Allotment tales 16th October

Posted October 21, 2025

A sharp edge to the day and lots of Autumnal birdsongs – seems the robins are preparing for Winter, as are we.

Shed 1 was cleared – contents splayed over the picnic table. Where to file those old notebooks, info sheets and useful bits of plastic; d0 we need to keep every last piece of string and wire; how many dried out felt pens do we actually need? From chaos, order gradually emerged – very satisfying! We still haven’t tackled shed 2 despite it being on the “Jobs to Do” list for some time. Definitely (maybe) next week.

We sharpened secateurs and spades, cleaning with methylated spirit and checked all the apple buckets for rotten ones, finding a beauty! “Preparing for Winter” is the Caley’s workshop theme on Saturday so some time was spent preparing beds and mulches for this.

Kathryn, from The Caley Council came to visit and was particularly interested to see our ongoing potato harvest. Appropriately for this “Tattie Holiday” week, we harvested 3 more varieties – Rooster; Acoustic and Arran Victory, which came up an unusual mauve colour and to be honest – was a bit disappointing when steamed. The outer flesh dissolved, and the taste wasn’t spectacular. Always worth experimenting with rarer varieties though.

Our coffee break was much appreciated today, given the nip in the air. Afterwards, we continued harvesting, gathering windfalls and picking iron-rich spinach leaves and ruby red chard stems.
We mixed our weekly soapy spray for the brassicas, though noticed that the aphids are stealthily moving up the broccoli line.
The phacelia, planted as a green manure, is flowering and looking beautiful.