September Allotment Tour (Jennie’s Plot)

The squash and potatoes have finally been harvested on Jennie’s plot which is a big milestone and an opportunity for a big tidy up. The potatoes in particular have been very unruley, spreading out everywhere and making the paths impassable and shading the grass so much that it’s practically dead. In their place will go the onions, broad beans and garlic.

The area closest to the hedge I’m going to leave fallow until spring, when light levels improve, because it’s just too shady for anything to grow.

We have about 6 Butternut squash left for storing as it’s proved very popular at home and with friends and family during the summer. Everything else is proceeding to plan, the spring planted brassicas are still doing really well and even the summer broccoli continues to earn it’s keep with a plentiful supply of lovely leaves for steaming. The Kale and Kallets are also prodiving abundant leaves and the sprouts are ready for cropping when ever I am, which is not just yet as I have plenty on my plot. The last squash Uchiki Kuri is still ripening, we only have a dozen fruits, which I put down to the very late planting, at least 6 weeks later than would have been ideal.

The apples have been a disappointment, they’ve provided plenty to eat over the last month, but the vast majority have fallen to the ground, there’s not a single one left now that good enough for storing into winter, which means that we will be relying on our friends and neighbours, who let us pick theirs. Even the badly treated raspberries are providing a much needed source of snacks on these long autumn work days!

Finally the beans have overwhelmed us and so we are now leaving them to dry for next years seeds and to eat over winter, we have a well stocked freezer too. We grew Polestar, Firestorm, Cobra and Purple Cascade, I don’t recommend the latter purple bean, instead I prefer the drawf purple bean Amethyst.