetroot. If you decide to leave these in the ground protect them with fleece. However if they show carrot fly damage (red tinges to the foliage) lift them. Late maincrop potatoes. Green Broccoli and Romanesco, Brussels Sprouts may be ready depending on variety, some will be better for the first frost you wait for frost, Cabbage (Savoy and Red), Rocket, Swede (also sweeter if you wait for frost), main crop Turnips. Your first leaks may be ready. Swiss Chard – it just keeps going. Last cutting of comfrey (for compost heap). General Tasks Plan your winter digging for next year. On his very informative site Gavin says: “On established plots, a lot of older, "traditionalist" gardeners will take the chance of pleasant weather up to mid-November to dig the ground over, leaving the soil bare over winter. Back in the days of colder harsher winters, this made sense as you would clean off any plants harbouring pests and disease, and expose soil-borne problems such as slug eggs to hungry winter birds. However, this also allows winter rains to leach minerals and nutrients out of the soil; what digging I do now is much later - in January or February, preferably just before really cold spells. More and more though, I will have sown a green manure or laid a mulch of manure to give ground cover through a mild winter; this will be forked in come late February or March. Alternatively, I might fork in compost from the heap. For a new plot, however, I would want to get as much ground under crops next season and happily spend these six weeks digging and clearing new beds.” Clean up beds - especially any finished crops which could harbour disease/pests such as the last of those old beans and the squash. Herbs Tidy up herbs, including perennials before the first frosts. Pot some mint, chives, parsley for the winter kitchen window sill. Put tender herbs into pots and bring inside (eg French Tarragon) and protect tender ones such as angelica, lovage and sweet cicely. Bay trees in pots should be brought in. Fruit Plant gooseberry and currant bushes, and raspberry canes any time until February. Plant new strawberry plants. Cutaway old growth from loganberries and blackberries and tie new canes to wires. If you want try ‘tip rooting’. Bend the growing tip of the plant down and bury it in 1 inch of the soil, it may need pegging. It will take root and be a stand alone plant which can be transplanted. Weed around soft fruit and mulch with compost. It helps keeps the weeds down and the worms can work it in. Start pruning bush fruits at leaf fall. The best prunings can be used for hardwood cuttings. Pick up and destroy diseased and fallen fruits. Over to you….. |
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| Northern_Lad |
Important October jobs also include making the C..........s cake and/or pudding. | ||||
| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
chilli plants can be overwintered if careful, but you need to protect them from frost.
If you have a bonfire to tidy up, do check that Horace Hedgehog hasn't taken up residence before lighting. |
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| Behemoth |
Get thee to homeliness and handicrafts 
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| Northern_Lad |
Your socks don't need darning again, do they?  I hope you've washed them this time 
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| gil |
and the sloe gin / other liqueurs for Hogmanay..... don't know whether i'm glad or sorry that here in the upland frost pocket that I call home, it is not really possible to overwinter anything. You know how when the (Scottish) weather forecast says 'and with temperatures falling to minus x degrees in some highland glens'... Well, that's what the local microclimate is like. as I mentioned on another thread, the first frost was last week. the perpetual spinach didn't like it one bit. the last snow can be in may / june. and there are very few berries on the trees. |
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| Mrs Fiddlesticks |
We need to add for gbst -
Find thermals and repair if necessary and fill hip flask with best malt.. |
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| gil |
absolutely !
the thermals are always to hand (woolly vests, and long johns). though the whisky tends to lurk in the cupboard from one year to the next. much as I like a decent malt occasionally. However, there's nothing like hot toddy on a cold night. [happy memories of living in Ireland and being able to order a hot whiskey in the pub : whiskey, slice of lemon stuck with cloves, optional sugar, and hot water - how civilised] other things to ingest for keeping warm : plenty of cayenne and ginger. Napiers, the Edinburgh herbalists, do a tincture of (I think) those two plus bayberry, which is good made into a hot drink with honey and lemon. some stuff does 'overwinter' here, now I think about it : sprouts, cabbage, kale, and purple sprouting in a mild year. and some herbs. so not quite as grim 
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| Mr BlueSky |
Thanks for your efforts here Behemoth!
It is very useful to have this wealth of information in advance of needing it. I was wondering about when to put my spring onions out. Interesting to know that the Khol-rabi can still go in late in the year ... we have had a very tasty crop already. Looking forward to the next update ... S |
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| ninac |
Thank you very much for this, most useful particularly for us begginers. I though I would have to wait till spring to start planting, but as I have a polytunnel I may be able to put some things in at the end of the month, how exciting, thanks again
ninac |
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| 2steps |
thank you 
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| hermil |
Here in Manchester it can get cold (obviously) but the main reason I don't plant things now to overwinter is because it's wet and soggy. I find 3 or 4 months of angst over whether things have been eaten in milder spells by slugs, or given up the ghost in colder spells, isn't worth it just to get crops 2 weeks earlier IF you are lucky. We had a cold snap this spring which set everything back as it was. I'd rather start after Christmas with a bit more enthusiasm. If I lived further south I'd probably give it a go. |
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| giraffe |
another seasonal job I did a couple of days ago - pick lavender flowers which have dried naturally on the bush to make lavendar bags to hang on your coathangers in the wardrobe, hang in the loo etc. This really reduces your need for chemical air fresheners and scented fabric softeners. Lavender is reputedly calming so I always hang it with my work suits.
Don't bother buying fancy material specially- any old bits of cotton clothing will do along with bits of ribbon / wool you have knocking about the place. I used an old pale blue skirt of mine with tiny blue flowers on the fabric so the bags look really cute. I also made flat lavendar sachets to put inside our pillow cases (put in the side nearest the bed otherwise you will be overcome by the smell!) and now I'm sleeping like a baby... |
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| Res |
I cant believe the speed at which the plot has gone from being full and needing watering alot, to it being cleared bare (nearly) and soggy  It just seems to have happened so fast, or is it me 
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| Behemoth |
It's you, the rest of us have acres of sprouts, cabbage, kale and PSB to come.
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| Res |
Blimey ACRES!!!!?
Gonna get windy round your way 
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| Behemoth |
Helps with the suggestion for Novemeber jobs of fumigating the greenhouse. | ||||
| Res |
Wouldnt you get into trouble with the council, using chemical warfair in a public allotment site? |
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| Behemoth |
No one's lived to tell
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| Res |
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