The even bigger and better and hopefully not lower bits of growing your own in 2022!

carinjo

A lovely harvest earlier this week: dwarf green beans, pears, tomatoes, loads of chard. I've run out of freezer space so everything from now on to be gifted.
Leeks are coming along nicely. Unfortunately no time to do any tidying at the moment, maybe next weekend. Ms C's part-time job turned into a full-time job! 

Started drawing up plans for next year (and this autumn)

Kantankrus_Mare

Not quite sure what has happened to my leeks. They all look to have died off which I have never seen before. Thinking some sort of disease?

Suffolk_lass

I picked two full punnets of tomatoes yesterday, after three days away. "Only" 2 cucumbers and no courgettes as they are all winding down now. Interestingly, having picked pumpkins and butternuts at the end of August to stop them from being too big, a second flush of fruits have grown. Four more Crown Prince and five more butternuts with about 2 and five more, too young but looking well set, still to come.

Fosterdog

I've had a big garden clear out this weekend as things are winding down for this year, only things left growing are my late potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, autumn raspberries, cucumber, runner beans, and sprouts, oh and the apple and pear trees. I do still have two butternut squash in but they stalled for weeks and only now starting to flower with no female flowers yet. I'll give them a couple more weeks but it's probably too late in the year to get anything from them now. My sprouts are not doing too well either, they are being devoured by caterpillars and I haven't made a brassica cage yet so they've been open to destruction so that's a definite plan for next year. The empty spaces have been scattered with clover seed to provide a cover crop and green manure.

I cleared out the strawberry bed today, after cutting everything back I dug out 1/3 of the bed, added fresh compost, and planted this years runners, I have it on a three year rotation so I always have one, two, and three year old plants. After clearing it all I filled a compost bin with the old leaves and even after planting the runners in the new section I have around 100 runners left over. Some I've left in the bed attached to the parent so they can root if they find a spot, the rest have been scattered in an overgrown area that doesn't get used and if they grow then great, if they don't it's no big deal. Next year I might try rooting more runners earlier to sell or give away because I always have far more than I could ever find room to plant.

I'm cutting back on how much I grow for next year, the last two years have been one problem after another and I've found the harvests pretty small and not really worth it compared to other years, maybe more plants of less variety will be more productive.

sammy_kaye18

Just checking in - just ran out to bring in my washing as it started raining and noticed two cucumbers on the plant that I had missed. 
The one cucumber plant has given us so many cucumbers this year that Im in two minds whether to grow them again next year or just do better research on how to store them, everyone I know has had a cucumber and I still have some frozen and now 3 in the fridge, plus theres two more on the plant that look like they wont be long and some smaller ones still growing. 
Will definitely be ordering more of them and making sure I have space to grow them because the one plant has taken over the whole bed and thats with me putting down netting for it to climb! 

I only had a few tomatoes this year and my pepper plants didnt come to much but I did have a garden reshuffle mid season and moved the greenhouse so Im wondering if thats it. Its only a plastic one and needs a new cover so I will spend the rest of the winter improving it structurally and making sure its weighted down etc properly aswell. 

Other than that - same problem with brassics in that I dont have a cage so everything got pretty well devoured by caterpillars. Next season I will resolve that. 

Strawberries have laid down runners and now the bed looks nice and full as opposed to the 3 lonely looking plants I had in there so I will weed them and keep an eye on them. If they grow everywhere then so be it. Fingers crossed for a good crop! 

Thinking next year I may follow @Fosterdog lead and try and root some to pass on to other people.
Although our village has set up a community orchard so I wonder if I could offer some for them to put in troughs etc and it can go towards helping feed the elderly in the village. Still holding out hope for an allotment! 

Suffolk_lass

Almost time to clear down the veg plot for winter and cut off the remaining asparagus fronds. I am trying to order a fruit cage for next year and take advantage of a sale. Not as straightforward as it sounds! I did price up copper plumbing pip but it is so expensive, that building our own would have been just as expensive, if not more so.

carinjo

Long time no check-in! It has been a hot minute since been in the allotment  Ms C and I had a lovely morning preparing the broadbean bed and planting a whole packet of seeds. I've covered it up this year after losing all the seedlings last year to birds (i think). Also prepared the onion/garlic bed. This year will invest in proper big onions and not a mixed bag. It been suggested i try japanese onions. 
Wanted to lift the weed suppressing sheets and the big seeds (courgette, butternut), but they still enjoying the autumn weather, so will wait another couple of weeks. 

Here's a question: i want to move the rhubarb next month. Do i cut the leaves down before splitting the crowns and moving?

leftatthetrafficlights

@Suffolk_lass - have you looked at plastic piping as an alternative? Our brassica beds have 6ft netted 'cages' on them which work really well - may be cheaper? 

@carinjo - I'd split the rhubarb then cut off the leaves before I replanted - if you leave it till the end of next month they will probably have got the majority of the benefits of leaving the leaves on anyway - they may take a bit longer to be massively productive but it's normally pretty indestructible so should be fine! 

We've cleared the squash bed now, this weekend we'll clear the sweetcorn, tomatoes, beans and swede as they are all at the end of their useful life cycle now - I am going to plant some Chinese cabbage, beetroot and carrots under plastic this weekend (I was meant to do this a few weekends ago so it may not be worth it but I'm giving it a go anyway 😉) I'm also going to start the garlic off and pop in some green manure into the emptied beds - I need to get some winter salad leaves in so will find some seeds this weekend and get those on the go 😁

Suffolk_lass

Thanks @leftatthetrafficlights, I did order mine from a well-known fruit cage maker (received last Friday, although erection won't be until after our hols). To be honest I'm a bit anti plastic in the garden. It becomes brittle over the years, be it piping, coating, pots, trugs or tool handles.

We have now cleared the veg garden more or less and yesterday I cut down all the tomatoes in the greenhouse. I have three more of those large SM fruit trays (if you want a bumper quantity of strawberries) which I have been using all summer. I keep thinking I should pot up the rooted strawberry runners and parent plants that are in one of the smaller raised beds. They are destined to be in the fruit cage if there is room. I should contact the grower from whom I ordered my new dessert gooseberry as we are away for a fortnight and I fully expect them to be delivered while we are away unless I ask them to wait.

I need to do lots of other garden tidying and cutting now we have taken 14 aggregate bags (the one ton size) to the farmer and popped them on his burn pile. Especially multiple climbing, rambling and bush roses and a number of honeysuckles, climbing hydrangea and buddleja as all are rather leggy

carinjo

Thanks @leftatthetrafficlights. I am planning on moving them to a row of tyres, waiting till end of next month will give me time to sort that out.
After some research i am planning to get a root stock A quince tree. Going this weekend to our local "allotment" garden centre (everyone i know get their fruit and veg seeds and bulbs etc from them). If no luck there i will go online. Again, only need to do planting next month onwards.

Have a good weekend everyone