The Allotted Month - August 2008

Harvesting is now in full swing as the evenings start to
close in. Every gardening year is different, and this year has been no
exception. Historically August is the wettest month of the year, this year it
has been even wetter than usual. My plot has the great advantage, unusual in
Edinburgh's typically sticky clay soil, of having good drainage. Even after
heavy rain the soil is just workable after about an hour. Hoeing on wet soil is
not effective but the weeds are easy to pull by hand so there has been a lot of
hand weeding.

Last month there was real concern about the effect on the
potato crop in section A from the farmyard manure contaminated by the selective
herbicide Aminopryalid. The potatoes have now all been lifted and the effects
have been very varied. Pentland Javelin and Nadine, usually good croppers, have
been very poor. The usually robust Sante and also the Picasso have been poor.
Kestrel, Osprey and the heritage variety Witchill were little affected. This also
showed in the foliage of these three varieties which showed less distortion and
grew more strongly. Wet summers normally mean attacks of blight, there was some
evidence of it but not to any great extent. Doing what the old head gardeners
in walled gardens practiced by growing several varieties has meant that there
will be enough potatoes to last us until next year's crop. The whole of this
section has been sown with Crimson Clover in rows a foot apart. Next year's
brassicas will like the completely organic nitrogen contained in the root
nodules of the clover that are left in the soil.

One row of carrots in section B has grown so poorly that
they have been cleared in preparation for some more clover. Despite the thrip
damage to the peas, the crop has been reasonable. Their end is soon so they
will be composted and the cleared ground sown with clover. This later sown
clover doesn't thrive as well as that sown in August but it still gives a
useful addition to soil fertility. I had hoped that the onions and shallots
would already have been lifted, but not so. Those lifted for immediate use have
been good with some of the biggest Golden Gourmet shallots ever. Setton onions
are also large but the Red Baron are poor; the plants that bolted have all had
split bulbs and thick necks, they will get used first.

The catch crop of first early potatoes in section C  were lifted in the middle of the month. Apart
from a mediocre crop from the Red Duke of York, the other three varieties were
fully up to expectations. They didn't get any contaminated farmyard manure. The
potatoes' place has been filled with Musselburgh leeks transplanted from their
seedbed. The space between the leeks was sown with clover, it soon germinated
but it seems that the very wet weather has killed it so there will be a second
sowing. The wet weather has been good for the slugs and there has been some
damage to the Defender courgettes but still plenty fruits for the kitchen. I've
left the damaged fruits on the plants, slugs often go back to where they had a
good meal and leave the newer fruits untouched. The first of the Green Utah
celery has been lifted. Not really good enough for the salad bowl but fine for
soup.

The heavy rain caused some loss of quality in the now
finished Candid Charm cauliflower. The later White Rock is also showing some
rain damage even though its leaves curl over to protect the curd. Also in
section D, the Chevalier calabrese, which produce good heads, has been slow to
get into stride in producing further spears. The plants look a little sad
compared with other years but new spears are now being produced. Minicole
summer cabbage has performed in its usual good way. This round headed variety
has the advantage of standing for several weeks without the heads splitting so
it will keep us going until the later winter Celtic is ready.

Next month the space left by the peas, onions and shallots
will be filled with clover. The amount of work needed on the plot is now
reducing so I may have time to do some repairs on the vandal damaged
greenhouse. I've been collecting recycled glass for it over the summer.