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Drawing To A Close.

In the coming days I will be sowing my Broad Beans that will harvest next Spring, but they will be ready a little earlier than everyone else’s and so will generally avoid the problems that Black Fly create. Normally I put in the Aquadulce type and this year I forgot to get any in time resulting in everywhere being sold out when I did look. However, I did find a packet of an older variety called “Bunyards Exhibition” which can also be sown Spring and Autumn. Also going in will be my Garlic Cloves. These definitely do need to go in now as they say that they need a cold spell to make them properly form the Cloves instead of making just one solid bulb.

As Autumn sets in and we get colder nights with the leaves starting to turn and even drop, it is time to think about cleaning out the old fashioned, but solid, brick built, Cold Frame that is on my Allotment. It needs to be clean, tidy and weed free, ready for later in the month when I dig up my Chrysanthemums. They will be roughly put into pots in the Cold Frame and buried in a Wood Chip blanket. This seemed to work well last year with them needing very little attention all Winter other than the occasional spot of water. Last year I was able to leave my Korean Chrysanthemums in the ground as they are supposed to be fully hardy. The only real drawback with growing this type is the fact that the flowers, although very attractive, are quite small, look more like Asters and grow like Sprays. They seem to grow into decent sized plants though and put on a good show, so I shall definitely be keeping them.

The colder weather is also bringing other plants to an end including the Runner Beans that have already finished flowering at the time of writing this. It is just a matter of waiting for the last few Bean Pods to develop before they come down. One problem that I did have with my Runner Beans this year was that I planted them too close to each other which made it difficult to pick them properly. They really do need to go further apart next year. I did do some things right with them though. For one I used organic string rather than a nylon, or plastic type of string to tie the Canes up with. Consequently, all I need to do is just strip them off the canes and chop them up with garden shears before putting the whole lot into the compost heap. No need to fish out bits of Plastic! The other thing that I got right was to tie diagonal bracing canes against the uprights with one going either way on different sides. Every year, my Bean Canes collapse a little, sometimes going right down to the ground, due to the pushing of the persistent winds that we seem to get on our Allotment. This year, with the braces on, they stayed up and erect much to my delight. I had seen braces put on like this on one of the gardening programmes on TV and it definitely works.

The Courgettes started to develop powdery mildew, a week, or two ago, which is a sign that they were just about finished and the couple of cold nights that we had at the beginning of this month finished them off anyway, so they had to be cleared up as well going into my compost heap.
A couple of weeks ago I turned both of my compost heaps noticing that one was really ready to dig out. So, the mature compost was turned out and will be used to top up my Strawberry and Asparagus beds. The Strawberry beds need replanting anyway and they say you should mulch rather than weed your asparagus beds as although deep rooted they also put up roots close to the surface.
Going into my freshly emptied Compost bin was another lot of turfs from my Garden at home as I finally got round to making a new, narrow border under the front window. They always say that composted turfs make good compost and they certainly bulk out my compost heap! I am planting the new bed with Hostas, a Hydrangea, Helebores, a Fuchsia, a couple of Primula Denticulata, ( The Drumstick Primula) plus some self set Cowslips that were rescued from the back garden.
As the season draws to a close there will be less and less planting, or indeed growing of any kind, but more tidying up jobs to be done, although of course my Leeks and Brussells Sprouts will continue growing and will be ready for harvest much later in the year. One type of planting will come into its own though and that is “Bare Root.” This includes not only most Fruit Trees and Bushes such as Apples and Raspberries, but also things like Strawberries. As I have said I do intend to replant my Strawberries, but other than that I myself, have no plans for planting any more fruit this year.


 

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