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Wellington Field Allotments Hixon

 

Gardening Tips
By Mrs FM
Hartley.

 

Unusual & Old
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Alan J Hartley

 

 



Winter Is Upon Us.

As is often the case our weather was very changeable at the end of Autumn with it mostly being mild, but we did have one very cold spell at the end of November with some sharp night frosts and the temperature barely got above freezing in the daytime. Indeed, one Sunday in early December we had quite a heavy, but brief, fall of Snow.
The day before it snowed, the Saturday, we had our Xmas Fayre at the Charity where I work so we were lucky that we were able to go ahead with it. Everywhere was very frosty all day, but if it had been on the next day, the Sunday, we would have had to cancel the event. The frost gave everywhere a picturesque, wintery look, on the day, but the next day, the snow brought everything to a standstill, although it didn’t last and soon turned to rain washing it all away by the following Monday. Then we had a somewhat milder spell again, but the cold snap had been severe enough to take all the tops on anything that was the slightest bit tender.
Fortunately, I had dug up enough Yacon Crowns and potted them for next year as I am sure the cold would have spoilt those remaining in the ground. With the cold weather, I watched quite a bit of Gardening on Back Up TV and was quite bemused to see one of the TV Gardeners showing an interest and even enthusiasm for some Yacons that he had tried growing. A few years ago there was nothing on the Internet about them, but now when you do a search for them they are everywhere with not only the Crowns and Tubers available to buy, but also the low calorie, but very sweet Syrup that can be made from them. A lot of the unusual Vegetables that I grow don’t handle, or keep too well, but Yacon tubers are quite robust and keep very well, better and more easily than Potatoes really. So, perhaps we will see more of them in future years and they may even become a regular vegetable placed alongside Carrots, Parsnips, Swedes and Turnips. Although, perhaps on the other hand, they don’t lend themselves to simple, commercial mass planting methods.

At the start of December, when I was due to have the second operation to remove the Cataract on my left Eye, I had a Cold, but after some discussion among the Nurses and Surgeon they decided to go ahead with it anyway. The Lens that was fitted into my Eye gave me a bit better focussing than with the first eye that was done earlier. It may have been because the Cataract in first Eye was so bad that they couldn’t find the proper focus when they tested it before the Operation. Anyway, whatever the reason, I will still need to wear glasses and the pair the Optician gave me as a temporary measure has a plain, Glass, lens for my left eye until it has healed and I am tested again. It will be weeks for recovery again and I was told that I mustn’t do any dirty, or heavy jobs, for 4 weeks from the date of the operation. That most definitely includes a lot of Gardening jobs, so I have been trying to do some simple and little, but useful things, when I could, and the Weather would allow. One thing that I did was to remove all the Figs that were left on my Trees and that hadn’t developed. A lot of them would have fallen off naturally, but they would have made a lot of mess and those that remained would have prevented new Fig bearing Buds from developing properly next Season.
Perhaps I should have done it earlier, but as we had a warm spell following the cold snap, I also decided to Prune as many of my Apple and Pear trees as I could before it went cold again. You shouldn’t be pruning Fruit Trees when there is Frost about, but the forecast was relatively mild for a few days, so I did it. I felt that this was another nice, gentle job that I was safe to do with my Eyes and it certainly needed doing with all the growth that the Trees had put on during the Season. It also gave me the opportunity to really look at and see the shape of the Trees, and it meant that I could tie them back in properly after the occasional strong winds that sometimes loosen their ties and posts.
Indeed, there were several Posts that would need to be replaced, but that was one job that would have to wait as it is a very physical job using the Post Driver and that is definitely one thing that I should not be doing while my Eyes are healing.

As I have said with the wet weather and my eyes, I have been watching a lot of gardening on TV Back up, on my Computer, and have also been trawling the Internet for things of interest. One unusual plant that did catch my attention which I hadn’t heard of before was Mashua, or “Tropaeolum Tuberosum.” This is a type of Perennial Nasturtium which produces edible Tubers. I came across it on one of the Gardening Programs and have found several companies selling it online, but, at the moment, they are saying that they are out of stock. Another Plant that I will be trying to locate is is Apios Americana as I sometimes get it mixed up with Dioscorea Batatas because they are occasionally given the same common name of Cinamon Vine. However, their tuberous roots are very different with Dioscorea having large Yam like Tubers and Apios having small, Nut sized Tubers.

Another little job on my Computer that is good for a wet and cold Winters day, is Planning the crop rotation for next season on my Plot. On the main growing Plot I have 5 large Beds and do my best to make sure that there is a gap of several years before I grow things in the same bed that they have been grown in previously. (See Link) This simple rotation will prevent many problems from occurring, but you can get more technical with rotation as some Crops are better planted after others due to mineral and feeding requirements. There are many ideas about which crops should follow which, but I feel that as long as you feed your plot with something suitable such as well rotted Manure, or a feed like pelleted Chicken manure, and don’t grow the same thing all the time in the same place, you won’t go far wrong. Indeed, it will really help to prevent such problems as Potato Blight, Chysanthemum Rust and Wilt, Onion Eelworm, Clubroot on Brassicas and Fusarium Wilt on Beans. Regular cultivation will also go a long way to keeping away some Pests like Wire Worms that can become a problem on badly cultivated patches.

I was late sowing my over wintering Broad Beans of the Aquadulce type, but they eventually came up in their Tray in my little Greenhouse and were big enough to plant out on my Plot. Putting them out in a Mild Spell should give them a better chance of settling in, although if we get a really bad spell in January, or February I might lose one, or two plants.
As Winter is now upon us and as long as the ground isn’t actually frozen, you can plant Bareroot Fruit Trees and Bushes and it is also a good time to move plants. With this in mind, I finally got round to moving my little Mulberry Bush and putting it in its rightful place amongst my other Fruit Trees. I am hoping that it will get away this next year properly, as it has struggled for several years in pots and in its previous position by my Rhubarb plants.
A long time ago I had a couple of well established Mulberrry Trees in my Mother’s Garden, but I didn’t try to bring them with me when I moved as they were quite big. They had been fruiting very well and were certainly a different fruit to eat, but they stained your fingers with their juice every bit as badly as Blackberries, or Black Currants!
The young Fig Cuttings that I had taken last year were potted up several weeks ago and had been standing outside on my yard at home, but I felt that if I took them into my Greenhouse over Winter, it might give them a bit of a boost. They should stand the cold in Pots, but not being very well rooted, I thought that it might help them to put on a bit more root before they leaf up in late Spring.

Apart from dealing with broken Posts I am doing a few other little odd maintenance jobs around my Plots. Tidying up the untidy heap of Bamboo Canes is certainly an easy, but worthwhile job that I am allowed to do at the moment. They don’t rot easily, but if left in a pile Canes can twist and bend due to constantly drying out and then getting wet again. I usually tie mine into bundles to keep them straight, but some people stand them up in pieces of Drainpipe attached to their sheds to let the air get round them.
On a different note, I have been using my Concrete and Brick built Cold Frame to root cuttings in for some time now, but like Raised Beds, the soil level has dropped through regular Weeding, so I decided to top it up with some Compost. Most Cuttings like good drainage and the recycled Compost that I used didn’t have any drainage material in, so I tipped in 2 bags of fine, washed Gravel, or Grit, which when forked in should improve things enormously.
Every Winter I need to replace a few of the wooden pegs, that hold the boards in place that surround my Beds, and speaking of my Beds, it will soon be time to prepare my Bean Bed.
Each Year I normally remove the surface layer of soil and fork home-made Compost onto the Bed before spreading the soil back over it again which I then I rake level. Some People just dig a Trench under the row where their Beans are to go and then fill it in with suitable material, but I always take the opportunity to do the whole bed as a means of topping up the soil level. Most Plot-holders don’t generate enough of their own Compost to keep their Beds topped up though, so we encourage them to make use of the Allotments’ Communal Composting Facilities. Some Plot-holders worry about Weed Seeds in our own Compost and go to the trouble of buying a One Ton Bag of Topsoil for the Plots. However, on one occasion, I pointed out to a Plot-holder that just as many weeds had come up in his Bed with the bought Topsoil, as in his other Beds that had our own Compost in. Adding a liberal layer of well-rotted Horse Manure to Beds during the Winter months is another seasonal job for this time of year that will also help to keep the levels up in raised Beds.
During the Winter Months it is often too wet to go up to the Allotments, to do these little maintenance jobs though, so you have to do them when the weather permits, but they do need doing because Winter will be over and Spring will be upon us before we realise and then it will be a mad rush to get everything done.


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