Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
get started
My story
events
no dig day
no dig worldwide
blogs/articles
podcasts
Cart
0
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
September veg garden 2015

No dig, few weeds, lots to eat

The second half of August was wet and humid here, perfect for weeds to germinate in the summer warmth. So what happened here? Almost none germinated on my undug beds, just a few around the plot edges where there is no compost mulch. By contrast, many new weeds have germinated on the dug bed of my experiment.

I have a bed of leeks which I covered with mesh in June and the cover stayed on for two months without needing any weeding at all, the photo shows how it looked when I removed the mesh, temporarily, there are perhaps still some leek moths flying.

Perennial weeds are different and keep growing unless you have managed to starve their roots of food, either by repeated removal of new growth, or by light deprivation with compost or polythene mulch, see next section. Homeacres beds were full of perennial weeds in early 2013, now there are none except for a little weak bindweed.

Clean garden, little time spent weeding, its much easier!


‍

These leeks have grown under a mesh cover for two months without being weeded at all


‍

Carrot gtown in new bed of compost on pasture, its root managed to go into the soil


‍

Some of Steph’s dishes for a course lunch, there are so many vegetables to make dishes with

‍

Late blight

Warmth and humidity bring this on, so keeping leaves dry is the main remedy. Outdoor tomatoes are extremely difficult to ripen in wet summers and once blight is established, it often kills plants before tomatoes can ripen.

Its one of many reasons why polytunnels are so useful. Β I have only a very few leaves affected, and I remove them to compost (its safe to compost blighted leaves, fruits and roots). I am careful in damp, summer weather to water at soil level only, and to have no leaves touching the polythene.

Most of the action is now well clear of soil level, after I cut off old leaves and finished trusses. Almost no weeding needed. and I have not fed these tomatoes at all


‍

I needed to lower stems of these sBig Boy tomatoes so their tops were not touching damp polythene

‍

No late blight on Sarpo potatoes

I had a good harvest of Sarpo Mira potatoes on August 29th, helped by course participants, and there was no blight on their leaves. These potatoes grew on land reclaimed from weedy pasture with a 6in (15cm) compost mulch in December 2014, then polythene over the top in April when I planted the potatoes through slits in the polythene. All weeds are gone, including couch grass, but there is still field bindweed. Straight after harvesting the potatoes on August 29th, we planted mustards for autumn salad leaves. If I should have more of these leaves than needed, they make a good green manure.

Incidentally Sarpo potatoes will continue to grow through September and can be massive by October - but they risk becoming dry and starchy. Its reckoned that best flavour comes from harvesting now. They are tender, floury and taste good to me. Yield was equivalent to Charlotte but their top growth is unruly and spreads outward on long stems.

Cutting off the long stems so that we could roll the polythene back to find the harvest


‍

Many potatoes are on the surface, protected from light by the polythene: more were in the compost


‍

The harvest from 12 plants, not massive but worthwhile, and the ground is now almost clean


‍

After levelling the compost and shaping beds, they are straightaway replanted

‍

Course people here

Its a privilege to meet gardeners and growers from such varied backgrounds, all with a tale to tell and I learn a lot! On the recent weekend course Kevin Mascharenas brought his camera too (Samsung mirrorless) and a selection is below.

Kevin is helping to set up some vegetable growing near Spitsbergen, nearly 80 degrees north, where the trees are 2 inches high! Ambitious to say the least, and they are buying a geodesic dome. Currently they are only beginning http://polarpermaculture.com

Kevin Mascharenas turning compost on the course weekend


‍

Kevin’s shot of my Black Pearl aubergines which have been and are so productive


‍

Cavolo Nero kale on the dig, no dig beds


‍

Five month old lettuce Maryville di Verano, today I planted spinach around them

‍

Salads for autumn and winter

It is go, go, go.

Either you need to be planting outside now, from sowings made in the first half of August. I have final plantings to make of land cress, salad rocket, mustards and spinach. Also you can sow lambs lettuce outside asap.

Or sow seeds now, in modules, to plant undercover in October. In cooler areas sow asap. Here its milder and I sow mostly in the second week of September. I already sowed wild rocket and land cress because their seedlings are slow growing. See sowing timeline for details of what to sow now.

Chervil, spinach, land cress was pricked into modules 3 weeks ago


‍

Recent plantings of mustards & rocket, v quick into such clean soil


‍

Wild rocket this end after lettuce, planted 3 weeks ago

‍

Lettuce root aphid

In late summer, lettuce always suffer from grey root aphids, but this year it has been worse than usual, perhaps because of dry weather in early summer. Whatever, once they keel over there is no remedy and I do not know hoe to prevent it either. Young plants resist the aphids better so sowings in early July are reasonably reliable for August and September lettuce.

Another remedy is to eat less lettuce at this time, by sowing endive and chicory in early summer.

I am always tempted to sow mustards and salad rocket in July, but have learnt hard lessons over the years that these July sowings suffer a lot of flea beetle damage in August, and often flower in September - so its better to sow in early August, for cropping September onwards.

Suddenly a week ago these lettuce keel over, massive infestation of root aphid


‍

After removing them I replanted with endive, chicory and brassica salads, the aphids do not eat their roots


‍

I planted new lettuce on this bed where already there had been lettuce – and root aphid!


‍

Lettuce planted August 5th, picked once, in good health

‍

Slugs and snails

Reduce habitat as much as possible, so they have nowhere to hide by day. Keep edges tidy and as short as possible, have few weeds and remove lower leaves of vegetables as soon as they show any yellow. I do this mainly for Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli. I was impressed to find several snails hiding under a yellowing leaf of sea holly.

These were hiding under a yellowing leaf of Eryngium, sea holly


‍

I have removed the lower, yellowing leaves of these Brussels sprouts

‍

Β 

Compost making

Its a great time to turn a heap if you have finished one since the spring. I was lucky that Kevin was keen to do it! He reckoned the contents smelt a little anaerobic, for me that is normal at this stage and I find that the air introduced by turning sorts it out, being sure to break up any soggy lumps.

During the course we checked the temperatures of different heaps, with my foot-long thermometer, Β and I was surprised that the mushroom compost heap which I purchased a month ago, is still 45C. My current heap is 65C a foot in at the top, and still 50C on the edge near ground level, where it was filled three weeks ago, thanks to a decent proportion of green and brown, about two thirds to one third.Β 

Leigh and Kevin set to on a heap completed three weeks ago, was started 8 weeks ago


‍

The foot long thermometer is just above ground level and near the side


It reads 51C

‍

Share
Other posts you might like