August 2010

I hope the clement weather has given you plenty of fresh veg to eat; we are doing fairly well with regular crops offrench and runner beans, courgettes, cukes, some potatoes (earlies are all gone – I will plant far more next year), lots of tomatoes, beetroot, onions and garlic. We’ve had a couple of mouthfuls of summer broccoli which the pigeons kindly left us, and the savoy cabbages were all ruthlessly shredded, either by pigeons or sparrows. Winter squash (pictured right) and pumpkins are coming along nicely on a newly cleared plot, planted into composted pockets I’ve been going on about in previous posts – they will hopefully store on shelves in the shed (as frost free as possible), and give us many hearty stews from September to December.

Annette, who goes to the same shul as us, is a keen veg grower and has sent me a picture (left) of her recent harvest. She helps run the NNLS weekly kiddush, and I’ve just heard of plans for a self-grown kiddush during Succot, which should be interesting.

Blackcurrants – delicious, easy to grow and even easier to propagate – have done us well this year, and blackberries, which surround the allotment’s fences, are coming along nicely and should be prolific sooner or later. Blueberries have been ok this year, but haven’t liked the dry weather – they are grown in very large pots filled with ericaceous (acid) compost, as they can only do well in acid soil – and should only be watered with harvested rainwater in areas with hard tap water such as London. My first grapes are coming along nicely on 3-year old vines (which I’ve almost completely neglected since someone gave them to me), as are apples on the several trees I’ve planted since moving to our house and allotment three years ago. My plum trees are too young to crop, but some of the trees on the allotment are almost doubled over with ripening plums. All in all, despite the dry weather, it seems like a very good year for fruit. Gaby picked plums from her parents’ tree, and has made a lovely jam (where oh where is the line about jam making in Eshet Chayil?). 

Not to bring a downer on things, but John Seymour, the father of self-sufficiency and author of the wonderful guide to the same topic, writes that ‘anyone can have enough to eat in summer’, but that it is actually winter that seasoned growers keep in their minds at all times. Hopefully your ‘winter stores’ of veg are growing nicely in the ground, such as leeks (shamefully, I still haven’t planted mine on, which should have been done in June), parsnips, carrots and beetroot, all of which I find can survive fine in the ground over winter, albeit with some damage (but only to the carrots and beetroot).  

With one exception, it’s now too late to sow any crops that’ll be ready as a winter store (this is because root veg have too long a growing period to be ready in time). However, you can start thinking about the very worthwhile idea (from late September, mind, and not yet) of ‘sacrificing’ part of a greenhouse - by pulling up growing plants soon and replacing them with quick growing veg which’ll be available through most of the winter – such as lettuce, rocket, mizuna and so on (look online for winter hardy lettuce/leafy crop collections, and you’ll see which leaf crops to sow). The reason I use the word ‘sacrificing’ is that tomato or pepper plants would continue fruiting indoors well past September, making it feel sinful to rip up a healthy, producing plant; I still think it to be a sensible and worthwhile trade. 

 Looking forward already to next year, you can also sow - direct in your greenhouse soil - carrots, broad beans, beetroot, potatoes and onions for overwintering in relative protection. These will grow for a while and then go dormant over the winter; when spring comes though, they will have at least a month’s head start on anything you sow outdoors, and will give you far earlier crops at a time when there’s precious little available to eat. I am planning to overwinter crops in the greenhouse for the first time this year, and will let you know how things go. Sowing shouldn’t take place until early autumn.

My small extension project is coming along very well and is almost completed. It has meant that the allotment has taken a back seat over the summer, which is quite an awful time to neglect it and is the reason my leeks have still not been planted on; I have resolved to not take on any big projects during future summers.  However, the building looks brilliant, and I’m extremely proud of it.  It’s a building method commonly used in the U.S., known as ‘stick frame’. It’s based on a frame of two by fours made into a building structure, which is filled in with insulation and then closed off with weatherproof plyboard on the outside and insulated plasterboard inside. It’s very cheap to do and is not as time-consuming as you might expect. Unfortunately, Building Control have been visiting and have told me that I should have applied for building regulations permission after all (not the same as planning permission – regs relate to the quality of the build, foundations, insulation, weatherproofing etc), as the job is a permanent structure after all and not a temporary one as I believed. The application costs close to £400, which is not ideal but is acceptable – I only hope that the building and foundations pass, as otherwise it might have to be taken down. Watch this space.  

All the best,

Alexei

P.S. Click here for details of the London Jewish Food Festival on 3rd October.

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