"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

Harvest time!

Hi Everyone.

Yes, it's officially Autumn! Hard to believe I know, especially as we waited so long for Summer. Well I do hope you all had a good one. I'm pleased to say that I will be completing on my mums house in a couple of weeks, which is a relief and a lot off my mind. Much less stress and more time to garden.

You might be thinking that now is the time to wind down and put your beds to bed for the coming winter. I'm pleased to say that there are still lots of things you can grow at this time of year.

So what have we got in store for you this month.

What to sow and grow in September

Covering crops and cover crops

Food security - UK's Biggest threats.

Save those falling leaves & cardboard boxes.
Quote of the month.

And lastly, Lottie news.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

What to sow and grow in in September.

Some people, including myself find this time of year a bit of a challenge. You may have just got back off of holiday to find your plot has gone wild, or you find lots of things to pick and now have to process a glut. The kids may have finally gone back to school and you're exhausted or you just can't find the motivation to think of sowing and planting more produce this late in the year. That's fine, give yourself a break.

So as long as you've not been totally traumatised by the slug and snail onslaught, now can be a time of clearing the decks and either winding down for winter or using the last rays of sunshine to start a few crops to see you through the colder months.

Some crops prefer the coolers days like Spinach. I've just sown a variety called 'Giant Winter' in plug pots, which will eventually go into my poly tunnel. However it is very hardy and will have no trouble growing outdoors. If you fancy trying some Cauliflowers, 'All Year Round' is a good bet. 'Winter Density' is a good one for Lettuce and as the name implies it fairs well in the cold. Perpetual Spinach, which is actually a Chard will last until the spring and give you a nice early harvest next year. You could also start some 'Wheelers Imperial' Cabbages That you'll be able to harvest next spring if you get them in quickly. It's not too late for many of the Kales you can get either and Spring Onions are great for those smaller growing spaces.

There is also plenty of different Mustard Greens you could sow, along with Land Cress, Mizuna, Endive and Salad Rocket if you're into peppery leaves for your salads. And talking of peppery things, there's a few winter Radishes like 'Black Spanish' and 'Mooli' which grow very fast. Personally I think they are way too hot, but each to their own.

Covering crops and cover crops.

Covering Crops

In my notebook I have a reminder to cover my Leeks in fine mesh in September. This is because the Allium Leaf miner becomes active again at this time of year.

The ALM has only been in this country since around 2002/2003 and was initially picked up in the West Midlands. Unfortunately it seems that climate change has allowed it to spread across the south of the UK and Wales and is slowly moving north to the rest of the country.

So if you are growing Leeks or Over Wintering Onions, now's the time to invest in some fine mesh, or Veggiemesh as it's known. If you go on my website you will find a link to the company I use and recommend.

The other crops you will need to cover at this time of year is your Brassicas, which you probably already know about. Things like Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Broccoli etc and this is because of the Pigeons; they get very hungry in the winter. You won't need a fine mesh, just a bird netting. You may already have some butterfly netting on them. However, those pesky birds can still get to your crops if you just lay the netting over the top. It's always best to have some sort of frame to support the nets.

Cover Crops

Cover crops or green manures, as they are also called, are fast-growing plants sown to cover bare soil. This year I'm going to experiment with some Field Beans and sow a whole bed of them which will help fix Nitrogen into the soil and give me a crop of Beans as well.

There are many different cover crops and if you are interested in which ones they are and what benefits they have, click HERE for a very informative RHS article.

Food Security- UK's Biggest threats

"Global warming and its effects on agriculture present one of – if not the – biggest threats to the UK's food supply chains, both now and for generations to come. Biodiversity loss is also a major contributing factor to food insecurity in the UK and around the world."

The House of Lords library

This year has been a real challenge to both farmers and hobby food growers alike. The unpredictable and unseasonal weather has caught almost everyone off guard and left us with a feeling of disappointment and despondency.

People have allotments and vegetable gardens for many different reasons and one of the main ones is to grow and eat the food that we produce. This is my main reason, but I also want to learn as much as I can about being self sufficient in as many fruit and veg as I can within the space I have available.

Towards the end of WW2 the 'Dig for victory' campaign with the home gardens and allotments managed to produce over one million tons of produce. By 1945 there were 1.4 million allotments.

I don't know about you, but I feel very strongly about learning to grow my own food. Not just for myself and the Geezer hubby, but for anyone that needs it. It's a shame we can't talk about this predicament we are in more freely and start to get together in our communities and utilise the gardens, communal spaces and allotments we have to their full potential to grow our own food.

What do you think? Am I a dreamer or do you agree? I'd love to know your honest thoughts on the matter. Email me HERE. 💚

Super Dooper Compost

Compost is the cornerstone of organic gardening. Rich, nutrient dense compost will not only feed your plants, but it will also feed the soil and help it develop a good structure.

Making your own compost is both easy and environmentally friendly. No need to have expensive equipment or fancy gadgets. And if you don't have much space, there's Bokashi bins and Wormeries that do the same job, just on a smaller scale.

This time of year is great to collect up all your fallen leaves or even like me, rake and bag up the leaves in the little cemetery close to my house. These carbon rich leaves are great 'Browns" to go with your "Greens". Take a look at Ben's video to explain all.

Quote of the month

" There's so much wisdom in nature that when we notice it, it awakens possibility within us. It is communing with nature that we move closer to our own nature "

Rick Rubin

Lottie News!

There's been a definite autumnal chill in the air these past couple of weeks, but I'm glad to say that there's been enough warmth and sunshine lately to bring a lot of vegetables on a little. However I still feel that everything is a good four weeks behind.

I'm over the moon about the giant Ukranian Kohl Rabis that I grew as they got to a very nice size indeed, but I'm not sure about the Honeybear Squash that developed three big fruits early on. I have a sneaking suspicion they were from some saved seed and there's been a bit of cross pollination going on. They look a bit like overgrown, ugly Patti Pans. We'll have to see what they are like on the inside later on in the year.

The Borlotti and Black Beans have done really well and the Carrots have been splendid so far. These were a French heirloom variety called Touchon, that I got from 'Realseeds" a seed company I definitely would recommend looking up.

I've been very pleased with the response from the allotment peeps who have donated a considerable amount of surplus produce to the food bank. So much so I had to get my trolley out to take it to the growing project. Also at the growing project I really enjoyed taking the training session on 'Pests and how to deal with them naturally'. We had a good turn out and was able to sit outside in the sunshine, which was great.

There have been some disappointments this month. Firstly my Red Cabbages I planted a few weeks ago have all turned out to be Green! No idea how this has happened. It's far too late to start some more off so I'll have to wait until next year now ☹️. The other disappointment is my Cantaloupe Melons in my poly tunnel. Out of three plants I might, if I'm lucky, only get one Melon. And I don't even want to talk about my Peppers as they were a complete disaster.

My Onion crop was okay, but nowhere near as good as previous years. I have just sown some Senshu Yellow Onions, which are Over Wintering ones. These will hopefully be ready early in June before any of the other spring sown varieties.

There is still a lot to harvest though and I'm still planting things to pick in spring, mainly Cabbages, Chard and Kales. Got to eat your greens eh!

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe.

Christine x

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