Picking the potatoes is a family affair
September’s always a month of mixed feelings for us, it’s full of abundant harvests of squash, potatoes, gourds, raspberries, sweetcorn and there’s still more to come. It’s a culmination of this year’s hard work, but it’s also a month in which the gardening season begins to come to an end and as the day length shortens the garden is starting to look a little tired, getting ready for its winter rest.
Despite the strange weather this year we had a good crop of squash, 14 in total. Although not as big as previous years, I’m sure they’ll be just as tasty. It was also time to harvest our maincrop potatoes grown in a bed of woodchips – the varieties this year were ‘Desiree’ and ‘King Edward’. Both are reliable croppers and grow to a good size. The method we use to grow potatoes may be a little unorthodox, but it yields some excellent results and the harvest is made so much easier because there’s no need to dig the soil. Potato harvests have to be the best of all – the whole family gets involved, it’s like one big treasure hunt mixed with our unique brand of mayhem! We’ve done detailed videos of the technique used on our YouTube channel My Family Garden.
The greenhouse has remained productive
and full of life. So far we’ve managed to harvest four snake gourds and there are still quite a few young gourds left on the vine. If the promising warm of an impact. Colourful Dutch iris in a range of colours will emerge during late spring, while tiny Iris reticulata has been planted in windowboxes for an early display.
Jobs this month have included lots of deadheading, sweeping up leaves to add to the compost bin and cutting back hard Echinops ritro as new growth is already emerging from the base of the plants. Dunnocks forage around newly disturbed soil in the hope of finding a worm or two. A not so good idea of mine was to keep the seed heads of Nigella damascena (love-in-amist). They’ve exploded everywhere and I’m now having to remove unwanted seedlings from various parts of the garden!
On the allotment,
I’ve planted out ‘Golden Gourmet’ shallots and spell continues then we’re looking forward to a few more. It’s only the second time I’ve managed to grow snake gourds in the UK so it’s one of the highlights of the year; they’re one of my favourite vegetables and they taste so much better when they’re home grown and not flown in from halfway across the world. From garden to plate the very same day!
It’s been a very good year for tomatoes. We grew the classic ‘Gardener’s Delight’, yellow pear, beefsteak and my personal favourite, ‘San Marzano’, all grown outdoors and we’ve been regularly harvesting fresh tomatoes daily since June. Unfortunately, good things don’t last and the dreaded blight finally hit; it seemed like
the plants were completely devastated almost overnight. three varieties of garlic
– ‘Early Purple Wight’, ‘Extra Early Wight’, and ‘Caulk Wight’. I’ve also planted elephant garlic, a close relative of garlic but with a much larger bulb and a milder flavour. All purchased from The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight.
With great reluctance spent tomato and courgette plants are being dug out, having provided a plentiful crop and a
As we start to clear garden beds it’s important to think about how best to overwinter them in a way that protects the soil and builds fertility. We’re currently sowing lots of green manures in the beds that are already empty, and those with crops still growing will get mulched with home-made compost, grass clippings, fallen leaves and manure, even cardboard.
Fuchsias brighten up the garden, while a cheeky squirrel eyes up the bird feeder
welcome addition to many a meal. Butternut squash are almost ready for harvesting – their sprawling foliage acts as a weed suppressant.
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