Page 18 - Allotment Gardener Issue 1 2024

ON THE
KINGS PLOT
From September to late November 2023
By Andrew Tokely, Horticultural Director, Kings Seeds
flattened the crop and ate all the cobs. We are all scratching our heads to think of ways we can deter and protect our crops next year. If you have any ideas, they would be very welcome!
Around the second week of October, the rain started to arrive, starting with a few welcome showers after such a dry season, then on October 20th, Storm Babet arrived, which brought a lot of rain to the area in a short time. Luckily apart from being very wet under foot, we escaped without too much damage; the same goes for Storm Ciaran that came in early November. Not all areas of the country were so lucky, where flooding and wind damage caused real issues.
Autumn crops look well; brussels sprouts, kale, parsnips and late sown carrot Eskimo are
all on track for a good feast at Christmas and during the winter months. The cabbage, January King Marabel F1, looks good as do the purple sprouting broccoli plants, giving plenty of winter greens into the New Year.
Talking brassicas, this year, like every year I have the chance to trial new varieties ahead
September started with a few light showers and then was mainly warm and sunny. The plot continued to produce plenty of vegetables and flowers to harvest for the local Capel St Mary allotment show. I picked up quite a few prize cards and came second overall in the vegetable classes to David Page, who once again had some outstanding exhibits. I was also second overall in the flower classes, but did win the trophy for best exhibit of roses and had a lovely winning vase of sunflowers. I came second in the ‘longest runner bean’ class with a bean 62.1cm long, losing out by a fraction to Andrew Warner with his bean 64.6cm long. Also, at the show I picked up the trophy for ‘best kept allotment’ that was awarded early in the year.
Through September the runner beans continued to produce well - including the
late sowing I made in July of Moonlight and Firestorm, which continued after the early crops slowed up, producing beans into October. This was partly due to the exceptionally
mild weather for the time of year, so it was
worthwhile doing a later sowing and something I will do again. The main crop potatoes Setanta produced some massive tubers; these were lifted ready for use through the winter months.
One crop that did suffer, not from the weather but from an unwelcome visitor to
the allotment site, was my sweetcorn. Despite having a 2-metre-high metal fence around the site with a rabbit fence buried into the soil, we still had badgers visit the site. They dug under the fence and attacked several plotholders’ sweetcorn. They must have loved them, as they worked their way through the site over several nights. Despite dug holes being filled in around the fence, they kept coming back for more. Eventually they got to mine. My early cobs that I had harvested were mostly saved. But I had
a later sown batch of Incredible and I only got one picking before they found them - they
“We are all scratching our heads to think of ways we can deter and protect our crops next year”
18 | Issue 1 2024 | Allotment Gardener