MY WEEK : 38 ( W/E 23RD SEPTEMBER )

Hello and welcome once again to my latest update from my allotments here in Stourbridge.

The taste of Autumn certainly arrived this week with a touch of ground frost on Tuesday morning, I covered some of the vulnerable plants and flowers with some of the green debris netting and this prevented them from being damaged. As you can see from the photograph my raised beds are emptying fast now that certain crops are coming to an end, this has meant that I have been able to make a list of which beds need maintenance during the Winter months in readiness for next years crops.

I don't know if anybody else is experiencing this but my Summer Fruiting Raspberries and Strawberries are producing a second crop of fruit as you can see from the above pictures which is nice from an eating point of view but I'm sure that the plants could suffer when the cold weather sets which it will certainly do.

In my Brassica cage the first of the Cauliflowers are producing their lovely white heads, they are a bit on the small size due to a lack of water whilst I was away on my holidays, when they start to form as in the top-left picture to prevent the heads from going a yellowish colour which is a result of the sunlight getting on them, you should fold over some of the leaves as shown in the top-right picture to cover their heads and this will help keep them nice and white.

Also in my Brassica cage I have planted my Spring Cabbages this week, the variety is Durham Early which will give me a nice crop of greens in the Spring. I have also staked and tied my Brussels Sprout & Purple Sprouting plants, I heard on the news this week that the farmer's are warning that due to the weather recently they will not have a good crop of Sprouts this year as the buttons are not forming, I must admit that at the moment there are not any on my plants so I will have to wait and see.

The Butternut Squashes that I have grown this year are a variety called 'Harrier' which I have trialed for Thompson & Morgan, they are starting to ripen nicely now and will soon be ready for harvesting and tasting. The late crop of Dwarf French Beans that I planted are starting to crop as well, the pods are stringless and taste wonderful.

My maincrop of Beetroot has come to an end now but the second sowing that I made not too long ago has started to produce some fine Beets, also I sowed my Carrots much later than I would usually do but I have already started to pull some lovely sweet thinnings which are beautiful cooked whole, the variety is 'Early Nantes' which is quick growing and seems to be very good.

This week I have harvested the first of the Turnips 'Purple Top Milan', they make a delicious addition to any Soups or Casseroles with their unique flavour, also I have harvested Celeriac which is the first time I have grown this vegetable, they look a bit odd but have grown well and once peeled they reminded me of a Swede but with a Celery flavour, once again they can be used in Soups, Casseroles and mashed with Potato.

Well that is it I'm afraid for another week, the only thing to add is that I have made available my Sweet Pea seeds for you to buy so that you can share in the wonderful scent that my favourite flowers have to offer and at a price that is much lower than the seed catalogues, the link for these is at the top-right of my web page. Anyway I hope that you are all still enjoying the fruits of your labours and enjoying life on your plot even after the difficult growing conditions we have had this year, hopefully next season will be better. Thanks for looking in to my account of life here on my allotments in Stourbridge, speak to you all again next week as usual, regards Steve.