The British Curse

4 comments

The Weather.

No matter how good or bad the weather is we’ll always feel compelled to comment about it. Everything from complaining about how hot or how cold it is, how wet or how dry it is, all the way to how we don’t get the snow we used to. So now it’s my turn.

This isn’t really a complaint more an observation.

When it comes to weather we are an unpredictable island. We don’t really have consistent weather patterns so we have to make the best of what we are given, the time we get and make the most of everything. The sun is rising later and later. At the moment it’s rising at about 6am up here in North Yorkshire. The weather is nice and sunny and warm during the day, dropping to quite cool in the night. Mind you the sun rises are very nice now…

And at this time of year I start thinking about harvesting and storing what vegetables I need to, and what ones I can leave in the ground. Normally I could leave this train of thought for a month until October when things really start to turn, but unfortunately for me I have to face 2 facts that will put the proverbial spanner in the works.

Fact 1 – The rugby season has started and this will start to take days if not weekends out of the allotment equation, and when you work all week, the weekends is all you have to do things.

Fact 2 – I am being sent to various places (Birmingham, Gateshead, Exeter for starters) but it is time away from the plot which means I can’t keep an eye on it, may have to play catch-up and am definitely at the mercy of the weather.

So I am looking at what is left on the plot and what I need to do about them. This is what I have left growing:

Sweetcorn
Any cobs I have on the plants will be picked by the end of September and either used or frozen. It will mean that I have had nearly 2 months of sweetcorn so I am happy at that. The corn is looking a little sparse now …

Butternut squash
I can leave these for a few more weeks and hope that the weather is warm enough to ripen them. If they don’t ripen by the end of September then I’ll have had 2 disappointing years for them, they get one more years chance.

Pumpkins
I can definitely leave these till later in the year. They won’t hurt till the end of October (although I will be on holiday by then!). One of them is for a friend for Hallowe’en and one for me for storage/chutney/pie/soup.

Courgettes
These are coming to the end of their lives but are still cropping 5 or 6 a week, so I shall leave them for now. When they start to get mildew and begin to rot off, then I shall have them up (probably in the next few weeks). I may leave a few for marrows.

Beetroot
Although I have got through over half of them already, and already pickled a lot of them, I shall have these up this weekend and store them or make some chutney from them. They need lifting before it gets too wet or too cold. That’s a weekend job.

Carrots
I’ll leave these in the soil and take what I need as we go. It is possible to leave these in the soil, but they do need some protection from the cold and wet, but I prefer to take them up and store them if I have to. Mind you they are really tasty at the moment so I doubt that they will last that long.

Parsnips
These can stay happily without me doing anything. Whether or not they need the first frost before you pull them I don’t know but they are fine.

Turnips
These can stay happily without me doing anything. They are still very weedy, but hopefully they’ll fill out

Swede
These can stay happily without me doing anything. I think some of them are ready for eating, but it doesn’t seem right yet as it’s still sunny and warm out there.

Leek
These can stay happily without me doing anything. I’ve dug these up from heavy snow or frost and had to thaw them out before cutting them. These will be fine. I have had one go to seed already, so that is quite disturbing, but it does mean I can start to harvest them. Like the swede I think of these as winter veg and it feels odd contemplating eating them when it is sunny and warm.

Kale and Cabbages
These can stay happily without me doing anything. I’ll harvest them as and when. We may have a big red cabbage session where we’ll prepare a large batch of red cabbage and then freeze it in portions.

Late potatoes
I’ll need to get some fleece to cover these and protect them from any frost we may have, but that is about it. With a bit of luck they should be ready by about the first weekend in December. Sadly I had to pull up one of the late spuds in a tub. The foliage was dying back very badly.

Well I hope all of you are having successful crops. Enjoy the weather whatever you are doing…

• 21 Sep, 2009
• 8 likes

More blog posts by muddy_knees