Now the home improvement traumas that occupied the summer are coming to an end, some more time on the plot. There’s still lots to do, but at least the job’s list is getting shorter rather than longer!
The brassica tunnel, neatly re-covered.
Recovering the Brassica Cage
Back in 2020 I constructed a brassica cage using a cheap polytunnel frame and windbreak netting. I covered it, and the benefits of a brassica cage in my blog – New Brassica Cage
To be honest, I didn’t make a great job of the cover, and the windy environment here meant that gaps developed. Then tears developed, making the situation worse. Next, the butterflies got in and laid their eggs, which hatched into caterpillars who ate all my brassicas.
The frame is in fair condition, so I didn’t need to replace that. Rather than try to repair and patch up the old, time to replace and redo. As a rule, I prefer ‘make do and mend’ but there comes a time to accept defeat.
Looking on Ebay, I found a 50 metre roll of 2 metre windbreak netting for £50. That’s near doubled in price over the last 5 years. Just out of interest, a similar cheapo polytunnel has fallen in price from £136 to £103. Strange old world!
It took a good day’s work, but it’s now re-covered to a higher standard, door frame reconstructed from some 2 X 2 I had knocking about. The netting was sown together with nylon garden twine and joined to the frame with cable ties.
Refreshing the Soil
The next tasks for the brassica cage are to roll up the weed membrane, rotavate, fertilise, and adjust the pH to optimum. Since it’s empty of plants, this is the best time to get to work on it.
But what about crop rotation?
Ideally, I should move the brassica cage each year, but that’s a lot easier said than done. The purpose of crop rotation is to make best use of the nutrients in the soil and prevent the build up of pests and diseases. I know it’s fashionable to claim that crop rotation is an unnecessary waste of effort. I disagree. Strongly.
However, since the brassica cage is not being moved, I’ll use plan B – change the soil. Obviously I can’t change all the soil, but I can add a good layer of rich soil / compost and a proper rotavation will break up and mix things up before amending the pH level by liming as required.
Apples
Apples on the tree and fallen to the ground in the overgrown border.
Near to the brassica cage, there’s the back of the shed made from the old pigsty. I think there was some sort of make-shift greenhouse although all that’s left of it is the back and a side stone wall and a border. The border has a huge fuchsia and a couple of very neglected apple trees. They might have been espaliered at one time.
Since they’ve never borne fruit, I’ve just ignored them. Amazingly, this mast year, one of them has had a huge crop. Unfortunately, Storm Amy has knocked most of them off but there’s a few left in good condition.
I’ve no idea what variety or rootstock, but they’re a very tasty, sweet dessert apple. I really must get that border sorted, and maybe we’ll get more in years to come.
In the Polytunnel
A useful couple of hours were spent in the warmth of the polytunnel.
End of the beans
I probably could have kept them going for another month, but they’re really past their best. And we’ve enough in the freezer for at least another year. And we’d like a break from beans with every meal!
Took down the haulm and cleared them to compost.
Sweet Potatoes
This year it looks like we’re getting a decent crop of sweet potatoes. After my last attempt at growing them, I said never again. But never say never!
I bought some plug plants, which I moved on into 4” pots before planting into two of the 50 litre pots I’d had from Elixir and the raised bed when the new potatoes came out. Both bed and pots were well fertilised with potato fertiliser and S-Chelate Cultiv-8 to cover any micro-nutrient deficits.
Having a firtle about under the surface of one of the pots, I could feel tubers. It’s about time they were harvested anyway, so soon the result will be in.
Mushrooms?
Mushrooms appeared overnight in the front field.
We often get fungi growing in the fields and in plot here. They’re not a problem – they don’t compete for nutrients with the crops and may well benefit them in. I think they’re doing well in the plots and paths because the soil has a high carbon content from the wood chips I’ve used on the paths.
Parasol mushroom opening
Unopened Parasol Mushroom
That doesn’t explain the field though. We have changed the way the fields are grazed in recent years, allowing for better recovery before putting the sheep back on the pasture and taking them off before the land is scalped. Maybe that’s the cause.
The big problem with wild mushrooms is knowing if they’re edible or if an agonising death will follow breakfast. I’m not very brave.
I’ve been told that in French villages you can pop into the pharmacy, where they’ll identify your forage harvest. I don’t think they cover identifying mushrooms in the UK pharmacy degree. Would be nice though.
Anyway, these rather distinctive mushrooms appeared. Our neighbour, who’s not keen on eating mushrooms, found them in a book and sent me the image below. Another pal reckoned they were Parasol mushrooms but thought they had to be cooked well, or they would give you an upset stomach.
Anyway, whatever, Storm Amy struck and broke them up, scattered to the winds. Maybe conditions will be right next year. They’re very distinctive, so now I know if they reappear.
What My Neighbour’s Book Says:
Page about parasol mushrooms from a book on wild mushrooms.
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