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Weekend 7 October
On the plot
The weather this weekend has been lovely – in fact much better than it was in July.
Clearing of the plots is really underway now, with many crops being over and done with. Digging is quite hard going as the heavy rain followed by really dry period has left the ground rock hard. The soil (if it can be called that), really holds fast to weed roots.
The whiteflies are still much in evidence – maybe a keen frost if we get one will wipe them out. I don’t think the mild winters that we have had recently have helped us – but they have certainly helped the whitefly.
This weekend we seemed to have a couple of swarms of wasps showing great interest in our laurel bushes. Not sure what they found so interesting about them?
Continue to find plenty of fresh vegetables and salad for the kitchen and still picking raspberries, blackberries and alpine strawberries although the blackberries and raspberries are showing signs that they will not be producing much more fresh fruit.
The chrysanthemum cuttings taken at the beginning of the year only produced smallish plants. The one or two flowers that are blooming are really short and no use for a vase. I think I am going to dig them up and pot them up to try and encourage stronger plants for next year. Last year they produced some really good sprays of flowers for indoors last year but it looks as though I am going to be disappointed this year.
In the garden
Picked some more pears off the tree in the garden.
There are still lots of fruit falling from the John Downie crab apple tree and bombarding the plants growing underneath.
The Michaelmas’ daisies continue to flourish with not a sign of mildew. Apparently the conditions that we have ‘suffered’ this summer are not conducive to mildew – I suppose there had to be something positive about our strange ‘summer’.
This year I planted some gladioli in the garden which were supposed to be smaller varieties. I think that they were called butterfly gladioli. I thought would look good in the borders. The flowers were smaller than those grown on the plot but the stems were just as tall and really needed some support. They don’t really suit our borders so it looks like they will be travelling to the allotment next year!
In the green house
The strawberry runners taken earlier – now hopefully well rooted have been moved into the greenhouse for some protection over winter.
Moving in with them were the new rhubarb plants bought this year. Varieties are Fulton’s Surprise and Giant Grooveless Crimson. We already have some rhubarb growing on the plot but wanted to try some different varieties. A couple of plants stubbornly continue to grow in our paths in spite of us continually trying to dig them out. There always seems to be a piece that survives! Some people complain that rhubarb is a difficult plant to get established! We do live in the rhubarb triangle so maybe there are some magical powers at work.
Out and About
The trees along the motorway and in the gardens at work are starting to look really spectacular in their autumn livery. The horse chestnuts are shedding lots on shiny conkers. Didn’t I read somewhere that playing conkers was considered too dangerous for children nowadays?
