Page 26 - ALG Issue 1 2017

General
On the Kings Plot from Mid-September to November 2016
By Andrew Tokely, Seed Purchasing Manager for Kings Seeds
September always signals bringing in the last of the harvest of late summer and early autumn crops. I must admit the runner beans this year nished very early as a result of the very dry summer and autumn, despite plenty of watering and the onset of some very strong winds in the middle of the month. Still this allowed plenty of time to take down the canes and poles to start clearing the ground. When the weather is that windy, growing dwarf French beans is really worthwhile as these crop well whatever the weather and I was still harvesting dwarf bean safari well into
October.
Another success this year was a row of late sown pea Terrain, a new variety in your NAS catalogue. This variety can be sown up to early July and produce a tasty crop of peas well into October and November. Unlike other varieties, Terrain has a very high resistance to downy and powdery mildew, allowing it to be sown late. The pods are of good length with 7-8 peas per pod which hang in pairs and are of the sweetest avours. Sowing this as a late crop gives an alternative crop to harvest at this time of year.
Courgettes cropped well into the autumn
despite the foliage getting a touch of mildew; this
is a common problem with this crop, but one
that doesn’t really affect the harvest. The late
sown lettuces and radish were useful to keep the
homegrown salads going along with tunnel grown
cucumbers and outdoor tomatoes. The outdoor
tomatoes have been a real success the past couple
of years since I started growing tomato mountain magic. The plants were still cropping well into late October with no sign of blight, despite others I had growing close by suffering badly from this devastating disease. Mountain magic will become an allotment favourite, I’m sure.
forward to a long harvest of Brussel sprouts this year as I have grown Brodie for an early variety, ideal for Christmas and these will be followed by Brendan, a later maturing variety for harvesting in the New Year. My parsnips look good, but you never really know until
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Another success this year was a row of late sown pea Terrain, a new variety in your NAS catalogue
Onion set santero grew well this year with no sign of mildew; these have now been stored away in onion nets in a cool shed along with a good crop of rooster potatoes that will keep me well supplied throughout the winter and allow me to make some tasty roast potatoes for Christmas.
Winter brassicas, Brussel sprouts, savoys and sprouting broccoli all look in good shape, despite having to keep on top of the white y that has been widespread on our site this year. I am looking