This month was busy with lots of ‘end of the growing season’ work to do at the allotments – cutting back the wildflower area and collectings seeds from that plot and the other flowers was
This month was busy with lots of ‘end of the growing season’ work to do at the allotments – cutting back the wildflower area and collectings seeds from that plot and the other flowers was a rewarding task. It was now time to do endless weeding and clearing the paths, while trying to find space to compost dead material. All year we have been composting our vegetable waste and are hoping for some “black gold” in the bin for next year! Continual hoeing and weeding seemed to be a recurring priority.
Bulbs have been planted in anticipation of next Spring and I have followed the advice of experienced gardening friends and planted onion sets, broad beans (an overwintering variety called aquadulce claudia), spring onions (white lisbon) and some winter hardy mini cabbages called vivaldi. I am also trying some barcelona cauliflower – all these vegetables are in the wooden troughs.
I really enjoyed setting up two mini wildllife ponds and by the end of october, signs of life were appearing and the plants around have taken well – more work to do , but en encouraging start!
We were still getting regular harvests of courgettes, chard, potatoes, herbs, rhubarb and raspberries and it is interesting to reflect on what has worked in our first year and what has not! Some vegetables may be more economical started as plug plants rather then packets of seeds. Like many other plot-holders we have seen an abundance of some vegetables and total failure of others!