Closing Down the Season

Judging by the weather, we’re well into autumn, so I’ve been clearing the greenhouses. Most of the tomato plants are empty of fruits, apart from a few tiddlers that won’t have time to develop before it gets really chilly at night. So, bar a couple, the plants have gone to the compost bin.

Any ripe tomatoes have come in and there are just a few green tomatoes left on a couple of plants. Very aware that another season is coming to a close.

Chilli Peppers

Red and Green Chilli Peppers

I don’t understand the enthusiasm for chilli peppers. Scoville ratings in the millions and who can grow the hottest. Why eat something that burns your mouth and the other end of your digestive system? Yes, a little chilli peps up bland food but moderation in all things.

Anyway, two plants of a mild cayenne chilli are more than enough for us. Once harvested, we dry them well before grinding into powder. An airtight jar keeps our chilli powder pepper perfectly. Try saying that quickly after a few drinks! We used to dry them by stringing them in the greenhouse, but the climate where we live now in Snowdonia is too humid for that. So into the dryer they’ll go.

I’ve got a mix of green and red chillis. The more ripe red chillis are hotter, but both are hot enough for us.

Sweet Potatoes Disappointment

Up in the polytunnel, emptied one of the 50 litre pots that was growing sweet potatoes. Cara wanted to film the big reveal and I was confident it was going to be a bumper crop hiding below the surface.

Sadly, I was disappointed again. I don’t know how some people get the heavy crops they say they do. Maybe they nip off to Tesco and buy a load, bury them under the soil and look proud. No, I don’t think that, really.

I suspect that I should have got them in earlier – they went from plug plant to pot and stuck there too long. Sometimes the difficult part of growing is knowing what you did wrong.

I’ve another large pot and four plants in the 1.2M (four feet) raised bed. Since the nighttime minimum in the tunnel is 4ºC, I reckon I can keep them going for another few weeks. Maybe time enough to produce a decent result. I gave them a feed with tomato fertiliser, might just be the final boost they need.

Watermelon

Once the haulm from the first sweet potato was cleared, I noticed a watermelon had been hidden under the mass of foliage. The fruit was larger than the two I’d harvested a while back. Shame it looked like a grey football. Covered in mould and squishy. This has not been my year.

Elephant Garlic

Last year I didn’t bother with elephant garlic. We’d gone and eaten the cloves saved for seed and they just got forgotten. Anyway, playing about on eBay, I came across a chap growing and selling elephant garlic in Northumberland. I figured he’s far enough north that the plants would think North Wales a holiday spot to grow in.

The cloves weren’t huge, suspect he’s reaching the end of his stock, but big enough. They’re all in good condition, so ready to go.

Ordinary Garlic

Normally I go for a spring planting with garlic, but since I’m going to be planting out the elephant garlic as soon as the bed is ready, I’ve ordered 50 cloves of Solent White to plant out. Ebay again, from a supplier I’ve used for a few years now.

Oddly, the price hardly varies. Back in 2021 I paid £11.23 for 50 cloves and today it’s £10.78. Hope the quality is as good as usual.

Bed Preparation

I’ve a raised bed primarily dedicated to the garlic, any space will go to onions or maybe leeks. Cleared a few weeds and then gave it a good liming to increase the pH. Both like a pH of 6.5, although normal garlic will run to 7.0 quite happily. Remember, elephant garlic is more on the leek side of the family.

After liming, ran a three-pronged cultivator through the bed and levelled with the rake. Some rain will properly mix the lime in and after about 10 days, I’ll fertilise and plant up.