October 2012 update
This is the first of what will hopefully be a regular monthly newsletter from the Growers Committee. For those of you who may not be on the plot every week, we will let you know how Lotti is doing, what we are harvesting, etc. We will also let you know what needs to be done over the next few weeks, particularly at the monthly working days and some of the longer term developments we are thinking about.
September on Lotti
The weather in September has followed the pattern of most of the summer. Lots of showers with longer periods of rain! Perfect weather for rapid weed growth and slugs and poor for ripening produce.
It has been a difficult year for growing and crops have generally done much worse than previously. There have been some successes however:
· Our experiment of growing carrots in baths of sandy loam has produced good looking and straight carrots.
· The purple climbing beans have been prolific.
· The cherry tomatoes taste amazing.
· The early potatoes were good and eelworm free.
· We have some good peppers and chills in the poly
Disappoints:
· Onions and garlic much smaller yields than last year.
· Many of the main crop potatoes have rotted in the ground (we must try to lift them earlier!).
· The slugs devoured the dwarf beans and most of the courgettes and squash.
· The tomatoes are very slow to ripen. The yellow variety looks great but lack taste.
· The mice have eaten all the broad beans again.
· The Aubergines are tiny and damaged by the slugs.
Recent Activities.
Clearing beds where crops have finished. Green manure sown in the some of these beds. We have decided not to routinely cover the beds with carpets over the winter as it seems to encourage the mice. We plan to cover the beds in February for a few months to warm up the soil and deter germinating weeds before planting with the new season’s crops.
Cutting the privet hedges and pruning trees around the plant. Lots of weeding!
Later in the Autumn
We aim to pave areas around the Poly tunnel and Greenhouse to join up with the new paths.
October Jobs
· Clear and weed as many beds as possible starting with Don and Sheaf. Sowing green manure in some beds
· Finish the hedges.
· Empty compost bin #3 and add lime to raise the PH (we have a problem with acidity from all the tea bags!).
· Cut down all the mature weeds before they seed.
· Lots of harvesting!
September on Lotti
The weather in September has followed the pattern of most of the summer. Lots of showers with longer periods of rain! Perfect weather for rapid weed growth and slugs and poor for ripening produce.
It has been a difficult year for growing and crops have generally done much worse than previously. There have been some successes however:
· Our experiment of growing carrots in baths of sandy loam has produced good looking and straight carrots.
· The purple climbing beans have been prolific.
· The cherry tomatoes taste amazing.
· The early potatoes were good and eelworm free.
· We have some good peppers and chills in the poly
Disappoints:
· Onions and garlic much smaller yields than last year.
· Many of the main crop potatoes have rotted in the ground (we must try to lift them earlier!).
· The slugs devoured the dwarf beans and most of the courgettes and squash.
· The tomatoes are very slow to ripen. The yellow variety looks great but lack taste.
· The mice have eaten all the broad beans again.
· The Aubergines are tiny and damaged by the slugs.
Recent Activities.
Clearing beds where crops have finished. Green manure sown in the some of these beds. We have decided not to routinely cover the beds with carpets over the winter as it seems to encourage the mice. We plan to cover the beds in February for a few months to warm up the soil and deter germinating weeds before planting with the new season’s crops.
Cutting the privet hedges and pruning trees around the plant. Lots of weeding!
Later in the Autumn
We aim to pave areas around the Poly tunnel and Greenhouse to join up with the new paths.
October Jobs
· Clear and weed as many beds as possible starting with Don and Sheaf. Sowing green manure in some beds
· Finish the hedges.
· Empty compost bin #3 and add lime to raise the PH (we have a problem with acidity from all the tea bags!).
· Cut down all the mature weeds before they seed.
· Lots of harvesting!
