This Year, Next Year

Mustard - Green Manure

The mustard is looking pretty good now. According to the seed packet it will die off with the frost and form a 'beneficial, protective mulch' which I'll dig into the soil in the Spring. Next year I'm going to try red clover - I suppose you can grow green manures at any time of year if you've a patch of ground with nothing to go in it?

I bought sugar snap peas and dwarf beans today ready for next year. I'm growing the dwarf beans instead of broad beans because, even though they're home-grown, no-one in the family likes eating broad beans - but they were still fun to grow and grew well. I've got some in the freezer and I slip them into soups and risottos etc. Without their tough, outer coat they really are a marvellous bright green.

Browse seeds here.

Combating Whitefly

I'm trying to attract the whitefly away from my cauliflowers. The yellow cards seem to be helping a little but I think I should have done something sooner. Unfortunately other insects get stuck to the cards too.

Listening to 'Gardeners' Question Time' I heard Neem Oil recommended so I'm thinking of trying that next time. A fellow allotmenteer uses washing up liquid - another possibility. As for now, hopefully, a cold snap is not far away and should solve the problem.

Shallots and Onions

Shallots

The shallots are keeping well in a wire basket suspended from a beam in the garage. I'd like to grow even more next year.

Today I bought the first bag of onions since June - I've only got two home-grown onions left. It's been lovely eating ones that grew on the allotment. I lost quite a few to rot because, despite one of the driest years we've had for some time, we had rain when it was time to lift the onions!

Allotment Mushroom

Allotment find

There are some interesting mushrooms growing on my plot in this damp weather. This one had been knocked over so I brought it home to photograph. I don't know whether it has come from the soil or the manure which I spread a little while ago.

I've been trying to identify it but no luck so far. Nevertheless I thought this site was pretty good: Foraging Guide: Mushrooms

Spot the Blackbird

Somewhere...

...there's a...

...shy, young blackbird.

Easily camouflaged! 

Being immature, it has a black beak and blends in, especially with the dark lumps of manure on the asparagus bed. The bird was running about so quickly among the vegetables that I had a hard time getting pictures.

How to Water Plants

Winter Jasmine

I thought watering was a pretty straightforward activity - fill cans with water and pour around thirsty plants. Then I found a useful article: 'How to Water Plants Correctly'. 

It deals with plants in the ground and also those in pots. There are tips on how to encourage plants to develop deep roots so that they are better able to survive short periods of drought. Ideas for different methods of watering include sinking a flower pot or pipe into the soil next to plants so that water can be introduced directly into the deeper levels of soil, avoiding evaporation from the soil surface. Efficient watering of pot plants is also dealt with.

This article (left hand side of the page) together with useful videos on a selection of gardening topics can be found on the Wikaniko Allotment Garden page.

Useful information for next season's growing.

What to do about Whitefly?

Visited a garden centre today to look for a solution to the whitefly that have infested my brassicas. The unseasonal warm weather has led to hordes of these pests setting up home in my purple sprouting broccoli, my cauliflowers and my cabbages.


I looked at sprays including an organic one but did not feel comfortable about spraying my crops. I've bought some yellow sticky strips which I'll suspend just above the plants and see if that helps. The strips are really for greenhouse use but I'm going to try them anyway. The whitefly are attracted to the yellow colour - I hope it works!


Whitefly Images