Nearly the end of the season

Yesterday (Friday) we had a little bit of rain. I guess we also had a bit of wind, because when we got to the plot today we found that the Morning Glories had all toppled over. Right on top of the Daikon.

After righting them and fixing the broken canes, we had a look around. Sadly now that we're getting to the end of the season there is not a lot to be harvested.
The Courgettes still have a few flowers on them, but they're looking rather ragged these days.

I guess we won't be having many more courgettes sized ones from them. There are three marrows sitting waiting though. Lets see what happens with them over the next few days. It may be that the Courgette Tally has incremented it's fill for this year. Not a bad count off only 4 courgette plants though.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

53

Bushcraft down the allotment

As I've mentioned before, I come from a Scouts and Venture Scouts background. I love camping and cooking over an open fire. Of course the problem is that down the allotment fires are severely restricted. But there are alternatives.

I've recently bought myself a Ghillie Kettle.

I've had my penny can alcohol stove in the greenhouse for ages, but this is a little bigger and simply burns bits of twigs and other assorted wood. It's a double walled boiler where the fire is contained in the base and shoots up through the middle, much like a rocket stove. It boils the water, and then with a small stand adaptor you can cook on top at the same time. This manages to boil 1.5 litres in about 3 mins when it's working well.

It even manged to keep going through today's rain. Unlike us. We decided to pack up and come home early. So I'll just leave you with a photo of a Ladybird on a Morning Glory.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

53

Pumpkins and Marrows and Squash, oh my!

Time for a small harvest.

When we arrived at the plot, we were greeted with a nice display of Morning Glories.

But then we started gathering... and the gathering didn't stop.

So what have we got here?

• Three large marrows. (Also known as courgettes that got left alone for too long)
• Six small pumpkin gourds.
• A variety of Zierkurbis and Autumn Wings squash.
• Two trays of tomatoes.
• A normal courgette
• One cob of sweetcorn.

Now the Zier kurbis is not edible. They are an ornamental variety. Once cleaned and dried they should keep for a while for display purposes. It has been known that some people have hollowed them out and used them as flower vases. Not sure about some of them because they are a bit twisted, but maybe some of the straighter ones could be used as such.

The tomatoes and courgette are destined for tonight's soup. And the corn... well that's a different story.

Remember when I asked a couple of weeks back, how to tell when the corn was ready to be harvested? Well it seems I may have left it too late. Although the kernels do give a yellow milky fluid when pressed with a nail, most of the kernels are hard and extremely powdery to the taste. So it seems I may be somewhat late in harvesting them. Not to worry though. I'll save some of them for next years seeds. Whilst others went to a good home. The chickens! In return for which I got a couple of fresh eggs. So not bad as far as I'm concerned.

The marrows are now put up on the top shelf of my kitchen. They will become the seed stock for next years crop. I still have about another three marrows on the plot. Though I have culled one plant, there are three others which are going strong. So I expect more courgettes in my future. Keep an eye on that counter.

There are also a lot more tomatoes waiting. Although the foliage is starting to die off now. There are still a lot more to come.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

51

Daikon under attack

Remember last week when I said the Daikon was off to a great start? Well I reckon the slugs must have heard me. Because today's visit to the plot showed that they'd been busy munching their way down one of the rows.

Hmmm. Well at least there are a few left so hopefully we'll get something out of them.

Meanwhile the Tomatoes are on a roll. Today's harvest of Toms, blackberries (and a few apples).

Still not sure about the sweetcorn though. The cobs do not appear to be fully formed, despite the plants looking great. Time will tell.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

46

Daikon off like a rocket

It's been rather warm recently, so I pop down the allotment on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do a spot of watering. Sometimes the plot gets a bit thirsty.

So imagine my surprise when last Thursday I popped down the plot to find that the Japanese Daikon Radish had sprouted already.

Two things are surprising about this. Firstly that it's been a mere 5 days in the ground and already you can see the sprouts. It also shows where I failed to space them out properly, which means I've got a spot of re-arranging to do. But that's a different matter.

But the second surprising thing is that these seeds are out of date by SIX YEARS!

Yes these seeds I bought as a "10 pence special" back in 2012. There were already two years past their "use before" date. But not to worry. If seeds are kept cool and damp free then they should keep for a very long time. As these have shown. It's not unheard of for archaeologists to find seeds from digs hundreds of years old and then those same seeds go on to germinate and grow.

Anyhow, looking forward to some winter radish.

Elsewhere on the plot, things are trugging along as per normal. Which means that the courgettes are churning them out (though some I've now let alone to grow into seed marrows). The tomatoes are fruiting. And the Blackberries are now ripe and ready for picking.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

38