Still harvesting, but now it's the tidy up
Most crops have now been harvested, but we still have a variety of lettuces, pictured above, and the chilli peppers are ripening in the glasshouse. The climbing bean frames and gourd tunnel have been cleared and the remaining apples picked and stored.
Garry has just finished off the remainder of the summer pruning of the fruit trees; this was started in August and is normally spread over a few months.
Rather then digging out the sweetcorn, it has been cut off to just above ground level. One year we didn’t get around to digging out the roots in the autumn and left them until the spring, when we found that the soil was lovely and friable. The roots seem to protect the soil from forming a hard layer on the surface, similar to a crop of green manure. We just cut off the stems about 5cm above ground level and the remains will be removed in the spring before planting.
Double digging on the allotments
The double digging and weeding in the student allotment plots have been completed and are ready for them to start cultivating as part of their standard training programme.
Each year we bring our potted fruit into the polytunnels to prevent the pots from becoming too wet in the Devon winter rains. One of the original nectarines planted against the wall in 1995 has never fruited well and we have finally given up on – we just do not have the conditions to ripen the fruit, so I am afraid it had to go!
We had two very successful events in October - Apple Day and Pumpkin Day. Both days brought lots of visitors into the garden, and although hectic at times everyone enjoyed themselves enormously.
Round up of the year
After what was one of the coldest winters here at Rosemoor with temperatures dipping down to - 15°C, lots of snow and the big freeze stretching through into spring - we hoped that some of the overwintering pests will be killed off or slowed down. One notable casualty was the gooseberry sawfly – after plague proportions the previous year, this year we were virtually free from the pest.
We were then blessed with two out of three months of sunny weather, which made for a very good growing season for all of the fruit and vegetables. All the tender veg (which has suffered a lot in the previous two wet summers) did well with very good crops of outdoor aubergine and ridge cucumber.
Just when we needed some water (as the season had been so warm and dry) the schools broke up for their summer holidays, which signalled the start of a wet August that kept everything growing well.
We have just had lovely October weather, which has really extended the season. We’ve just finished picking a bumper crop of apples and are still harvesting from the garden: carrots, parsnips, celeriac, leeks, cabbage, gourds, parsley, sorrel, lettuce, oriental greens, kale, spinach and chard. We also have lots of stored onions, shallots, pumpkins and squashes.
We have taken advantage of the lull in activity, now that most of the crops are in and the beds prepared for winter, to resurface the perimeter paths of the vegetable garden to bring them back up to standard for the new season which will no doubt be with us in double quick time as usual!
Next year we have a very full calendar of events with vegetable garden basics, apple pruning days, summer and winter pruning of soft fruit, a local produce show and, of course, the Apple and Pumpkin Days and two ‘Grow Your Own’ weekends.