Talking to fellow allotment holders over the last few weeks, we are all agreed that this has not been the best of years for vegetable growing. I feel very sorry for all of the new allotment holders – what a year to start growing your own vegetables! Even I have struggled to stay enthusiastic with the amount of rain and wind that we have had to cope with and all of the allotments look windblown and weedy at the moment. To top it all, rabbits have eaten my sprouting broccoli and the tops out of my leeks!
The broccoli are beyond saving, which is annoying because it is such a useful winter vegetable when there is little else available for harvesting, but the leeks are making a comeback and although small, I think we will at least be able to make some soup through the winter! Needless to say, top of my Christmas list this year are rabbit netting and windbreak – too much effort and expense goes into gardening to allow rabbits free meals!
My broad beans have been a huge success, along with beetroot and the first of the peas. The later rows of peas seemed to taste very starchy – I’m not sure why this was, but they didn’t have the sweetness of last year when we froze lots for use through the winter. The green courgettes are doing very well and Mrs McGregor has already made the first batch of chutney. I am not fond of courgettes but the chutney is a winner and always well received when we give it away as presents!
The potatoes have had a really rough time. The tops on my earlies grew and flowered but when I dug them, there were hardly any new potatoes under them and then they got blight due to the wet, windy weather. What we have had have tasted great, but the slugs have enjoyed them as well, so preparing them for supper has been a bit of a challenge, trying to cut out the bad bits! I have yet to harvest my blight resistant main crop ‘Sarpo Mira’ so watch this space!
Last week I lifted my onions, which are much smaller than last year. There are a lot more ‘bull necked’ ones, which means they have made flower spikes instead of the bulbs for storing. I put this down to the cold, wet spring which makes ‘bolting’ in onions and shallots a problem especially if they are planted early. Mrs McGregor added the rejects to her chutney and the rest are drying on wire racks at the end of our garage, so some should store for the winter!
Through the autumn, I will content myself with harvesting, using and storing what I can from the plot and putting up my rabbit netting, along with digging over the vacant ground when the weather and soil conditions allow, in preparation for next year.
I always look forward to planning the allotment for the coming season and feel sure that next year’s harvest will be much better and the weather much kinder!
Happy Gardening!
Mr McGregor
