Veg Journal - 2010 October
The number of vegetables we could pick was noticeably lower this month. The frosts meant that the outdoor tomatoes
were over, but we continued to harvest from the plants in the greenhouse. Looking forward to next year, we prepared
the ground for the overwintering peas and broad beans.
Week ending 8th October
1st - Harvested the first autumn cabbage (2lb 11oz) & 8oz carrots.
2nd - Harvested a head of celery.
3rd - Picked 5 red, 3 yellow & 4 cherry outdoor tomatoes, 20 cherry & the first 2 red greenhouse tomatoes. Brought
the remaining trusses of outdoor large tomatoes in to ripen (13 red). Dug up the aubergines & sweetcorn, and raked
compost into the vacated potato beds.
4th - Picked 3 cherry & 9 plum greenhouse tomatoes. Two of the broccoli plants have fallen over - too wet to prop
them up yet. Picked 3 outdoor plum tomatoes.
5th - Propped up the broccoli, pulled up the calabrese & took the net off, liberating lots of whitefly & grey
aphids. Picked some runner & French beans (6½oz). Took the net off the other brassica bed.
6th - Picked 2 greenhouse cherry tomatoes which have split. Bought guttering bits from Jewson for doing the shed.
7th - Pulled up the tomatoes at the end of the greenhouse as they aren't going to do anything. Picked 9 outdoor
cherry & 4 yellow tomatoes, & 18 greenhouse cherry tomatoes. Composted all but 1 of the green outdoor tomatoes picked
earlier as they were shrivelling.
8th - The outdoor cherry tomatoes seem to be ripening oddly (going slightly pink) and the skins are dimpling -
perhaps they're affected by the cold?
Week ending 16th October
9th - The foliage on the outdoor tomatoes is dying & turning black.
10th - Picked 7 greenhouse cherry tomatoes (1 had split) & the first pepper, as the stem was going brown.
11th - Moved the outdoor plum tomato plant down to the veg plot, hoping some of the tomatoes may ripen, but the
plant is dying. Picked 6 ripening toms off it. Put the outdoor cherry tomato plant on the compost heap. Also picked 9
greenhouse plum tomatoes & cut the stems back on the compost heap potato.
12th - Picked 4½oz runner & French beans, plus 7oz useable carrots (a lot of slug damage).
13th - Picked 2 outdoor plum, 5 greenhouse cherry & 2 greenhouse red tomatoes.
14th - Quite a lot of shoots on the peppers are going mouldy, but the fruits are OK.
15th - The outdoor plum tomato plant is definitely dying.
16th - Frost is predicted tonight, so picked all 12 remaining marrows. The heaviest is 3lb 6oz, the lightest less
than ½oz. Total weight 7lb 4oz. Also picked 2 beetroot (2lb) & made 4½ big jars of beetroot chutney.
Week ending 24th October
17th - Picked 3lb beetroot (most of what's left) and 2 peppers (5oz). Made 5 jars of marrow & apple chutney, and 2
large jars of pickled beetroot.
18th - Made 6lb of stewed apple from some of the donated Bramleys.
19th - Picked 6 cherry tomatoes.
20th - Dug up the marrow plants, & cut down the runner beans and outdoor tomato plants. Put the soil from the
tomato pots on the old potato beds.
21st - Picked 2 peppers (just over 6oz), 2 carrots and an autumn cabbage.
23rd - Picked 5oz carrots.
24th - Picked a head of celery, the first parsnips (6oz), carrots (8oz), and 3 peppers (8oz). Made 4½ jars of
apple & ginger chutney.
Click on a photo to see a bigger version:
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Autumn harvest: baby marrows, red onions, peppers, plum tomatoes (17th Oct)
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A selection of the pickles & chutneys made this autumn (24th Oct)
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Week ending 31st October
25th - Picked 13 plum tomatoes & 3 cherry tomatoes (only from the greenhouse now).
27th - Ran the cultivator over the beds for the peas & beans, and put fertiliser down where the over-wintering peas
will go. Dug up the potatoes (8lb 9oz) from the self-sown compost heap plant. There were some very odd shapes, and
most had been attacked by slugs, but they're still very useable, and a bonus! Picked another autumn cabbage.
29th - Brought in a couple of peppers (5½oz) as the branch had broken off.
31st - Harvested 2 heads of celery & 3 carrots.
Click on the photo to see a bigger version:
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