www.tanstaafl.co.uk

[7th September]

I think I’ve posted before that growing plants from seed is the nearest thing there is to real magic. I nipped out to the greenhouse this lunchtime to find a few more spinach and chard seedlings had sprouted, but also the first two onion seedlings had appeared as well, so small that it wasn’t even possible to tell that their “folded over” shoot was actually folded over. I’ve just been out again and all of a sudden there are dozens of them! Very pleased about that, I have to admit.

A quick stroll through the polytunnel and around what is now a rather bare-looking veggie plot suggests that the butternut squash plants are not long for this world. The leaves are definitely starting to turn a more yellowy green. I reckon it will probably be harvest time before the month is out. Still a handful of fruit left on the courgette plants though. They’ve been really good value this year. The comics are saying that September is going to warm up considerably with temperatures reaching 25C and possibly lasting into October. I’m disinclined to give them much credence, but if it does happen perhaps we’ll see the courgettes keep going even longer.

My daughter and I pulled a huge amount of ivy off a barn wall yesterday. The more unmanageable bits (a couple so heavy that I struggled to even drag them along the ground) went on the bonfire heap, but we fed a trailer load into the shredder this afternoon and put it in the compost bin.

I also planted some land cress. Being in and out of the greenhouse a fair bit whilst seeds are germinating has been fascinating. Yesterday morning there were a couple of spinach seedlings that had sprouted. By the afternoon there were at least half a dozen. This morning a single red chard seedling had come up and now there are four or five. I can’t wait for the onions to start sprouting 🙂

[5th September]

I have spent some of the morning in the greenhouse planting seeds though. I put a few more spring onions in, mostly to use up the packet really. And then as a complete experiment I have planted some lettuce seeds from the varieties we grew outdoors this year — Webbs Wonderful, Robinson, Lollo Rossa and a red Little Gem. My intention is to see if I can keep these ones over the winter in the greenhouse as part of my winter salad project.

I also noticed that the spinach that I planted only five days ago is already sprouting. At that rate I’ll be needing to plant it out soon, so I’d best get on with making next year’s beds!

[31st August]

Though it seems odd at this time of the year, our greenhouse is starting to fill up with seed trays again. Today I planted red and brown onion seeds into modules, four to a module (or thereabouts). They will be planted out in clumps once I have the compost in place for the new veggie beds, to overwinter in the ground ready to get going in the spring. If there are more than four per clump then I’ll pull the excess to use as spring onions early next year. And on the subject of spring onions I’ve done the same with those, but planted eight to ten seeds to a module. They will also go out over the winter, as will some spinach plants (sown three seeds to a module). The spring onions will get pulled as an entire clump when we want them, but my plan is just to harvest the outer leaves of the spinach. It’s shocking how many red onions we get through. I’m fairly sure the ones I harvested this year won’t last us until Christmas. I’ve therefore sown enough seeds for around 400 red onions next year, which should mean there are enough for the in-laws as well.

I also planted the first of the plants for winter salad leaves. This is a bit of a wild experiment as I have no idea how many plants I’ll need or even if some of them will live through the winter. So far I’ve planted coriander, chervil and red chard, again in modules, with some mustards. salad rocket, leaf radish and lettuce to be sown probably next weekend. In the longer term they’ll all be planted into some boxes that I’ll have to make up, or I might see if the grocer’s in the local town wants to part company with some of their mushroom crates for a small amount of cash and use those lined with newspaper and filled with compost. Those will stay in the greenhouse right through the winter.

In the veggie plot itself we’ve started to mark out where the new beds and paths will go. I’ll be trying to get rid of as many of the perennial weeds as possible now the ground is quite soft (mostly docks and dandelions with a few nettles and the occasional tuft of couch grass) and then put a thick layer of compost down where possible some time next month. Some of it will have to wait until late winter however, until I’ve lifted all the parsnips and so on.

Spent most of the day in the veggie plot today. Had a clean-up in the greenhouse and put some stuff we won’t need until next year in the shed whilst my daughter picked all the chiles off one of the plants I’d kept in the greenhouse. That particular plant was right next to the windows I had to repair yesterday and I think the sudden exposure to wet and cold caused it to keel over. I also found a forgotten pair of coriander plants that had run to seed, so I picked off the seeds before the rest went into the compost.

After that we cleaned up all the remaining onions that have been in the polytunnel drying off and returned them to the polytunnel to dry off further.

As it’s forecast to be less sunny tomorrow I’ll spend some time in the greenhouse sowing seeds, so I’ve also sieved some compost to use — a bit of a slog as the compost was very wet from being outdoors despite being bagged up. It feels a bit odd that despite only being the end of August, tomorrow should be the first day of my 2021 veggie growing season.

Oh, my father-in-law was mowing, so a hefty trailer load of clippings went into the compost as well, mixed with a load of brown cardboard saved for the purpose from deliveries, and some chicken manure from cleaning out the chicken houses. The second compost bin is actually looking pretty full now. I’d guess we’re only about a foot from the top. I’m expecting it to sink a fair bit over the next few weeks though.

[29th August]

I’ve been out in the plot today, just having a general tidy up. I’ve cleared away most of the peas now and put them in the compost. There were a few left that aren’t mildewed, but I’m not expecting too much of them really. Mostly what we have left now is parsnips, beetroot, carrots, butternut squashes and brassicas. There are a few small fruit left on the courgettes, but I’m not sure they’ll go anywhere unless the weather picks up. Still, I shan’t be complaining. We’ve done really well out of three plants this year with very little waste. I also repaired some wind damage to the greenhouse.

Tomorrow I’m hoping I can tidy up the greenhouse and then start sowing plants for overwintering.