28/9/25 - Putting Some Beds to Bed
Over the last 6 to 8 weeks or so, I've had a few problems with my ankles, meaning that I haven't been able to spend as much time on the plot as I've wanted to. Or at least, I've had to lay off the bigger jobs. That's meant no mowing or strimming on my own plot, or around the communal areas, no digging and no heavy lifting. Last weekend saw a significant improvement and so I have been able to start moving around much better. So, this weekend has been really productive!
It all started on Friday evening when at last, I could get mowing starting with the communal areas on the southern side of the site. I usually mow every couple of weeks through the season, but this summer has been so dry that grass and undergrowth just hasn't been growing. But since the rain has come back, everything has shot up. With the boundary areas sorted on Friday, it meant I could concentrate on my own plot again for a while.
While mowing, I saw that we had taken our first delivery of digestate for the season, so while waiting for the mower and strimmer to cool, I took the chance to barrow some digestate onto the beds which have already been cleared.
Fast forward to this morning, and another stunning morning. I had nothing planned other than spending more time on the plot. First up for the day was something that I have wanted to do for the last 6 months, but haven't been able to. And that was to turn the manure heap from one bay into the other. It allowed me to see what sort of state the pile was in and how much it has rotted down over the summer. While moving the muck, I layered the spent compost from the early crop potato buckets in amongst it. Over the winter, this should continue to rot down. I don't know if I will use it by the spring, or if I will need to leave it a while longer. But, having moved the manure from one bay to another, I am left with an empty bay again. Maybe it's time to hitch up the trailer and visit the stables again...?
After moving the manure around the bays, it was time for a brew, and a look around at what else needed doing. This season, I have had a trellis made from some old Heras fencing to grow cucumbers on. It was a great success, but I next year, I am looking at growing autumn raspberries in that area. To make room, I removed the trellis and pulled out the poles, fed the ground with some blood, fish and bone, and some chicken manure before watering it all in with a couple of cans of water. Finally, I covered it over with weed membrane until the raspberries arrive later in the autumn.
While I had the bag of weed membrane coverings out, I set about covering the rest of the beds that had been mulched down with digestate. The membrane seems to do well keeping the weeds down, but importantly it also seems to allow a certain amount of moisture through too. While working the plot, I did strike up a conversation with a fellow plot holder on the digestate that we use to feed our soil. It's an interesting conversation and there is plenty of research being done, with papers being produced on how adding digestate to soil affects soil health. The conversation then followed on to talk about if it was deemed organic or not. Those discussions themselves could probably fill these blogs pages with endless debate. Nevertheless, we both agreed that adding it over the last couple of years seems to have made a big difference for the better.
With most of the heavier work around the plot completed, it was time to turn some attention to the larger polytunnel. The first move was to bring out the last remaining aubergine plant. It has produced two more fruits since it's first harvest of one fruit earlier in the season. But the remaining two haven't done much and the plant seemed to be starting to die back, so I decided to bring it out. Down the left side of the tunnel, I'd planted some broccoli a couple of weeks ago, and they have taken really well. But the whitefly have found their way in, and so I have deployed some sticky yellow cards in an effort to keep them in check. I don't know why, perhaps the hot dry weather this year, but the whitefly have been particularly prevalent this year resulting in some pretty bad damage on the sprouts (ended up pulling those up and getting rid of them) and also the rest of the brassicas to one degree or another.
Elsewhere in the polytunnel, the carrots are now ready to harvest, but I still have some outside in the bathtub to pick first. The sweet peppers though are proving to be quite surprising. After an initial good first harvest, they flowered again and all 4 plants now have more fruit on them. Which is great. Sort of. By now, I was thinking that the plants were going to be coming to the end and I would be pulling them up. But not so!
The other issue I have is my 5 chilli pepper plants. They have taken an age to produce fruit. And, now they have fruit (and have done for the last couple of months) they are just not ripening at all. In truth, if all the chilli's ripened, I wouldn't use a vast majority of them. I only grew them as I was given the seed and wanted to give them a go. Now, I have 4 quad grow pots growing in a space where I was hoping to have a winter supply of cauli getting their feet into the ground. I've decided to give them another week to see if there is any sign of ripening. If not, I'll take them all out, move the sweet peppers onto the central path of the polytunnel until they ripen, and then get the ground dug over ready for the winter crop.
To finish the day off, aside from more talking with fellow plot holders, I weeded a couple more beds which has needed doing for the last few weeks, before then giving the plot one last look over and check-up. The crops that remain in the ground are all doing very well to be honest. The sprouting broccoli, red cabbage, swede, parsnip, chard and late beetroot all seem to be still going well. The very late leeks are still standing tall, and hopefully they will come on through the winter.
In the smaller polytunnel the pak choi is looking really well, and I expect that will be ready to start harvest next week. The small lettuce plugs are also growing well. I'm just waiting for them to explode into life. The watermelon plant is now sadly beginning to look like it's past it's best, but I have some trays of plants ready to put into the mini tunnel when that comes out.
A last harvest for Sunday dinner saw a couple more carrots come out the bath, a parsnip and a cauliflower to go with the couple of aubergines and a small watermelon rounded the day off nicely. There is one more large watermelon left to harvest, with a smaller one still on the vine, but I don't think that will have time to reach maturity before the temperatures fall consistently back into overnight single figures again.
So a big update for you there. I'm feeling a lot more on top of the plot now I've been able to get out on my feet a lot more. I've got a job list of things to do over the coming week after work if I have the chance to. Mostly in the polytunnel, and then it will be onto some winter maintenance!
Thanks for reading :-)
