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 Veg Journal - 2011 September

Another very hot spell ended the month and there were no frosts at all, so all the veg, particularly the tomatoes, continued cropping in abundance. Again, the sweetcorn was very successful, and, while the yield wasn't as good this year, the main crop potatoes had no pest damage at all. Lots more preserve making continued this month, and we had a go at salting runner beans to see if the flavour will be better than when they've been frozen.


Week ending 8th September

1st - Picked some broccoli (3.6oz) and made another bottle of tomato ketchup, this time adding some tomato puree to thicken it up.

2nd - Made another 2 gallons of damson wine.

3rd - Picked some tomatoes; 12 greenhouse (1lb 11.2oz, of which 3 were small and almost shrivelled), 2 outdoor (8.1oz), 7 outdoor plums (9.3oz), 37 cherries (1lb 4.2oz) and 8 split cherries (4½oz) which were composted. Made 4 gallons of wine from donated pears.

4th - Made 6 jars of blackberry & apple jelly.

6th - Picked 4 French beans (0.3oz) from the French bean plant which we left indoors rather than planting it out. This is the sum total of its yield!

7th - Picked some runner beans (4lb 5oz) and French beans (3.4oz).

8th - Decided to have a go at salting the rather large amount of runner beans we've picked as we're getting very short of space in the freezer. Made 1 gallon of apple wine, which promptly got rather too active and frothed through the air-lock all over the floor!

Week ending 15th September

9th - The calendulas are finally in flower in the greenhouse! Picked some runner beans (11.9oz), collected the runner beans (10.8oz) I'd left on one of the netting cages 2 days ago(!) and picked some tomatoes; 4 outdoor (12½oz), 17 greenhouse (2lb 11.4oz), 4 outdoor plums (5.4oz) and 33 cherries (12½oz). Composted quite a few more cherry tomatoes which had split. Made 14 jars of apple & ginger jam.

10th - Picked some calabrese (6.1oz). Made 2 gallons of wine from 10lb of our own pears and made 7 jars of apple & ginger chutney.

11th - Picked 4 carrots (5.2oz) and some runner beans (1lb 1.8oz). Took the canes and string down from the 2nd batch of broad beans and put the onions & shallots in the potting shed.

12th - Put the beans picked yesterday into the salting jar - very nearly full now. Picked a marrow (12lb) and prepared some of it for chutney.

13th - Picked what is currently the last marrow (6lb 11oz) and all the remaining aubergines (24 of them, weighing 1lb 8oz in total). Decided to have a go at something approximating to Brinjal pickle - made 6 jars of it anyway.

14th - Picked 3 courgettes (7.2oz). Had to throw another 2 on the compost heap as they were rotten.

15th - The lettuce has begun to grow again, so picked a few leaves. Picked some tomatoes; 7 greenhouse (12.2oz), 4 outdoor (11.7oz), 2 greenhouse plums (2.9oz), 2 outdoor plums (5.8oz) and 40 cherries (1lb 8.2oz). As before, quite a lot of additional split and rotting tomatoes had to be composted.

Click on a photo to see a bigger version:

  • The veg plot in early autumn (9th Sep)

  • R to L: Kale, calabrese, broccoli (10th Sep)

  • One of very few heads of calabrese (10th Sep)

  • Our very thin aubergines (13th Sep)

Week ending 23rd September

16th - Chopped up and froze quite a lot of tomatoes as there are too many to use at the moment. Put some cling film on the top of the salted runner beans to make sure they're all in the brine, and sealed with the lid. Made 9 jars of marrow & ginger jam.

18th - Dug up the maincrop potatoes from the "half" bed (12lb 14 oz) and out of the two tubs (7lb 10.4oz), dried them off and put them in a paper sack in the potting shed. There aren't as many as last year, but given the dry spring the yield isn't too bad, and there is no pest damage visible at all. Picked some runner beans (1lb 11oz).

19th - Harvested all the cobs off the sweetcorn, stripped the kernels (4lb 6oz) and froze them. Cut the rather overgrown courgette (8lb 2oz) which was very tough to cut up, but still edible as a marrow.

20th - Picked a head of celery, some French beans (8.7oz) and tomatoes; 4 greenhouse (9.4oz), 1 greenhouse plum (1½oz) and 48 cherries (1lb 13.8oz). About half of the cherry tomatoes have split, so we're going to cut down a little on the watering to see if that makes any difference.

21st - Picked some lettuce.

Click on a photo to see a bigger version:

  • F to B: Spring onions, French beans, broad beans, leeks (19th Sep)

  • The French beans, still producing flowers and pods (19th Sep)

  • A flower on the shoots which have grown from the cut down broad beans (19th Sep)

  • The peas, which are nearly over, and runner beans (19th Sep)

  • A late flower on the runner beans (19th Sep)

  • Brassica beds (19th Sep)

  • Savoy cabbages, beginning to heart up (19th Sep)

  • Kale, calabrese (flowering well, unfortunately) and broccoli (19th Sep)

  • The beetroot, chard and spinach bed, looking a little bedraggled (19th Sep)

  • Very mildewy courgette and marrow leaves, with the sweetcorn behind (19th Sep)

  • There are still flowers on the courgettes but not much behind them now (19th Sep)

  • Lollo rosso lettuce, still going strong (19th Sep)

  • Cobs on the sweetcorn, just before picking (19th Sep)

  • Corn on the cob (19th Sep)

  • Only one bed of potatoes and half a bed of leeks left at the back of the plot (19th Sep)

  • The asparagus has made so much growth that it's blocked the path (19th Sep)

  • There are still lots of tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse (19th Sep)

  • Gardener's Delight cherry tomatoes, ready for picking (19th Sep)

  • French marigolds, which have kept aphids out of the greenhouse (19th Sep)

  • Outdoor Roma plum tomatoes (21st Sep)

Week ending 30th September

24th - Picked 3 greenhouse tomatoes (5.8oz) and 24 cherry tomatoes (11.1oz). Many other cherry tomatoes had split, and quite a few ordinary tomatoes are either manky looking or rotting. Cut the rotten leaves off the tomato plants in the greenhouse.

25th - Picked 1 greenhouse plum tomato (1.3oz), 7 outdoor plum tomatoes (1lb 3.6oz) and 3 carrots (7.1oz).

26th - Very hot weather today - 26 or 27ºC - which is forecast to last for about a week. Dug up the potatoes from the one remaining bed (27lb 14.3oz). Nowhere near as good a harvest as last year, but no pest damage.

27th - Picked the last corn cob (3.2oz of kernels) which we'd missed picking with the main batch. Also picked some runner beans (1lb 3.4oz) and calabrese (2½oz). Pulled up the sweetcorn and stakes. Tidied up the brassicas - cut flowers off the turnips & calabrese, removed dead leaves. Lots of grey aphids and whitefly. Tried to put lots of ladybirds under the netting!

29th - Watered the whole veg plot as it's so hot. Picked a head of celery and some tomatoes; 4 greenhouse (12.4oz), 3 outdoor (6.3oz), 4 outdoor plums (9.3oz), 13 cherries (6.3oz).

Click on a photo to see a bigger version:

  • Digging up the potatoes from the remaining full bed (26th Sep)

  • Drying the potato crop before storage (26th Sep)

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