Plot 205: First frost

Sunday, 16 October 2011

First frost

There was some frost last last night so we had to harvest the sweetcorn. Not a big harvest, but enough for a bag each and better than we've done before.

We dug up the last row of Cara potatoes. They were really good sized and unblemished. We put a layer of comfrey leaves in the trench when we were planting them, so that seems to be worth doing.

We have been digging over where we have taken crops out and have been composting, adding comfrey tea to the heap before covering it with black plastic.

Scroll Down for Crop Rotation, Planting Diary & Harvesting Calendar

Our Crop Rotation

There are five beds in all.

One is a permanent bed for things like raspberries, currants, fruit trees, hops, strawberries, rhubarb and other perennials.

The other four beds have a simple rotation:

Year 1:

Potatoes. They are hungry plants so they like plenty of manure and compost. Later on, we plant out leeks in the space left after the early potatoes are harvested.

Year 2:

Peas, beans, onions and garlic. They like soil that has been previously manured. We plant a nitrogen fixing green manure such as Winter tares (vetch) once the onions and garlic are harvested.

Year 3:

Brassicas (including swedes) and sweetcorn. These like the nitrogen left in the ground by the previous crop. Lime is added in early Spring (or a sprinkling of crushed egg shells in the planting hole for cabbages). The brassicas need to be permanently netted because of the wood pigeons.

Year 4:

Roots such as carrots, parsnips and beetroot. These don't like rich soil.

Other things have to go in wherever we have space and we tend to grow things like tomatoes, herbs and salad at home.

Harvesting Calendar:

January The winter months are the time to enjoy root vegetables and stores of local fruit. Being harvested this month are leeks, green cabbages, parsnips, turnips, sprouts, celeriac, jerusalem artichokes, shallots, mushrooms and forced rhubarb. From store, apples and pears, beetroot and potatoes are available. Main crop carrots are either stored in the ground or kept in cold store to be available from September till the end of May. Onions are available most of the year.

February Winter root crops are still going strong. This is the month for early winter cauliflower, leeks, turnips, protected spinach, swede, celeriac, chard, forced rhubarb, and carrots. Potatoes, apples and pears are available from store. The sprout season comes to an end. Mushrooms are available most of the year.

March New crops of vegetables planted previous year come in to season, including purple sprouting broccoli, more cauliflower, spring greens, radishes, parsley, early rhubarb, and leeks. Carrots are available both from the ground and from store but beetroot from store is finishing. Potatoes, apples and pears are available from store.

April The stored crops start finishing in the middle of the month, but the new crops are not in full flow. Between mid-April and mid-June is the leanest time. But new season's lettuce and watercress come in, along with some overwintered spinach, radishes and purple sprouting broccoli. Rhubarb is in too. Carrots and potatoes are still available from store but apples and pears are finishing.

May This is the gap month, as winter crops finish and stores decline. But coming in are the first new potatoes and asparagus. Radishes available. Carrots and potatoes are still in store but winter cauliflower and spinach comes to an end. Rhubarb is available.

June By the middle of the month, there is a wealth of fruit and vegetables to choose from. New potatoes are more plentiful, asparagus continues. New carrots come in at the end of month as do soft fruits including blackcurrants, strawberries, gooseberries, cherries. Tomatoes are in, broccoli is beginning, cauliflower comes at the back end of the month. Lettuce gets into full flow as do fennel, peppers, broad beans, Chinese leaves, and green beans grown in tunnels. Herbs coming in.

July Another peak month, with strawberries, loganberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, tayberries, summer cabbage, spring cabbage, new potatoes, courgettes, broad beans, fennel, the first outdoor french beans, tomatoes, watercress, new cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, broccoli.

August The vegetables and soft fruits continue. Tree fruits come in at the end of the month. Lettuce, peppers, new potatoes, courgettes, leeks, sweetcorn, peas, aubergines, strawberries, loganberries, gooseberries, herbs, chard, courgettes, fennel, main crop carrots, broccoli. Onions and garlic are being harvested and will be stored through the winter. The first apples, and Victoria plums are picked at end of month.

September A good month for fruit, and summer vegetables are joined by the earliest of winter ones. Blackberries, early apples, damsons, early pears, plums, spinach, figs, onions, all of the cabbages, curly kale, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, french beans, courgettes, red onions, peppers, aubergines, marrows, sweetcorn, leeks, red cabbage, beetroot and broccoli are in. Swedes come back and sprouts begin. Main crop potatoes are lifted in September and October and stored until the beginning of the summer months.

October This is the main season for apples and pears. The first bramleys are in season. Also available are sweetcorn, marrrow, mushrooms, beetroots, squash, watercress, onions, and leeks. The Jerusalem artichoke season begins, while cauliflowers are at their peak, as are main crop potatoes and carrots, sprouts, and broccoli. Lettuce is running out by the middle of the month, and courgettes finish towards the end.

November Tender vegetable crops are disappearing as the frosts come, but still going are cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, leeks, swede, parsnips, apples, pears, quinces, and sprouts.

December It's back to winter vegetables and stores, with sprouts, turnips, swede, and parsnips available and potatoes, carrots, red cabbage, beetroot, apples, pears coming from store.