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Wellington Fields Allotments - Hixon.

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Wellington Field Allotments Hixon

Gardening Tips
By Mrs FM
Hartley.

Unusual & Old
Fashioned Fruit
Trees.

Unusual
Vegetables,
Herbs & Other
Edible Plants.

Environmental Issues And Going Green.

Books By
Alan J Hartley

Another Heatwave.

The tops on my Broad Beans eventually put on some growth after starting to flower and developed quite well in the end. However, when I opened a couple of Pods to examine them more closely, the Beans inside were still a bit smaller than I usually like. With all the heat and dry weather that we have recently been having there obviously hasn’t been enough moisture to really swell the Beans, but the Tops looked a bit sad so, I decided to harvest them anyway. Some people just “Cherry Pick,” the best pods and keep going back to them for a few more, but I usually just clear the lot in one go which makes room to replant straight away with something else for an extra crop. As I ripped out the old Plants and stripped the Stems of all of their Pods, I tossed the Pods into three Buckets to take home where I could leisurely De-pod the Beans in the comfort of my Workshop and where I could sit down and would be out of the Sun. I actually got 3 large Bowlfuls of Beans that were immediately bagged up into old Bread Bags and put into my Deep Freeze. (Freezer Bags are so expensive and the plastic that Bread Bags are made from is good for freezing, so I re-cycle those!)

The Bean Plants had pretty much supressed weed growth between them although there were a few weeds to tidy up before I could start and re-plant. I put in a couple more Yacons and sowed some Radish and Lettuce Seed. To be honest it wasn’t ordinary Lettuce but was another of my unusual Vegetables as it was “Celtuce,” which is a long lasting “Pick and Come Again,” variety. The Beetroot and Turnips that I did earlier were just about ready to start harvesting so I put some more of those in as well. I never do Carrots because I always think it is a bit of a hassle trying to prevent Carrot Root Fly. People try everything to stop it and a Friend recently sowed some covering the Patch with some Horticultural Fleece. Normally, you would put an 18 inch high barrier around the Seedlings to prevent the fly getting in as they fly close to the Ground. Last year my Friend put some in an old Plastic Water Cistern Tank so that the plants were well off the ground. That worked OK so we will have to see if simply covering them works.

At the start of July, I noticed that one or two Apricots were falling from my Tree as I brushed past. So, I tried putting my hand on a couple and tried gently twisting them. They came away very easily showing that although they were firm, they were ready to pick. Last year I picked a large Tub full and that was my first real picking since the Tree had been planted some years before. This time, however, I picked nearly a Bucket full! I did give a lot of Punnets away and I made lots of friends who were all eager to taste some English grown Apricots, but, I did manage to keep quite a few for myself! Unsure how long they would keep, I decided to make a few Apricot Tarts in big dishes that I could cut up into portions and put into my Freezer.
The Apricot Tree has developed Canker quite badly on its main Trunk, but one of the TV Gardeners said that if a tree is Fruitful then you might as well leave it alone. I could cut the top off the Tree where it is infected, which would normally be recommended, but if Canker is endemic to our site and the tree susceptible, it will only get reinfected.
I thought about thinning my Apples and Pears, but with the June Drop I decided to leave things as they were for a week, or two and see what Nature left me on the Trees in the way of Fruit. Late July might be a little late to thin the Fruit, but if I do it earlier and the dry weather continues all through the Month, I might end up with it all dropping and no Fruit left on the Trees at all! I did however, do some Summer Pruning to let the air get round the Fruit and let the light in. The end of June, was a bit early to do it, but it was a nice lazy job to do when it was roasting hot. You can Prune Apples and Pears in the Winter Months as well of course, but all “Stoned Fruit,” Cherries, Plums and of course my wonderful Apricot, should not be pruned then and should only be done when the Leaves are on and the Tree is in full growth, or else it may well get one of many nasty infections in the cut wounds before they heal.
About the end of June, the Tops on my first batch of Red Potatoes were starting to “Go Down,” so I guessed it was time to deal with those as well. If you get “Blight,” and the Tops start to go brown and rot, you can save the crop of Potatoes from rotting while still under the Ground, by simply cutting off the dying Tops. It is also said that leaving them in the ground for a week or two afterwards will cause the skins to thicken helping the Potatoes to keep better. Mine don’t seem to have done very well though with the Potatoes being quite small. It has been very dry for a long time and I didn’t water them believing that as Potatoes come from a warm and dry climate, they would be alright. However, I think they would have benefitted, as some Plot Holders who have been watering, seem to have done much better. Every year I wonder if it is worth growing Potatoes, but I still do. For several weeks now one of the Supermarkets has been selling one Kilo Bags for 15P each. I suppose if I keep mine in the ground and the price goes up again, I will be alright.
After harvesting some of them, I tidied up the patch and again there wasn’t really many weeds to remove before I replanted the area with some young Leek Seedlings that I had been holding back. Most Leeks do need a long growing Season, so even if you don’t “Plant them out,” early on, they need to be started into growth quite early in the Season, although some of the newer varieties will develop and harvest more quickly from a shorter growing Season. The back of the Packet of Seeds should give all the information that you need to know. The Leeks that I cleared out earlier on were mostly going to Seed and other Plot-holders had the same problem. However, unlike most of them who simply threw out their Leeks, I took mine home and trimmed them as normal before using a sharp Knife to split them. This enabled me to easily remove the “Core,” that was, or would become, the Flower Stem, and then I cut them up before freezing them for use later. A Chef once told me that splitting them open to remove the core was also an easy way to enable you to wash them and clean them up from soil contamination, and was OK, because you usually chop up Leeks to use them in a white sauce anyway. When I dug up last Seasons Leaks, I replanted the Patch with flowering Plants including some young Dahlia seedlings that I had got. Rightly or wrongly, I believe that Dahlia Seedlings will produce Tubers that you can save at the end of the Season and as such is a cheaper way of gaining a number of Plants. These were of the variety, “Bishop’s Children,” which have a flower more like a large Daisy than the normal multi petalled Dahlia Flower. However, because they are a “Simple Flower,” our native Insects prefer them. I also put in some Purple Loosestriffe Plants that I had divided, but they hadn’t divided very well so I didn’t have many. For a while they did not look too good either as it was very dry, but after lots of watering they seem to have taken. It is never a good idea to plant anything out in a dry spell though.

I potted lots of rooted cuttings of Stachys, Sea Kale and Raspberries during one of the hot and dry spells that we seem to be getting so many of this year, and they all look a bit sad. The Purple Hespiris that a Friend gave me are looking a lot better than they were so I hope they will seed themselves down in my Plot at the end of the Season. Apparently, they usually only live 2 years, but seed so readily they almost grow like perennials as they come back each year in the same place as long as you don’t weed too thoroughly!
One of our Plot Holders has gone on about growing wild Flowers for years, saying that they will encourage insects and now I have got several cut flower beds I have quite a few Native varieties of Plants. More in fact than I originally intended to grow, but I found many that make great cut Flowers even though they have not been hybridised and the insects do seem to love them. I have been cutting some Toad Flax which is one Native Plant in point, and although the Pink variety is a spectacular Cultivated one, like the natural Blue flowered strain, it is also a magnet for Insects. I don’t think that the Alstroemerias, or Scabious have the same appeal for the Insects, but the Native “Fox & Cubs,” does and I was going to try that for Cut Flowers, but the flowers close up at night! I have been cutting some of my feathery Asparagus foliage (now that the Season is over for cutting it) and some other Fern leaves to bulk out the bunches of Flowers.
My Perennial Sweet Peas did not do well last year, and I only had a few Flowers, but they are coming very good this year after again having a poor start. They are a short-lived perennial and not as fancy as some of the “Species,” varieties, nor do they have any scent, but they still look great.
A couple of years ago a Friend gave me a piece of Anaphalis, or “Pearly Everlasting,” that I planted out and it has bulked up quite nicely now. It has smallish White flowers that dry easily like Helichrysum and foliage that is not unlike that of Stachys. From the original single Plant I have been able to remove a number of self-rooted Cuttings that I have potted up.
For our Autumn Sale I have also divided up my Canas that I had in Pots at Home as well as my big, old Banana. The centre of the Banana died after flowering last year, but I have been able to get a number of “Pups,” from the big Tub that it was in.

With the dry weather and Heatwaves that we have been having already this Season, the question of Hosepipes has come up again with Plot Holders. One Allotment Site a couple of miles from us does allow the use of Hosepipes, but only where Plot Holders have got their own water Meters installed on their Plots. When our site was initially set up, we decided that we would have to have a Meter fitted for the whole site and half a dozen Taps for people to use up and down the Site. We soon found out that if someone was using the Tap at the bottom of the Site there was no pressure at the Taps further up the Driveway. So, if we were to allow Hosepipes it would mean that only one person could do any watering at a time. Also, we came across the idea of installing what were basically Cattle Water Troughs. We put one on each Tap and it now means that several people can get water wherever they are on the site even if other people are using it at the same time. Also instead of struggling to hold a heavy can while it is filling it is but the work of a few seconds to dip your can into the tank and fill it. While you are using the Water, the Tank gently refills ready for the next can even if others elsewhere are doing the same thing. It does mean that watering might take a little longer for an individual than if we allowed Hosepipes, but they are a very wasteful way of watering anyway and the Tanks are a much fairer way of doing things.
A few Plot Holders have installed Water Butts on their Sheds and it is a good idea because if nothing else it stops the Rainwater from running down the sides of their sheds and washing away the bases of their sheds. However, I don’t know that they get very much water throughout the Summer months these days, when it is really needed. One of our new Plot Holders wanted to install a small Solar Panel on the Roof of his Shed to drive a tiny Pump and water System to irrigate some of his Plants! The Plot Holder wanted a Water Butt and knew that I was involved with the Recycling for our Site so he asked me if I could help. Even with the now, long established use of Wheely Bins, people are still throwing out old Plastic Dustbins. From time to time, we get the odd one donated and people cut holes in them and use them as Strawberry Planters. However, my suggestion to this Gentleman was to use one as a Water Tub. They are a similar size and quite robust, so he was persuaded to give it a try. It helps to think laterally sometimes when trying to recycle things!
I don’t know how long the dry weather is going to continue and irrigation is obviously the way forwards, but if Water goes short that may end up getting stopped. Maybe we will have to start taking our waste-water from home up to our Allotments to water!