Well we just had a patch of brilliant weather. Dry, bright and sunny but not so hot you end up hiding in the shade. Having said that, the polytunnel was a bit much for me when it hit 30 degrees.
Checking through the use first bucket of potatoes, realised there were quite a few started to rot. The amount of slug damage this year has been horrendous. Hopefully we’ll get a good cold snap to reduce their population.
We moved here just in time for the winter of 2010-11, when we had lots of snow and temperatures plummeted to -15ºC at one point. I remember thinking when spring arrived how wonderful this place was with so few marauding molluscs. It didn’t take above 6 months for them to breed a new army. But we had a good start.
So, last Sunday being rainy, I converted the bad ‘use first’ potatoes to potato soup. Nothing fancy; potatoes, onions, garlic and some herbs along with some Greek yogurt that was in need of using before it turned and a small piece of Stilton to add a delicious richness. Tasted wonderful.
The peelings and potato pieces that were not appetising but not rotten were pressure cooked along with the French beans top and tails from my freezing session. Added a bit of seaweed supplement and some chilli powder, which adds colour to the egg yolks, and made a mash for the hens.
The heat of chilli peppers comes from the chemical capsaicin which chickens and other birds cannot taste. This allows the birds will eat chilli peppers. The seeds go through them, to be safely deposited along with some manure. Ain’t nature clever?
Polytunnel Beans
Borlotti to the left of picture, Gigantes to the right with dwarf beans planted below and Cobra climbing French beans to the right in foreground.
Up in the polytunnel, the Borlotti and Gigantes runners are doing pretty nicely. Laden with fat pods that are swollen with beans. The only thing with dried beans here is the high humidity. If they’re not absolutely dry, they go mouldy. We can just finish them off in the dehydrator then keep in an airtight jar for long term storage. If they’re going to be used quickly, no need for extra dehydration.
The climbing French beans Cobra have been producing well but the Blue Lake have not done so well for me. I’ll just stick with Cobra for my climbing Frenchies in future. Or maybe I’ll grow some Hunter as well. 🙂
I’ve also got some yellow podded dwarf French at the base of the Borlotti and Gigantes. These were some old Beurre de Rocquencourt. A lovely old heritage variety from before the war. Next year I will probably try Orinoco though, I like what I’ve heard about them.
Runner Beans
The runners outside are a disappointment. If we were in early July I’d say they were looking promising but we’re late September and they’re still only half-way up the poles. So far just one small portion is all I’ve had but we’ll see. It all depends on the weather really.
Having said that, the weather can be brilliant but the days grow shorter quickly from now, the autumn equinox, until the winter solstice. Less daylight means less sunshine and less energy for the plants.
Strawberries
Another flush of strawberry fruits developing. Planted in hanging baskets in polytunnel.
One success story this year, the strawberries. Those growing outside under the bay tree fruited well but were eaten by the slugs and snails. Those in the polytunnel are in hanging baskets and so safe. Fed weekly on tomato feed they’ve really been the gift that keeps on giving.
Despite the season being about to close, they’re still producing. I’ve a lot of plants potted up from runners so I can replace dead and ageing plants with vigorous, productive new plants.
Squash
Like the runners, they’re doing well for July. We’ll just have to see what we get and anything we do get is a bonus.
Sweetcorn
Surprise sweetcorn success. Hopefully just the first well-filled cob.
The Pot of Gold grown in the polytunnel were a bad fail but I’d planted out some Earliking in a sheltered spot outside. The first cob I looked at was a complete blank. Disheartening to say the least.
Anyway, I noticed another cob with dark brown silks so pulled it and opened the leaves to find a near-perfect well formed cob. Finally some luck! Hope the rest are as good when I pull them. Regretting buying a bag of frozen sweetcorn now but that’s life.
Hello, I was so disappointed in my sweet corn, it grew much better than last year but it was horrible to eat , it looked lovely but hard to eat, I cooked it every way possible in case it was my cooking; it wasn’t, as my brother said the same, as we have an allotment together. One more question any good recipes for runner beans we have loads; have frozen lots, and they are still producing lots, but they do taste lovely. Thank you for your time. Brenda