Barry Cuff takes a look back at what happened on his Sturminster Newton plot last month
There was only one topic of conversation down on the plots thoughout August: the lack of rain. When will it rain? How much water is in the well? Will we need to switch to mains water if we run dry? Is it worth making new sowings? How are your runner beans, are they setting seed? Plot-holders checked the forecast daily for any hint of rain.
After such a long dry spell, our allotment plots were an oasis of green amid the parched lawns, pastures and bleached stubble of North Dorset – the local cereal harvest was one of the earliest on record.
Luckily our well did not dry up and continued to supply much-needed water for our vegetables and fruit, though an estimated 500 gallons was pumped daily to the holding tanks and troughs.
August notes:
Watering
Most of our vegetables were watered daily, especially runner and French beans, the cucurbits, celeriac, newly-planted leeks and brassicas, newly-sown carrots and beetroot. Needing slightly less water were our sweetcorn, parsnips, older brassicas and the fruit bushes and strawberries.
Badgers
For the first time in years badgers have attacked our neighbour’s sweetcorn, knocking over the plants and eating the cobs. Our block of 60 plants was not far away … to protect them, we erected a fence of chicken wire and stakes, plus a sprinkling of natural repellent (male pee). The combination of both worked.
Last croppings
We completed harvesting our onions on the 1st. All are now dried off and stored.
The last of the potatoes were dug on the 4th. They were the Desiree, and we had plenty of spuds per plant but they were generally small due to the drought. The peas and mangetout gave up the ghost around the middle of the month as they succumbed to powdery mildew caused by drought stress.
First harvests
Sweetcorn – we had three cobs on the 14th, and four on the 18th.
Red Cabbage – One head on the 15th for coleslaw.
Celeriac – We had a decent-sized root on the 21st, used for salads and stir fries.
Harvesting as needed
We are harvesting the following daily (or as required): Carrot, beetroot, gherkin, cucumber, courgette, French beans, runner beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers and lettuce.
Planted
From plug trays we have planted out lettuce, radicchio and Chinese cabbage.
We’ve made direct sowings of carrot, beetroot and the first of the autumn salad leaves and radish, and sown lettuce, Chinese cabbage and Spring onion (winter hardy) into plugs.
RAIN!
As I write this it is raining (29th)! We have had more than one inch since the first downpour on the 26th. Many of our autumn and winter vegetables will benefit, together with the fruit bushes.
