MY WEEK : 33 ( 13TH AUGUST )

Hello all, I hope that you have all had another productive week on your plots and that you are enjoying harvesting your crops. The change in the weather has been most welcome, with a decent amount of rain over the last couple of days and cooler temperatures the allotments don't look so much like a desert now.
This week I have been starting to look forward to what needs to be done to prepare the raised beds and ground for next years crops. I have noticed that some of the raised beds will need a bit of work doing to them as some of the boards and stakes that I use to hold them in place have started to rot a bit. I have already acquired the timber to do this from a furniture makers who I get my wooden lath offcuts from which I use to grow my Runner Beans and Sweet Peas up, the timber had got wet and was going to be scrapped, so for the cost of a drink I got myself a great bargain. The timber is 6" x 1" and in 13ft lengths which will be ideal for my raised beds, I will keep you posted as to how I go about this when the time comes.


The French Beans and the Runner Beans have been producing a good supply over the last week, I have now stocked up my freezer with enough of them to last us until next years crop. The French beans that are produced now I have started to put them to dry for use as next years seed and also to provide some dried beans for use in Soups and Casseroles or Stews over the winter months, these are otherwise known as Haricot Beans which you may have heard of before. The Runner Beans will be dried and used as seed for next years crop, as of yet I have not been able to find out if you can use the dried beans for cooking with like you can with other varieties of bean.


The Brassica's are doing really well this year with my best ever crops of Cauliflower, Kohl Rabi and Cabbages being harvested, the Calabrese, Purple Sprouting and Brussels Sprouts are going really well. One problem that is starting to cause me concern is the amount of Whitefly that are appearing on my crops. I have looked into the best ways of controlling these and discovered several methods that seem to work for some people although not all. The first method of control is to cover your crops with a product called enviromesh which is a very fine mesh and can be draped over your crops or even over a frame, however if this mesh is not pegged down well or if you remove it to either weed around your crop or even harvest some of them then the Whitefly can get in and attack your crops. Another method of control that I have discovered is to spray your crops with an Insecticidal Soap solution, this is based on a natural soap not detergent made from chemicals but a soap that has been made using animal fatty acids, when sprayed onto the crops and Whitefly the fatty acids block the pores on the Whitefly and they die from dehydration, if this is used in the correct way and strength then it will not harm most beneficial insects which is a good thing. The final method that I have come accross is to spray with a chemical based insecticide which is obviously not organic and will errradicate all insects, this unfortunately is what the majority of farmers use in modern productive methods. I think after doing my bit of research this week I will try the Insecticidal Soap spray control method, I will keep you posted as to how effective this method is.






This week I have still been harvesting Sweetcorn, Beetroot, Potatoes, Cucumbers, the last of my Cauliflowers and the Parsnip seeds which I have put into a brown paper bag to finish drying out before I then store them in a sealed plastic margarine tub ready for next years crop.

The Carrots that I am able to harvest are very clean with no sign of Carrot Root Fly damage, I use French Marigolds planted around the edge of the raised bed to deter them from attacking my Carrots and it appears to work very well. Another way of preventing damage to your Carrots is to earth them up slightly which will prevent the female from laying her eggs in the tops of the roots.

This week I have added 2 link buttons to my website which will take you to layout plans of my two allotments showing where I have grown my crops this year. I will gradually during the next few months be making these interactive which will mean that you will be able to click on each of the beds and see a review of how the crops did during this last season with details of sowing & planting dates along with any tips or problems that I encountered, I believe that this will enable both myself and others to learn from my mistakes and successes during this season. Also I have begun working on what videos to produce during the Winter to show you how I make things for use on the allotments and certain planting, sowing and propogating techniques that I have learnt from more experienced plot holders during the last 5 years. I will also be planning what crops to grow next year, also showing you what to do to the soil to prepare it for the crops next year, so quite a busy time ahead for myself during the Winter which I hope you will enjoy with me.

There will be no update next week as I am going to Snowdonia again for another break before Daniel returns to school, I will as usual give you a double update in two weeks time. Well that is it for another week, thanks once again for all your wonderful comments I'm so glad that people are appreciating my efforts as i enjoy sharing my allotments with you all, see you in two weeks, regards Steve.