Now that it is Meteorological Autumn it is time to see how the crops in the Autumn bed are faring. Under the 4 seasons scheme all crops should be ready for harvesting before the month is out. There are some successes and some failures. Lets take a look:
AUTUMN
The autumn planting scheme was:
Beetroot
Tomato
Carrot
Fennel
Pepper (Cyklon)
Celeriac
Leeks
(Jolant)
Dwarf French Beans
Kohlrabi
Here are pictures of each square in turn with notes:
Leeks
Although an early variety (Jolant) these leeks are lagging behind and will need to be left for another month or two before harvesting. They could probably do with a bit of liquid feed. Leeks feature in Autumn, Winter and Spring beds. An earlier start is required for the Autumn ones.
Dwarf French Beans
Rammed full of greenery there has been a reasonable crop. Not sure that this variety is the best. A yellow or purple variety would help as the beans got "lost" behind the greenery.
Kohlrabi
A good choice but early growth was pecked to death by pigeons. Netting now in place and resowing has worked. Next year protection will be in place from the start.
Fennel
Peaked too early so the three remaining stems have bolted. Abundant feathery leaves. One stunning bulb was harvested in July by an unknown agency. 5 plants in a square foot was too many so the perpetrator probably did us a favour by thinning the crop!
Red Pepper Cyklon
A bit ambitious growing this outdoors in Scotland. Healthy green leaves, some flowers, but not any significant fruit. Squeezed in the middle it was not a fair contest. Verdict Not an appropriate choice for this location. Grow indoors in future.
Celeriac
Celeriac has been a bugbear for me in the past but I was encouraged by the results in the school garden last year. A single plant in this square. There is a picture of the root development below. Could do with a liquid feed. Also growing this in Winter with similar results.
Carrots - Missing!
Carrot are a bad choice for the school garden. Even with fleece the badger seeks them out and totally wipes them out. The two carrot square feet (Autumn and Winter) hove both been deeply excavated!
Tomato Totem
With more time for ripening this is an ideal variety for square foot growing. Some support helps:. A totem pole(?) Otherwise they keep themselves to themselves.
Beetroot
Old reliable beetroot has been happily growing overcrowded and uncared for it delivers without getting too big to crowd out its neighbours. Recommended for square foot gardening.
Beetroot Roots
Tomato Fruit
Celeriac Root
Hope you enjoyed this review.
Just for the record here are the other three seasons beds
The weatherman advises that the risk of frost is past! It's time to release those cramped plants from their night time confinement in the greenhouse. 20 cucurbits went off to the school garden today. More to the allotment over the weekend. Time to sow the sweetcorn. Time to reconfigure the greenhouse shelves for tomatoes and peppers and cucumber. Also the last impediment to direct sowing has been removed.
Cucurbits for the Allotment
Dwarf French Beans and Italian Climbers (Barlotti)
Peas and leeks at the ready
Brassica seedlings
A selection of flower seedlings itching to be released!
The song should be "Happy Days Are Here Again" but I have gone for something more contemporary:
This year I have deployed conventional light to stop my seedlings getting too leggy. It seems to be working for these annuals which currently have light but no extra heat. (The lights are located in our coal cellar). New this year is a new LED light setup. It is made up of small red and blue lights which explains the funny colour of these pics:
But it seems to work for tomatoes:
and peppers:
Outside in the (unheated) greenhouse transplanted lobelia ...
...and other hardier plants...
Leeks
...have rapidly been moved on after tricking them into germinating indoors!
Broad Beans
It is always a juggling act finding protected space once seedlings require transplanting into bigger containers. The greenhouse is the last resort and offers shelter from wind and rain/hail/snow but is no protection from the cold. I have a paraffin heater at the ready and will be keeping a watchful eye out for any sub zero predicted overnight temperature once the non hardy plants take up residence.
Here's the motley crew that are just waiting to be set out in the greenhouse. They are in the green room (shed) while the greenhouse is set up for the summer season:
Much less cluttered now that the seedlings have been evicted:
We have had so much rain in the last week that watering has not been an issue even for new sowings and plantings at the allotment (of which more to follow). It is warm enough for even tender plants to survive outdoors so I have been moving everything along apace.
The all time record temperature for Edinburgh is 30C. Well we are pushing that today. But the real record is the earliness of some of the crops.
25th June is about the earliest I have ever had new potatoes. These Ballydoon were grown in sacks in our back garden.
The spuds are not the only competitor for the earliest ever award. These Mini cucumbers are full size (for them) and it looks like there are plenty more to come.
I did buy these in as baby plants, but the tomatoes are all grown from seed:
The only greenhouse disappointment has been the Chillies which should be happy as Larry but are not. Possibly cold nights are a factor, possibly low light (the greenhouse is overshadowed by a hedge, but I am at a loss to understand why they are not growing away and loosing leaves instead! Suggestions welcome.
Vegetable garden blogging is a contradictory activity: Either you have nothing to report and all the time in the world to blog, or you are so active that you don't have the time or the energy to blog. Recently I have moved from one phase to the other. Aside from the improvement in the weather dictating a change of gear I have also been helping out in a school vegetable garden lately so demands on my vegetable growing time have doubled. Having made my excuses here is an update. Pride of place goes to the migration of the sensitive plants to the greenhouse where they are resident 24 hours.
Tomatoes
Courgettes and Butternut Squash
Chilli Peppers
Outside the greenhouse the former occupants are disporting themselves across the "patio" area.
Spot the bench to relax on.
Indoors the sowing programme continues with the second round of brassica sowings. Nowadays I am much more disciplined about labelling everything at the time of sowing:
This year, after sowing, I log everything on a spreadsheet. I realised today that I have now made my 100th sowing of the year. (That is home sowing: school sowings have their own log.)
