It does suddenly feel quite Autumnal. We have a mini woodland on our croft, sadly we don’t see the usual range of autumn colours as the leaves die and fall to the ground. What tends to happen is we’ll have a day or two of strong South Westerlies and all the leaves will be blown off the trees. Autumn over and done with in the space of a few hours! I do find the sudden leaf dump pretty useful as a mulch though.
This week’s veg harvest follows the Autumnal theme – leeks, sprouts, kale and Winter Squash are all on the menu. I’ll be winding the weekly veg scheme down for this year over the next few weeks and aiming to start it all again in next Spring. The greenhouse is partially planted with Spring crops, the Polycrub has salad leaves in one bed and I’ve lots of brassicas outside. I normally plant the outside Spring crops in the net tunnel as it’s nice and sheltered. Unfortunately the net tunnel has been the centre of all the vole activity so the brassicas are in the back field. I’m going to grow lots of garlic in the net tunnel over Winter as nothing wants to eat that. Next year I have to make better use of the net tunnel. It’s the one place I’ve done proper “no-dig,” this works as a growing method, it just doesn’t work for me as a weed control, I prefer raised beds and clearly defined edges. I’m going to dig the paths in the net tunnel to below the level of the topsoil and make one, big wooden sided bed. That’ll probably take all Winter, but will definitely make a better growing space.
The greenhouse repairs are going well, it’s already a lot less rattly. The Polycrub is hotter than the greenhouse but the greenhouse has atmosphere, I often do my basket weaving in there as the light is so nice.
This week’s Croft Shares have the following:
Small – Leeks, sprouts, chard, purple sprouting broccoli and courgettes/Summer squash.
Medium – Leeks, sprouts and tops, broccoli, kale, sugar snaps or tomatoes, Winter squash and a pepper.
Large – Leeks, sprouts and tops, broccoli, kale, spinach, courgettes, Winter squash, tomatoes, Lazy Housewife beans or a pepper and salad leaves.
The Winter squash are Uchiki Kuri, they can be used in the same way to Butternut. I’ve no idea how big the Lazy Housewife beans are supposed to be, the ones I’ve got range from 5 to 10cms, taste nice and are stringless, there just aren’t a lot of them.
The tomatoes are dwindling in numbers, I’ll continue to share them out for as long as they still taste good and keep on ripening.