You dirty rat

More Autumn digging and we're about done. In the bank behind the plot there's a new hole which heads our way. It is freshly dug but looks fairly small - a bit too small for rabbits. Gary found a dead rat, so the hole is probably a rat hole. I need to discourage them, poison them, scare them away or do something to remove them - I'll give it some thought. I had to hack through nettles to get to the field and part of a now-dead elderberry broke off as I pushed past it, so now there is a big gap in the hedge. It is supposed to be a hawthorn hedge, but much of it is elderberry and much of that is on its last legs. I think I'll plant as many hawthorn berries as I can to try to grow a new hedge. Mind you, with a decent hawthorn hedge, how would I check what is digging in the bank?

The shed has a felt roof, and I found part of it on the plot. I climbed up to look and found the felt is torn and has holes in many places, so a new covering of felt is required. Getting the old stuff off will be easy, getting the old felt nails out may be harder and fitting the new felt along the join with the greenhouse, without dismantling the greenhouse roof might be awkward. I don't trust the strength of the roof to sit on, so I will have to work from the edges.

We thought about growing leeks over the winter then forgot. I hope it is not too late to start some now for harvesting in the spring.

New Gooseberry Bushes

We want to move the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes, but we don't want to lose them. They don't like being moved at all. I have pruned the gooseberry bush today and some of the woody prunings I turned into cuttings and planted six of them in the new spot we want the bushes in. If any of them have taken in the spring, I'll choose which ones to keep and remove the rest. Once the new bushes are doing well (assuming any take that is) we can decide if we want to try moving the original bush or just dig it up. I'm going to repeat the process with blackcurrants in a week or two - they still have most of their leaves.

As well as getting thoroughly scratched by gooseberry thorns I tied in the green growth of the raspberry canes. They have done really well in their new home, although they didn't have much fruit this year they have put out masses of new shoots that should all bear fruit next year. Now they are tied to wires supported at each end by posts they stand a better chance of surviving the winter winds without breaking.

The Autumn dig is under way, with about half the plot dug over and weeded. The small hazel trees around the edge of the plot are now much bigger and some have nuts on them. I'll harvest the nuts when they are ready and then prune them quite hard, which I've done to the ones with no nuts.

Sweetcorn is doing well, with more cobs to eat today. They are unbeatable. The beetroot has finished, the beets have stopped growing, so got composted. The remaining cabbages were full of caterpillars so they were pulled up and composted. The compost bin is quite full and needs turning soon to help encourage the rot. Some of the lovely compost from our bins has helped the raspberries do so well. The rhubarb is dying back, so its leaves and stems will add to the compost too.

Parsnip and Onions

A warm, calm day and the plot invited some attention. Lots of weeds came out - we still have too much bind weed. The remains of courgette plants came out which have been worthless producing only two small fruits all year. The sweet peas are over so they came out, with accompanying bing weed. All of the remaining onions were lifted to dry off and I lifted the first parsnip which looks large and very good.

It begins to look like the start of autumn.

Time might be running out

More beetroot was ready today and we lifted some onions to dry in the greenhouse. The broccoli has had some slug damage, but should be OK. We took a cabbage which had some caterpillar damage, but the heart looks great. The sweet corn is now in a race against the weather and the shortening days. Many of the sweetcorn stems were falling over, I hadn't staked them this year - I will another year. The cobs are growing but they are not ripe. I hope there is still time for them to ripen before the days are too short and before any frosts. Just a few sunny, warm days might do it.

Village show

We popped up to the plot to see what's happening. We got half a kilo of beetroot and some sweet peas. The sweetcorn look great, lots of cobs all with tassels and every stalk has a male flower too. I tried to spread some pollen onto the tassels so we will see how that works out. Still a couple of weeks at least to wait for a sweetcorn.

I pruned the raspberry canes. The growth on the new canes is the best I've seen so next year looks promising. The onions are all starting to lay down. We pulled a few where the top growth had died back a bit bit most need a touch longer. I'll put them in the greenhouse to dry again - that worked well.

Cabbages are doing well, they are forming hearts with one nearly ready to take. The first batch of broccoli is looking great, with the later batches also growing. They have plenty of time to catch up.

We took some black currant cuttings. We want to move the bushes but they don't take to being moved, so one way is to grow some more plants, plant them in the right place and when they are doing well, dig the old ones up. It could take a couple of years though.

There are lots of weeds to dig up and the existing fruit bushes need some pruning, but things look good.

One thing I'm not sure about is the village show. Brenda pressed a show guide on us and asked us to enter the show. I'm not sure I want to. We grow for the table, not to show. Will any of our stuff be up to showing? Can I be bothered to primp and preen it into what the judges want? I'm not sure, but I've got a couple of weeks to decide.

Not enough spring onions

We took the last of the spring onions today. We sowed a whole packet of seeds and we have got a good crop, but we could easily have used more. I think if we stagger the sowing a lot we could grow more and they would be very welcome. They are especially crisp and sweet so worth any effort and when they are warmed up they are very sweet.

We took another batch of beetroot too. A few had bolted with no real beet. They got pulled up to make room and resources for the others. The beets we took are a perfect size, with still much more to come. It freezes well, once boiled, so like the spring onions it would be worth trying to grow more, though staggering the sowing is less important because freezing it will spread its use.

Every sweetcorn stalk has a male flower on it. One or two are beginning to open to shed their pollen. The cobs are beginning to swell on the stalks but only one stalk has any tassels yet. I took the netting off - we have not needed netting in previous years. When I got home I found a pocket full of clothes pegs which I'd taken off the netting and forgot to leave at the plot.

We decided to water the beetroot and the brassicas. Rain is forecast for next week, but I don't trust the forecasts that far out and the plants need water now. I hope there is some good rain, the ground is dry and hard and needs weeding - softer ground is easier to weed.

Now the soft fruit is over we need to prune the bushes. We might try to move a blackcurrant bush too - we really want to get all of the fruit closer to the hedge, but I don't want to kill the bushes. The blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes are particularly good. I'll try to use some of the pruning to grow cuttings as a back up.

Bean fest

The broad beans are over, but what a crop. We've eaten them, frozen them and given them away and they are superb. We now also have our first, and hopefully not last, French bean crop. The mange touts have struggled to give us a few pods before they gave their last gasp. A very few sweet pea flowers were ready to cut - I'm at all sure how many more will come through on the straggly plants. Some plants have bindweed through them but I can't remove it without breaking the sweet peas, so I'll wait until they are done. 

A few beetroot were ready - they are boiling away as I type. there are lots more to come and they look good. Another harvest of spring onions will be delicious with maybe one more crop to come. The main onions are looking pretty good, most have recovered from being nibbled and a few tops are turning so not long before we pull and dry a few of those too.  The sweetcorn is beginning to get the top tassels growing and hints of cobs too. After their demolition by pests I'm pleased they have done so well.

We planted out the last of the broccoli plants and covered them with frames and nets. The glut of pigeons continues to be a problem in the area, hence the netting. The pigeons are turning to farmland, especially wheat and oil seed rape and are leaving our plot alone at the moment. What will happen when the large flocks find the fields ploughed and empty? I think we are ready for them, but I've thought that before and been wrong.