Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

September
A dark, damp morning, but at least I wasn't battling bright low sun or pouring rain!



The new raspberries are now taller than me, except for the 2 nearest plants, which have not produced any new stems. The runner beans have been producing huge numbers of beans and I have been picking handfuls every day, but they are now showing signs of getting tired (possibly due to chilly nights) and some of the smaller beans are going yellow and falling off. There are also very few new flowers.



The tomatoes in the hotbed (Crimson Crush and Oh Happy Day) are so heavy with fruit that they are leaning at an alarming angle despite my best attempts at staking them. The Sungold in the growhouse behind has never looked particularly happy. I have cut off a couple of branches that appeared to have blight spots on the stems and so far (touch wood) the rest of the plant seems ok. None of the fruit that I harvested from the cut off stems has developed blight in store (yet) so just maybe I caught it in time. The nasturtiums are self seeded and add a bit of colour.



The yellow french beans (Monte Gusto) have about finished - again I have been harvesting handfuls of these every day but there are masses of big ones on the plants which I intend to leave until the pods go brown and harvest them for drying. I have not done this before, so it will be interesting to see what happens, and also if I actually like eating them like this. The melon in the hotbed (Magenta) behind has at last started producing fruit, although whether there will be time for it to ripen is highly debatable. The 2nd melon plant (Alvaro) was planted between the 2 bean tripods and although it has grown it has not set any fruit. The bed behind contains 3 romanesco plants and a row of turnips.



The kale under the nearer net got off to a ropey start with damage from leaf miner, flea beetle and cabbage weevil. It has recovered well, although the central buds on a couple of the plants were eaten so they are now multi-stemmed. In the other half of the net (not visible), 2 calabrese plants are growing well and should soon produce heads. The net behind covers the potato buckets, 3 of which have been planted up with peas for pea shoots, turnips and kohl rabi.



Parsnips and PSB under the white net are doing ok. This bed gets very wet when the lowest part of the allotment gets flooded. Parsnips don't seem to mind, but I have not tried growing brassicas over winter here before. Calabrese in the bed behind is doing well, although it also got cabbage weevil for a while.

[Penellype]

Inside the tunnel



The bolted lettuces have flowered and hopefully seeds are developing. Beetroot is very sow to develop this year. I think this bed, being near the blackthorn hedge, probably need more feed. The florence fennel has bolted and been removed and the leeks are doing ok. The cucumber on the left has been sulking but is now starting to produce fruit. At least it hasn't died like the ones in the greenhouse at home. At the far end the french beans have reached the top of the tunnel and are climbing along the frame. These have just started to produce beans big enough to harvest.



The big empty area was sown with spinach nearly a month ago after I removed the oldest strawberry plants. It has completely failed to germinate, as have some seeds sown in modules from the same packet. This is odd as the same packet germinated fine in the spring. More seeds have been ordered, but it may be getting a bit late to sow them. The courgettes at the end have completely blocked the path and are producing far more fruit than I can eat. The strawberry plants need trimming and sorting out, a job I hate!



A better view of the leeks. Very late peas in the centre are beginning to flower but there are very few of them. The beetroot further up is growing better than in the main bed on the left.



A closer view of the smaller of the 2 rampant courgette plants.



Peas at the end of the tunnel have finished but a few new flowers have appeared. They are getting mildew despite being a resistant variety (Terrain). The drip tray in front is one of several scattered around the allotment to collect rain water. These are also acting as excellent slug refuges, making finding the slugs easy.

[Penellype]

More photos

There are quite a lot more photos...

In the tunnel:



The strawberries that were put in the growhouse in spring have decided to produce more flowers. These are the same variety as the ones in the soil, which have no flowers.



Fruit just starting to turn red on the Oh Happy Day plant which was planted out very late in the tunnel.



Cucumber Mini Sprint is proving very trainable along the pea netting. Hard to see but there is one nearly edible sized cucumber and several smaller ones after a summer lull in fruit production.



A better view of the beans in the tunnel.



Outside the tunnel the blueberries have about finished and the net has been removed. These have been very disappointing this year, both at the allotment and at home, with small numbers of mainly small fruit. For the first time for years there has not been enough to freeze any. The courgette in the compost bin continues to produce about 1 courgette a day, adding to the glut from the plants in the tunnel.

[Penellype]

More photos - tomatoes and melons



Tomato Oh Happy Day in the hotbed, with Garden Pearl in front. There is far more fruit on the Garden Pearl than I have managed to get into the photo. You can clearly see the angle the supports are at despite being banged about 18 inches into the ground!



The other end of the hotbed - Crimson Crush. Both these varieties have produced incredibly dense foliage, with sideshoots growing up from underground because I planted them deeply. The stakes here look to be at less of an angle only because of the angle of the picture.



My poor Sungold tomato continues to produce ripening fruit despite looking very sick. I carefully inspect it for signs of blight every day. This is just one plant - I always grow Sungold as a large sprawling bush, finding it produces far more fruit when grown this way.



Melon Magenta in the other hotbed. These fruit are up to tennis ball size.



More fruit along the frame at the other end of the hotbed. The orange net is the same one as in the previous photo. I hope these do ripen as Magenta is a gorgeous tasting melon. The surface of the bed is covered with dry grass left over from mulching the onions, which have now been harvested.

[Penellype]

Yet more photos



Calabrese Belstar producing more sideshoots than I can eat.



Reusing buckets that have grown potatoes for kohl rabi, turnips and pea shoots. The peas were from an old packet of seed and only 3 have germinated.




More turnips at the end of the bed housing the romanesco. I have had problems with cabbage root fly in turnips planted in spring, but I have never grown them this late, so it will be interesting to see if they get it. In spring I find I need a double layer of netting to keep them out. The holes in the leaves were caused by flea beetles which seem to have mostly disappeared now.




Some of the beans I intend to use for drying.



Hard to see, but the PSB under the net is getting rather big.

[Andraste]

Thanks Penellype - I really look forward to your new pics on the 1st of the month

Can I ask when you sow your Calabrese? You seem to have been picking for quite a while. This is my first year growing Calabrese & I'd hoped to be picking in August but the main head is still only about an inch in diameter so I'd love to get my timing right next year. x

[Penellype]

Hi Andraste, I have grown 2 varieties of calabrese this year, my first attempt with either of these because the variety I used to grow (Sakura) is no longer available and I have been trying various others in the last couple of years.

I sowed 5 seeds of Belstar F1 on 14th March in modules and these were planted out on 1st May, 2 of them at home and 3 at the allotment, although one of the allotment plants died. These are the plants in the first photo of post 1265. The first head from these plants was harvested on 5th July and they started producing edible sideshoots by the end of July.

On 3rd May I sowed 5 seeds of Monclano F1 in modules but only 3 germinated. I planted these out at home on 18th June and harvested the first head on 18th August. I had forgotten this and thought that the 2 plants next to the kale were calabrese - they are in fact romanesco!

Monclano is more expensive than Belstar and I was disappointed to only get 3 plants from 5 seeds. However in my opinion it is a nicer variety with finer texture and sweeter stems and it stands a little longer without going to flower. There are no signs of any sideshoots on the Monclano plants yet.

Please don't get the impression that growing calabrese is dead easy. Last year I grew a variety called Gemini F1, which produced very coarse open heads which were almost inedible. It is possible this was due to last year's hot weather as the last few seeds of Sakura were also poor last year and both varieties were very late. I also sometimes have issues with grey cabbage aphid and cabbage weevils (small black beetle-like creatures) which get into the heads and damage them.

Usually (but not last year) the plants continue to produce sideshoots throughout winter, although these get smaller over time.

[Andraste]

Hi Penellype,

Thanks for the advice - that's really useful

The variety we're trying is 'Atlantis'. I sowed 2-3 per 2 inch paper pot outside on 10 April & they germinated around about 28 April. I had made a note to sow in the first week of April next year but think I'll give a mid March sowing a try now

We didn't plant ours on the plot until 24 June this year. I recall wanting them to get to a fighting size in case of slugs but they probably could have gone into the ground a few weeks earlier.

I'm learning this year that I really need to get around to potting things on or at least sow fewer/thin out seedlings better as I think I'm expecting too much growth from the room they have in smaller modules.

I only got around to potting on the Broccoli Raab I sowed on 01 August (germinated in a few days) yesterday so their chances of cropping in '60 days' in line with their name is probably pretty slim!

[Penellype]

October



I thought the runner beans had finished, but they are now producing some more flowers, probably thanks to the warm weather. Not sure they will have time to make beans, but you never know! The council have cut the top of the hedge, which needs a bit of tidying, and the nettles need cutting back again.



The Crimson Crush and Oh Happy Day tomatoes are just insane, with huge numbers of large fruit that are still turning red. The Garden Pearl that were on the right of the bed got blight and have been removed, as has the Sungold plant that was in the growhouse. I have had 1 tomato from the big plants with a patch of blight, which I think was Oh Happy Day, otherwise the plants seem fine.



Quite a few of the yellow beans have been picked for drying. The melons are slowly getting bigger but no sign of anything ripening yet. The romanesco in the bed behind are slowly being harvested. One of the things I like about romanesco is that unlike cauliflower you can cut off individual florets and leave the rest of the head on the plant to grow.



Kale and more romanesco. The kale has been badly attacked by grey cabbage aphid, which has spread to the nearer romanesco plant. I am harvesting the further one first in the hope of beating the aphids to it.



Parsnips and PSB are growing well. The calabrese in the bed behind also has cabbage aphid, which has got in amongst the florets making them inedible (at least to me). It is therefore being ignored in favour of romanesco. There are some newly planted spinach plants in there too.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



Beetroot is struggling this year. Lettuces next to it have been demolished by slugs, although I did manage to eat one of them. Leeks are being shredded by leek moth (I think). The cucumber, which has been sulking all summer, has found a new lease of life and is producing loads of fruit. The peas at the far end have finished now. The beans at the far end are doing really well and I have been harvesting beans every day for ages.



I have attempted to tidy up the strawberries a bit but more needs doing. The spinach I sowed in the empty bed has made no show, so I planted out 5 lettuces, which lasted precisely 3 days before they had been completely eaten by slugs.



A closer view of the shredded leeks, which look better in the photo than they do in real life.



One of the courgette plants is looking really unhappy and probably wants removing.



The other courgette plant looks better, but the fruit have been damaged by slugs.

[Penellype]

More photos



Still plenty of beans developing. I highly recommend this variety (Monte Gusto).



Somewhat pathetic beetroot (nothing has grown much bigger than a golf ball) and the demolished winter lettuces.



Tomato Oh Happy Day doesn't grow as well in the tunnel as it does in the hotbed, but is still producing plenty of large fruit.



Cucumber Mini Sprint has been more Mini Snail, but is making up for lost time.



A closer view of some of the melons (Magenta).

[Penellype]

More photos



The courgette plant in the compost bin has nearly reached the floor and has produced courgettes at a rate of about 1 a day...



It shows no sign of stopping. Variety is Defender.




The other side of the crazy tomato plants.



My attempt at providing a cane for the runner beans to climb along blew down in storm Agnes. I am hoping the repair will last until the beans have finished,



The chilean guava, which looked dead after winter, has recovered but there appears to be no fruit this year.

[Penellype]

Last lot for this month



Newly planted spinach which I am hoping will survive the slugs. The calabrese next to it is producing loads of sideshoots.



Kohl rabi (nearer) and turnips in buckets of potato compost.




More turnips from the same sowing as above, but planted directly in a raised bed for comparison. They are bigger, but not hugely so.



Romanesco about ready to harvest.




Strawberries sheltering from the rain in the growhouse. I have already eaten 5 ripe autumn fruit, normally they grow a bit then rot.

[Snoop Puss]

Really enjoyed looking at your photos, Penellype. I have absolutely no luck growing climbing beans. It looks as if you're growing yours under cover. Is that a netting polytunnel you have?

[Bren In Pots]

Thanks for sharing your photos Pen I do enjoy having a good nosy around.