Barry Cuff takes a look back at what happened on his Sturminster Newton plot last month
The summer’s drought came to an end on 26th August. Since then, we have had around five inches of much-needed rain, followed by a drier spell with sunny days and night-time temperatures dropping to near freezing on a few occasions.
Growth – After the first of the rain, most vegetables put on a growth spurt – as did the weeds, with new flushes of seedlings, especially chickweed and fat hen. Our grass paths also needed mowing every five days.
French and runner beans – Despite the rain, these finished producing by the third week. The Moonlight runner beans gave the lowest yield for many years, with few pods left to take seed from.
Brassicas – Looking well under their net, with just a few caterpillars of both the large and small white cabbage butterflies. We are harvesting red drumhead cabbage and ironman calabrese when needed: the calabrese throwing new side heads after a few weeks. We cut our first cendis cauliflower on 25th.
Root crops – Our carrots are growing well since the rain, including the latest lines sown. Early-sown lines are now harvested as required. We dug our first palace parsnip on 25th, which we tried roasted and steamed for Sunday lunch.
Lettuce – The last batch we planted was devoured by slugs overnight (forgot the pellets!).
Winter squashes – Most of the leaves and stems have died back now and we have some amazing-looking fruits – eight butterfly butternut and seven crown prince – which will be ready to harvest beginning of October.
Tomatoes and sweet peppers – We’re now coming to an end of production in both greenhouses.
Leeks – We can see good growth, and but they do need frequent hand-weeding.
Autumn salad and stir fry – Mustards, radishes, mixed leaves, Chinese cabbage and radicchio all growing well, needing frequent hand weeding and thinning.
Fruit – We have had a second small crop of strawberries, which was most welcome! The pears are all now harvested … one of the best years ever.
We are enjoying them poached in homemade wine with honey, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla.
Seed and manure – We have put in our orders, and both should arrive in the coming months.
Compost – The heap to which we are adding spent vegetables and weeds is now over-full. A job for October is to empty the adjacent one, which contains the well-rotted material.
Clearing away – The bean canes and pea wires have all been put away for the winter.
Green manure – This is a cover crop which is grown specifically to be dug into the soil while it’s still green to improve soil health. It suppresses weeds and releases essential nutrients like nitrogen. We have sown about 20 per cent of our plot with phacelia, and may sow a further 20 per cent with winter field beans.
Wild life – The garden spiders are everywhere now, with webs appearing between every tall plant and structure overnight.
On sunny days there are still commas, red admirals and peacock butterflies on the Michelmas daisy and tithonia.
