Haricot beans ‘Brown Dutch' were dry and ‘strawy' enough to pull up by the roots and take home to hang on a string in the sun. Here
they will dry and ripen protected from birds and squirrels by the
watchful local moggies until ready to thresh out the seeds for storing
for winter soups and stews.
Once
the beans were recovered large weeds, which were rather numerous in the
bean patch, were pulled up and the soil raked over with a home-made
‘mulcher'. This is three pronged cultivator with
a wire attached to the prongs to sever weed roots and loosen soil
without inverting the surface layer. The idea is
to kill all weeds but leave any weed seeds on the surface to germinate
rather than bury them and make them dormant to be a problem in future
crops. The weeds will be dug in as ‘fertiliser' next spring.
The
roots and the crop debris was raked up and consigned to the bonfire
along with the desiccated weeds and potato debris. Most garden waste
is composted but the compost pits are brimful and with many crops on
the verge of clearing I might as well burn weed seed rich material and
diseased potato waste. The fires are set on a plot of raspberries
scheduled for clearing this autumn. Once fire has done its work
digging should be easy.
Lifting potatoes continues with ‘Cosmos' and ‘Charlotte' second earlies being gathered. ‘Cosmos' is a heavy cropping, pest and disease resistant toughie and it yielded a huge crop of baking size spuds. ‘Charlotte' is a salad potato of excellent quality for all but mashing. But it is low yielding and prone to problems. Some of the crop looked especially light and I suspect potato cyst nematode to be involved. Rotation is the only answer. ‘Cosmos' will be stored for winter and ‘Charlotte'
will be consumed first. ‘Red Laure', a French main crop of great beauty
and good flavour was also lifted. As is usual with these ‘funnies' the
yield was light, half that of ‘Cosmos' but it is trying these different
things that makes life interesting. As each
trial pack of ‘funnies' won't make up a full row, the ends are made up
with ‘Ambo' that as usual produced a huge crop of bakers.
Beetroot,
cabbages, celery, celeriac, leeks, runner beans, swedes, turnips and
sweetcorn were watered as the dry spell continues. However
dryness has greatly eased the tillage required to get the ground ready
for autumn planting broad beans, garlic, onions, peas and shallots.
The
dry crumbly ex-potato ground was raked level with a metal rake, trodden
to remove any hollow patches that will sink over winter and then raked
again to make the soil perfectly smooth and level. This is easy work when the soil is dry and light to work.
Over-wintered
crops are grown through black plastic mulching sheets to prevent those
winter weeds that are so hard to hoe. For good results the sheet must
lie tight against the soil, the soil must be very level and be firm
enough to securely hold the sets and seeds, but not compact and
inpenetrable to roots. I think that I have got a good result this year and look forward to planting onion sets soon.
As
usual a weekly 'weed patrol' round the plot yielded six bucketfuls of
weeds found lurking in crops and beneath bushes, but with every patrol
the plot gets cleaner and cleaner. And with ground becoming free of
crops the weeding becomes easier and easier.
Harvesting continues as usual with a great surplus of French beans and courgettes. Courgette ‘Lunga Fiorintino' has superb texture and flavour and has taken over from the spent ‘El Greco' and ‘Ibrida' sowings for the early autumn crop.
Dwarf
French bean 'Purple Cropper Teepee' is being picked, but with the end
of the season in sight the plants are pulled up and stripped making
harvesting quick and easy. Climbing french bean 'Goldfield with big,
flat tender, well-flavoured yellow pods is especially valuable. Its
yield is not as good as climbing purple beans that it has succeeded but
the quality is superb.
A
second flush of cucumbers was picked, useful, if belated crops of
‘Ferline' beefsteak tomatoes were gathered, more peppers plucked and
sweetcorn picked as well. The sweetcorn is incredibly delicious now.
These late
summer vegetables are forming the basis of successive fresh vegetable
pasta dishes with my over-wintered garlic and onions and plenty of
fresh basil. With such an abundance of ingredients I like to make
vegetable lasagne as the best way of freezing the late summer surplus.
Most
of the squashes have now been collected and taken home to safety after
squirrels ruined my best pumpkin by tunnelling inside to eat the seeds. They look very attractive arranged on my patio. At
the moment there is an embarrassment of crops maturing with the autumn
cabbages, celery, leeks and turnips ready to cut but with cooler,
moister, duller weather forecast I am hoping they will hold in good
condition.