This Month's Tips

October, 2009

In the last few days we've seen the weather shift dramatically from a
wonderfully warm and sunny September, to a distinctly cool and damp
October. It's time to get ready for Winter.

Despite what many people think the arrival of the colder months needn't mean
the end of productivity on the veg plot. In fact, far from it!

Veg like Kale, leeks, swiss chard, perpetual spinach, will take everything
but the most severe frosts in their stride. Many people believe the frost
actually improves their flavour. Herbs like chervil, coriander and parsley
are incredibly resilient too. Inevitably they'll grow more slowly with the
lower temperatures and reduced levels of daylight, but they'll grow none the
less, giving you a steady supply of leaves. When warmer temperatures arrive
in March/April their growth will accelerate again and you can harvest with
your usual enthusiasm, picking fistfuls at a time.

Lettuces like our favourite Reine de Glaces (Queen of Ice) grows
brilliantly through the winter as do salad leaves like mustard leaves,
mizuna and rocket, but they will get a little ragged. Look how well this
Mibuna is coping with the snow above.

The ideal (but not essential) solution for herbs and salad leaves is to give
them some protection from the elements and slightly warmer growing
temperatures by covering them with a cloche. You'll get tidy looking leaves,
and lots more of them. If you haven't sown any yet, there's still time to
sneak some in, but do it asap.

Build Your Own Cloche

You can buy cloche kits but they can be expensive and the sizes are often
limiting, so we make our own. Here's how to make one that fits the 4ft x 8ft
raised beds we advocate in the plot designer. You'll need:

* A roll of blue MDPE pipe (20mm diameter) - available from your local DIY
store
* 12 x 20mm diameter nail clips
* A 3x5m (approx) sheet of polythene, ideally UV resistant

Cut the pipe into 2.6m lengths with a hacksaw and fix ends to your raised
beds with the nail clips. If you haven't got raised beds you can simply jam
a 2ft bamboo cane into the end of the pipe and push the other end into the
soil.

Then just cover with the polythene and fix it down with ground pegs. Voila!

Of course not all veg plants are as resilient as those mentioned above, some
will be wiped out when the first frost arrives in your area. The timing of
the first frost varies quite a lot depending on where you live; it's
obviously a lot later in the south of the country. Keep an eye on the
weather forecast and make sure you harvest all of the following (if you
haven't eaten them all already) before the first frost hits in your area:
* Squash
* Courgettes
* Tomatoes
* Celeriac
* Beetroot
* Carrots
* Sweetcorn
* French beans

Eat the sweetcorn, beans and courgettes fairly quickly, but the rest will
keep well for a few weeks without resorting to anything elaborate like
storing in boxes of sand etc. They'll do best somewhere dry and cool like a
garage. Leave soil on the beetroot, carrots and celeriac to preserve the
flavour. They can be left in a cardboard box. Squashes are best kept on a
shelf or in nets and hung up. These will keep till spring no problem.

Make an Onion String

You'll also have harvested your onions by now. They can be kept loose with a
little breathing space around them, or hung up in net bags. But if you want
something a little more fancy go for an onion string. This method's super
easy and looks amazing.

Start by getting three lengths of string about 4ft long, lay them side by side and tie the lengths together with a knot at each end. Hang one end on a hook, and tie your biggest onion on the other. Now add in more onions by positioning them one at a time on the lowest one and weaving their leaves in a figure of 8 around the three vertical strings. Work your way up, till you’ve got a complete string. Hang it up somewhere handy, like in the kitchen. Magnifique!

Sow Garlic and Broad Beans
Now's also the time to sow garlic and broad beans. Garlic is a wonderful
thing to grow yourself. The big advantage is you can use it 'wet', this
means picking it and using straight away, before it reaches the dried out
state commonly available. The flavour is milder and sweeter, and truely
exceptional in dishes using raw garlic like pesto and in salad dressings
when you don't want such a garlic hit.

Plant individual cloves now and by the time summer arrives each one will
have transformed into a new bulb. They're also very low maintenance.
Our favourite is Valledalo. It has much better flavour than spring sown
varieties.

October is also an excellent month to sow certain varieties of broad
beans. Super Aquadulce is perfectly suited to 'over-wintering'. The plants
will establish an extensive root system during the winter, enabling rapid
growth when the warmer weather arrives in early spring. Pretty flowers like
these will appear in April and you'll start harvesting deliciously tender
broad beans as early as May.

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