Tales from the Plot, October 2024
Autumn is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, there’s less to harvest as our plants slow down in response to the shorter days and the grass is covered by dew which is increasingly reluctant to clear apart from on the sunniest days.
Remember that the clocks go back an hour at the end of this month so we must make the most of the daylight hours. It’s time to strip outdoor tomatoes: those that are not good enough for the table we usually trim, chop and put in plastic bags, the equivalent to a tin of tomatoes about 400g to each bag. These can be frozen and are great throughout the rest of the year, just to add to a pizza, chilli or a bolognese sauce etc. Green tomatoes can still be ripened but don’t forget to check on them from time to time!
Main crop potatoes that are in the ground are usually lifted by the end of the month using a potato or garden fork to lift them to prevent damaging the tubers, however I’ve never managed it without stabbing what are usually the best examples LOL!
Harvest the last of the runner bean crop for this year and any that have gone over place in a tray and leave to dry out then pop the seeds out and keep in a paper bag for next year – I do this every year with french beans, runner beans and pea seeds, there’s no need to buy every year. I remember a plot holder that had a marvellous crop of runner beans year-on-year he told me he hadn’t bought any bean seeds for 20 years!
Last year I grew some purple climbing French beans, I enjoyed them more than I anticipated, left some on the plants, dried them out in my cold frame then popped the seeds out – I had enough to supply about 20 other plot holders with seeds and shall do the same this year, I need to learn more about saving seed from other vegetables.
If all is going well there’s still plenty of fresh vegetables for the table, Savoy cabbages, carrots, swede, parsnips etc. I normally manage to keep lettuce growing in a sheltered area right up until Christmas and beyond – it’s amazing how hardy lettuce is. It’s now the last chance this year for transplanting spring cabbages, plant them in ground that has been well firmed and cover with nets to protect from birds, some plot holders sow a couple of short rows of winter hardy peas and broad beans towards the end of the month to provide you with an early crop next spring although I have to say I’ve never been that successful but I will try with broad beans this year.
You can sow garlic now, I have been told you sow garlic on the shortest day and the harvest it on the longest day however last year I planted mine towards the end of October into large 60ltr tubs and had better results than I’d ever managed before so I will be repeating that this year.
If your ground is heavy, rough dig over and leave it in lumps or ridges to be broken down gradually by the winter frosts and rain, we are lucky in Syston that our ground is sandy and light, it’s still heavily debated between plot holders as to whether there is a need to winter dig however you need to keep off the soil if it is wet and don’t be tempted dig it if it is frozen. When the soil is frozen hard it is a good opportunity to cart barrows of manure or compost over it.
It’s time to protect the more tender plants using horticultural fleece. The last couple of winters have been quite hard – be prepared to protect chard plants, spinach, winter lettuce, peas, broad beans and any other crops that you are overwintering from the worst of the winter weather. Keep some fleece, plastic or have cloches nearby ready to use. Many of your plants will start dying back and losing their leaves this month, collect these fallen leaves to make leaf mould to get even more use out of your crops.
Take down the runner bean poles, cleaning the soil off the bottom of them before storing somewhere cool and airy ready to use next year.
Stake brussels sprouts and sprouting broccoli plants to prevent them from being blown over in strong winds, it is also worthwhile dragging soil up around the base of the plants to give them extra support … it’s time to start thinking about next year, make a list of what worked and what didn’t, I’m optimistic I always believe next year will be better than the last lol!
Richard Thorpe plot 15 B Syston Allotments