September update: protect veg, when to harvest, growth examples by sowing date, seed age & sowings

The weather has been difficult but manageable, apart from damage to climbing beans. Leafy crops have enjoyed the rain and lack of sun more than fruiting ones.

However September’s second half looks quiet and perhaps warmer, as often happens. It's time to make last salad sowings, and some exciting harvests.

Chinese cabbage grows SO fast, this was planted four weeks earlier, I am tidying old leaves

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Photo of 18th August, before first pick of lettuce

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Same view four weeks later

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Apple Ingrid Marie on M9 rootstock, fifth summer from one year maiden

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Veg protection

You need to know your pests:

• every site is different
• pests vary according to time of year
• pests vary according to vegetable

I find useful protection from anti-bird netting which lasts many years: it’s quick to lay over and then remove for weeding or picking. The other main product is white mesh: a 2.1m width works for most veg or 3.6m for tall crops like carrots at the moment, against root fly. Fleece is more fragile and best for weather protection. The link is to 30gsm grade, worth the extra money compared to 17gsm which often serves for one use only.

19 days after planting calabrese and we are about to remove the net

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Same calabrese after another 40 days, heads for October, no net but Bacilluss thuringiensis applied v. caterpillars

Palla Rossa hearts, no protection needed now but I netted the young plants against rabbits

Rabbits have chewd through the poorly supported net, they love baby leaves

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Summer run turns to autumn crawl - timings matter for sowing

It’s late now for spring greens, kale, spinach and spring onions, just possible in areas with mild winters. However plants will be smaller in winter and more prone to pest damage. Autumn salads such as mizuna, lambs lettuce and mustards are sometimes worthwhile from sowing mid September.

However the main sowings now are for salads to grow undercover: the main ones here are Grenoble Red lettuce, endive, Medania spinach, mustards, claytonia, land cress and chervil. Steph’s blog has tips on sowing and harvesting, see this one on what to sow for winter and when.

Spring onions, mutisown modules for planting outside in late September

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Many kale varieties in this bed, nice selection of flavours and hardiness, sown early July

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Lettuce seeds 6 days of different age, left to right is 2015, 2016, 2017

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Kale planted late June, mustards just planted after clearing cumumber which had followed spinach

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Running out of space

I find the garden is crammed full in late summer, more than at any other time, so where to put new plantings? Interplanting helps such as spinach, rocket and mustards between lettuce that are approaching their final few weeks of picking.

This week, after clearing carrots and spreading compost, we popped in chervil and coriander where I plan to plant garlic in October. The herbs will give some autumn leaves, may survive winter and give leaves in the early spring as well, all without bothering (perhaps helping) the slow-to-start garlic. In early May I shall twist out any remaining herbs.

I interplanted rocket between the Bijou lettuce to gain time and space

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Planting chervil and coriander, in a month we shall plant garlic cloves between them

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1 Celebrating autumn’s possibilities

When you sow in summer, at specific times, the results happen quickly. For example turnips in seven weeks from sowing to golf ball size.

Removing mesh cover at three week stage: leeks, fennel, pak choi, kohlrabi, turnips

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Turnips sown 42 days earlier on 31st July, they are delicious

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Mustards and rocket sown 3rd August, photo 12th September after removing mesh cover

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2 Veg for autumn and early winter

Slightly slower to grow are chicories for hearts, sown mid June to mid July, for cropping September to November or later. This red cabbage was sown in May, leeks in April, and all the veg in the garden photo are second crops, apart from parsnips and asparagus.

Mustards and rocket sown 3rd August, photo 12th September after removing mesh cover

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Chicories of earlier planting front, later is behind and for winter harvests

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Leek Philomene and asparagus fifth summer, now has huge crowns

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All second plantings in this pic except parsnips & leeks at top left

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3 Veg for late winter & hungry gap

Purple sprouting broccoli is a great standby for spring. I tried sowing it even later than usual, but think that my late June sowing looks a little small… so mid June is perhaps last call, for big plants.

Celeriac needs sowing in March to look like these roots which will store until April, by which time the asparagus will be cropping again.

Claret purple sprouting broccoli sown 26th June, after broad beans

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Celeriac Prinz sown mid March, planted 20th May,, not deleafed

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Asparagus fifth summer, has needed almost no weeding

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Beans

It looks doubtful that all the beans will find enough warmth to mature, for a harvest of beans rather than pods. After a harvest of larger beans to dry, it may be a mid October harvest of smaller beans to eat fresh.

Winter veg coming along nicely, Brukale/Flower sprout/Kalette on left

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Czar runner beans for seed, need, windblown and needing some fine weather

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Winter squash

Readiness for harvest is shown by leaves dying and the squash stems going first yellow then brown. If you want to store winter squash but harvest when the stem is still juicy, put them somewhere very warm (24-30C/75-85F) so the skins harden and moisture sweats out.

Czar runner beans for seed, need, windblown and needing some fine weather

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Czar runner beans for seed, need, windblown and needing some fine weather

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Small space for growing

Do read Rhys Jaggar’s blog, growing on 50m2 in London. He is achieving large and regular harvests, in particular by looking after and improving his soil. See Your No Dig Gardens and send some photos of before and after if you wish to be included on that page.

Experiments

My dig/no dig experiments at Homeacres and Lower Farm show that vegetables mostly grow more strongly and healthily on the no dig beds, for less effort and time needed. In the comparison of two beds 5x16ft/1,5x5m, the no dig bed needs 4 hours less time per year than the dug bed.

The quality of harvests is sometimes different, for example the root vegetables from undug soil come out cleaner, and I see less slug damage to the no dig vegetables.

Another trial in it’s fifth year is three strips 6.5x29ft/2x9m with identical veg. The six small beds of one strip (on left in photo) have their soil forked 11in/27cm deep every winter, akin to broad forking. Yields are generally lower every year after the forking; full results to follow. I suspect it’s because of the damage to soil’s fungal network.

Kohlrabi in old cow manure at back, fresh horse manure at front – and the weeds!!!!!

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Dug bed on left, no dig on right 10.9.2017

Three strip trial, forked beds left strip, other two no dig

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Tomato blight

Since mid August there has been a lot of blight happening. Spores are always in the air at this time of year, they just need wet leaves to land on. However they can survive only on living tissue, so it’s safe to compost blighted debris even in cold compost heaps, except for potatoes which may partly survive.

My polytunnel tomatoes are much afflicted, but the greenhouse tomatoes are fine, and outdoors the Res, Primabella etc are still cropping nicely, see previous post.

Vintage Wine, last harvest as few leaves remain unblighted

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More fruit than leaves so the flavour is less fine

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How I prefer to see tomatoes at this time, v little blight here

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Melon et al

This crazy melon tasted delicious, although the skin is think!

The photo of Homeacres 13.9.17 is for those of you with our new book to compare, the same view in 2016 at this time.

Steph with Prescotts Fond Blanc, a late ripener

At least we know how to pick

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View one year after the photo on No Dig Organic Home and Garden

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Apples

Apples are ripening so early, I worry that they won’t store so well. My best hope is Jonathan, a small red apple, and the trusty Red Windsor too. I hope the Jonathan will stay unripe until October, currently they are unripe/sharp and holding on.

Apple tree line, trees in fifth summer

Lord Lambourne, penstemon I sowed in APril

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Organic plants

For those who buy plants from Delfland nurseries I have a photo of the owners Jill and John, and Jill’s father who was curious to see how no dig works. He is 89 and had thought of ditching his spade, but after seeing the crops and methods at Homeacres, he is fired up to continue. Maybe he will still ditch his spade, not to mention fork.

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