Bindweed

I've been working my way slowly across the plot digging and weeding. I've been concentrating on the edges. Weeding along the edge of the fence is good at this time of year and keeping the grass from the path outside the plot spreading in is a good thing to do. There are other problem weeds too, the worse on my plot now is bindweed.

As the days shorten and the average temperature falls various plants retreat for the winter. Many weeds have made loads of seeds which have spread around and we allotment holders kindly dig into the soil at this time of year. Bindweed is different. It does have flowers and seeds, but it spreads with fleshy roots. At this time of year the greenery shrivels and the roots swell. So digging up the roots now takes away the reserves that plant has built up for next year. Of course, it's not that easy.

The roots are fat and fleshy, but they break easily, so the ground has to be loosened and the roots carefully extracted. Some inevitably break and any left in the ground will grow next spring, but I have a plan for that too. The biggest problem area is around the perennials such as fruit bushes, rhubarb and asparagus. Digging up the roots of bindweed around these is very hard, but hopefully my new springtime strategy will help here too.

Next year I'm going to watch carefully for new bindweed shoots, but this time I'm not going to pull them up as I've done in the past. I'm going to push a cane into the ground next to the shoot and train the bindweed up it. Bindweed loves to climb, so that should be easy. Letting it climb should keep it in sight and not help it spead across the ground. As soon as there are a few strong leaves I'm going to carefully treat them with a systemic weed killer, such as glyphosate. That should kill the roots as well as the leaves and should make an impact on whatever remains of the bindweed.

My previous attempts to eradicate the weed has not worked, only kept it from overrunning the plot. Hopefully my current efforts and my new plan will do better.

More digging today. It was cold and windy so only a bit more done.Still plenty of tidying up to do, then maybe a bonfire to finish off.

Autumn approaches

The weather is still warm but nights are drawing in. The recent rain is very welcome; the ground was very dry and hard. Digging season is upon us.

I like to see the plot dug and weeded in the autumn. I feel that it gives the weeds a poor start in the spring so less work then when there's plenty of other stuff to do. If I use any manure I like to spread it over the freshly weeded and dug ground in the autumn so it gets drawn into the earth by the weather and worms over the winter.

Everything has effectively finished except the leeks and purple-sprouting broccoli that will stand much longer. Leeks are fairly resistant but the broccoli needs protecting from pests such as pigeons, so I've surrounded it with frames covered in wire mesh and covered the top with netting.

Digging the weeds up, I suddenly realised that the pattern of weeds was different from previous years. This year there has been a huge number of sow thistles, I'm not sure which exact species. There has also been a lot of deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) too. I do wonder if it was brought in amongst the manure that Jim had delivered as we all used it to some extent. The weeds are not a big problem and both of these are easy to clear. Last year there were a lot of dandelions and this year there are hardly any. I suppose that weeds respond differently to the weather for the year just like my plants.

Deadly Nightshade

Sow Thistle

Seeds

Last year when we dug up the parsnips we missed a few. This year they sprouted, flowered and now are covered in seed heads, some of which are ripe.Today I put some of the seed heads into a paper bag and shook them. The result was a ton of seeds and a lot of greenfly and black fly in a paper bag. When I got home I tipped them out to see if they look any good and indeed they do. If anyone has any hints for ridding the kitchen of a mass of black fly and greenfly I'd be interested.

I also did some of the obligatory weeding and pulled a carrot to see if they are ready. The carrot is still rather small, so I left the rest.

The male flowers on the sweetcorn are magnificent, but sadly there are no cobs, not a one. I'm not sure what has happened, other people have lovely looking cobs developing. I'll just have to write sweetcorn off this year. Mange touts have been doing well and still more are developing, Runner beans are slowly developing, rather too slowly for my liking. I'm still taking a few black currants and about half of the gooseberries have ripened and been picked. The raspberries are about done now. All of the fruit has been particularly good, with plump, juicy berries and lots of them. My freezer is bursting.

If only a small fraction of the parsnip seed grows next year it would fill the whole plot.

Catching up

After some pretty hot weather there has been the usual thundery breakdown and a few days with a fair amount of rain. Today is warm (forecast to be hot later) but the ground is very damp, so great for plants to grow. Decent rain is so much more effective at watering than I can be and it is much less work.

I have tried to tame the grass that grows in from the borders under the fence. Mixed in with it is still some bind weed too. I have resorted to carefully spraying the bindweed with Glyphosate weed killer in the hope of at least keeping it in check.

I took a few phone-photos (i.e. badly framed, badly lit and out of focus) to show some progress.

Courgettes are doing well. As always, if they get some sun and water they produce masses of fruit which I like to take when they are quite small. If left they will turn into marrows and the plant will produce a few large ones. If picked they produce loads of smaller ones.

 The runner beans are flowering and the first beans are growing. They grow very quickly so they need monitoring often to pick them at their best. If the pods get too long they often become stringy and the skins get too hard. I'm hoping to get lots of these beans this year.

 The spinach is a disappointment. I have taken a little to eat, which was very tasty, but the hot weather has made it bolt, which means the leaves lose all of their flavour.






 The mange-touts have been good so far and the rain will boost them some more.  There are two varieties and one produces fatter pods which may not be intended to be mange-tout, but they all taste great so I'm happy with them.

Gooseberries are in full flow now. The raspberries have almost finished, black currants are past their peak and now gooseberries takeover as the amazing torrent of lovely soft fruit continues. Surely the best year for fruit for a long time. These gooseberries are the so-called desert variety, so they turn purple when they are ripe. This makes it much easier to know when to pick them compared to green goosegogs. They are almost hairless, a bit sweeter than green varieties but they still have vicious thorns which need to be grappled with when picking the berries. They are worth it though.

Happy Yorkshire Day.

Fruit, lovely

The soft fruit looks really good this year. Raspberries have begun to ripen - I needed to cover them with nets. I've taken nearly a kilo of blackcurrants and I've scarcely begun. The gooseberries are just beginning to ripen and there are plenty of them too.

Courgettes are beginning to produce fruits and I'm taking them quite small this year. The broad beans also have some pods ready to take. There will not be loads of beans as the later flowers don't seem to have set into pods, but the ones that are ready seem good and are very tasty. 

The peas are growing very well with the beginnings of flowers forming. They are getting too tall for the netting so now I have to decide if I should take a gamble and remove the nets or risk getting the peas tangled in them. My feeling is to remove the netting, but we'll see.

The sweetcorn is growing well next to the purple-sprouting broccoli that Gary gave me. The new savoy cabbage is also doing well. The spinach is doing well, in a week or so there may be some big enough to harvest. Spring onions and beetroot are both growing well, but the newly sown onions need watering so they don't wilt in the heat of the day. Carrots are doing quite well and the last sowings are sprouting.

All in all, things are doing well and this evening I had a meal that included courgettes and broad beans followed by raspberries. Lovely.

Seeds are sprouting

I sowed spinach, extra beetroot, extra spring onions and more carrots and I'm pleased to say they have all sprouted. The weather has been very good for growing, with warm sunny spells and a plenty of rain. No baking hot weather, so very little watering. I fed and therefore watered, the courgettes to encourage them to fill out a few fruits.

The blackcurrants are beginning to ripen, the gooseberries are fattening but remaining green. The raspberry canes are covered in fruit but it need to swell a lot yet before it ripens. I have a couple of ripe strawberries and because I didn't clear the weeds around them very well the plants have not done well. I think I'll start again with new plants next year, probably in a slightly raised bed.

Some broad beans are close to being ready, runner beans are developing a few flower buds, mange touts are growing well but with no sign of flowers yet and sweetcorn is a bit small, but looks healthy. Everything is netted, wired or has dangling CDs over it. This hasn't stopped carrot tops being eaten but they are recovering. The fleece wall around them will hopefully keep off the carrot fly.