It was Nippy and Blustery on the allotment

A nippy and blustery day at the allotment with the occasional flurry of showers to keep us on our toes, a bit different from the tropical temperatures yesterday!

There were plenty of weeds demanding our attention – and a sterling job was done clearing them from the peripheral border of the plot and around the gooseberry bushes and generally getting ready for the upcoming “Preparing for Autumn & Winter” workshop on Saturday 19th September.

The sweetcorn was well and truly over, after having supplied us with some delicious produce. We set about clearing it, dismantling the protective mesh and digging the soil over. This plot will be planted with autumn garlic and onion sets for an early crop next year.

The large fruit cage with an abundance of redcurrant and blackcurrant bushes were pruned and now look very neat and tidy! There are still many runner beans and French beans to harvest – some may have made the grade for the longest runner bean in last weekend’s Show and Grow at Saughton Park, if only they had put on a spurt last week!

There were some damsons still to harvest, and again more lovely, delicious apples were harvested along with sweet peas, broccoli and some interesting looking wee purple-top turnips.

In the unusual vegetable bed, the custodian of the bed arrived with a rather large Daubenton’s Kale plant, a perennial Kale which can grow for years and years apparently.
I also have it on good authority that it makes “fantastic crispy kale”- shred, toss in toasted sesame oil and sea salt, bake in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes. We will look forward to that in the not too distant future.

Jobs for next week:
More weeding of beds and paths.
Harvest maincrop potatoes and remaining apples.