Page 45 - Simply Vegetables Autumn 2023

December
The weather this month doesn’t allow us to do much outside. The ground is often either too wet or frozen. However, in spells when the weather is favourable , we must continue clearing finished crops and forking over the vacant ground. All your ground won’t be vacant, of course. You will probably have crops growing such as cabbages , sprouts, carrots, parsnips and swedes, so harvest some for your Christmas dinner, as I always do. It is a good idea, though, to lift some root crops earlier in case the ground is frozen when you want them. They will keep in good condition for a while.
Another job you can do if the weather
will let you , of course, is to dig trenches for your runner beans. The sooner it is done, the better ,to give the soil time to settle. Having said that, though, I don’t think I have ever done it before January. I take out two parallel trenches about a metre apart , a spades width and a spades depth and fork over
the base. I then put in a thick layer of green material such as finished flower crops, dahlia stems and vegetable waste before replacing the soil. The soil from the first trench is piled up alongside it then the soil from the second trench goes into the first one, then the soil from the first one goes into the second one.
Another job which depends on the weather is to plant bare root fruit trees and bushes if not done last month. I wrote in length about the method last month so please refer to these notes.
I don’t think it is worthwhile sowing any seeds outside this month but you can still plant herbs and also microgreens on the kitchen windowsill.
For most people, January or February is early enough to sow onions and leeks , but exhibitors, particularly those who grow big onions sow them this month. If you do want to sow any this month, sow them on trays of good seed or multipurpose compost . Level the surface and water it. The seeds of both onions and leeks are large enough to space out individually, so sow them about and inch (25 cm) apart and just cover them with more compost. They need to go into a propagator to germinate, so if you haven’t one , you need
Cabbages for harvesting
to wait till February or even March before sowing.
December is the traditional time to plant shallots. Apart from the possibility of not being able to plant them outside due to the weather, my bed is never ready for planting now. I grow them along the front of my onion bed and this bed is manured in January so I couldn’t plant them till this is done. So I plant mine in three and a half inch (9cm ) pots using a good potting compost. They don’t need the extra heat of a propagator, so I put them on a greenhouse shelf.
You can still prune apples and pears
and red, white and blackcurrants and gooseberries as I have described before. Autumn fruiting raspberries can also be pruned by cutting down all the stems to just above ground level.
An important job I do this month is to clean my propagating greenhouse ready
for next season. I have two greenhouses and I completely empty my propagating greenhouse by transferring all the plants
to the other greenhouse. There is a large wooden propagator in the greenhouse and I brush it, along with the staging and shelves and spray them all with disinfectant. I sweep the floor and clean the windows. There
are three warming benches with warming cables between layers of sand . I remove the cables and sand then put in fresh sand and put the cables back in position. When I
remove all the plants I switch off the power but I switch it on again to warm the cables because they are easier to bend in position when they are warm , then switch it off again after. It remains off till I start sowing seeds and taking cuttings towards the end of January.
I also wash all my seeds trays and pots.
I have hundreds of pots and it takes me a while to do them all. Another job I do now is to sort all my canes. I examine them all to see that they are still sound then sort them into their different lengths and tie them in bundles.
If you grow chrysanths and you have potted or boxed the stools up , as I have said before, you can start them into growth this month if you can give them some extra warmth , either a propagator or a warming bench. Don’t forget to spray them with a fungicide every few weeks to prevent white rust.
Last month, I mentioned collecting leaves and making leaf mould so carry on doing it this month as well if you need to.
Apart from planting fruit trees and bushes, as I mentioned earlier, there are other jobs you could do in the fruit garden. One it
to check the tree ties to see if any need replacing. Another job is to give the trees
a winter wash. There are products on the market especially for this purpose which is to kill any insects overwintering in the trees.
Digging trenches for runner beans and sweet peas
Shallots potted up
Sprouting broccoli growing well
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