Page 40 - Simply Veg Issue 3 2019

September 2019
The only seeds I think are worth sowing now are lettuce, radish and corn salad for winter use. I mentioned the varieties of lettuce and radish last month. For corn salad the most popular varieties are “large leaved” (Dobies and Suttons), Vit (D.T.Browns and Shelleys )and Valetin (Browns and Mr. Fothergills)
You may still have plants ready for planting from earlier sowings such as winter cabbages and cauliflowers. Get them planted as soon as you can then they will be established before the cold weather comes. You can still plant onion sets if you didn’t do so last month. There are varieties of garlic for planting in spring but also for autumn planting and these can be planted now for harvesting next year. Plant them
6 inches (15 cm.) apart in rows , 2 inches (5 cm.) deep. Elephant garlic is in most catalogues . Dobies and Suttons have the varieties Messidrome , Germidour and Red Duke. Robinsons also stock the last two mentioned. . D.T.Brown and Mr. Fothergill have Early purple Wight , Provence Wight and Mersley Wight.
In the fruit garden , blackberries and summer raspberries can still be pruned if not already done, as I have described before. The strawberry bed could be tidied up. Just remove any dead leaves and the straw that you put under the fruit can now be removed as it would be a hiding place for slugs.
Most of the summer soft fruit will have been picked but autumn raspberries should be ready this month and next. Pears should be ready for picking , some varieties of plums and the early varieties of apples. They can be tested for ripeness by holding the fruit
in the palm of your hand , lifting them and twisting slightly. The fruit should come away easily with the stalk attached. Plums and
the early varieties of apples and pears don’t store very well so use them as soon as you
Compost bays, two full and one ready for use
can. Later varieties will keep so put them in shallow trays and keep them in a cool, dark and airy place. The trays can stand on
top of each other providing that air can get between them. It is important to make sure they are not damaged in any way and examine them frequently to make sure they are still sound.
It will soon be time
to plant fruit trees and
bushes. I am reminding
you now because you may
need to order them. They
are widely available in garden
centres and seed companies
sell them but you will have a better choice of varieties from a specialist supplier. So send for some catalogues
or look on line. In the meantime you need to prepare the ground by forking it over, removing any weeds and digging in some manure or compost.
In the flower garden keep checking
that plants are securely tied . Carry on disbudding dahlias and chrysanths and
give them another feed. As I described last month and also keep deadheading annuals. You should have plenty of flowers to cut and put in vases in the house.
Keep feeding vegetables as I described last month and harvest them when they
are fresh , particularly beans, courgettes, lettuce, cauliflowers and sweet corn. Cabbages and root crops will keep for a while till you need them. Onions and shallots can be harvested when they are big enough. The remaining potatoes should be dug up this month. When I think I have got them
all up I always go over the ground again because I always miss some. Leave them spread out somewhere to dry. It is usually
Spray chrysanth Honey Enbee Wedding
Kaffir lilies (schizostylis)
recommended to store them in paper or hessian sacks ( not plastic ).As I said with fruit, don’t store any that are damaged. I store mine in the large supermarket trays because you should keep examining them from time to time and it is easier than if they are in sacks. It is usually recommended
to store root crops such as carrots and beetroot in boxes of sand. I always have plenty of second hand compost that I have used for other crops that I can use as it costs nothing and you have to buy sand and compost is just as good. When I harvest onions and shallots I leave them in trays in the shed to dry.
With all these crops being harvested you will have some spare ground so sow or plant something to fill the spaces if you can. I don’t have a special bed for salad crops . As I have told you before, I grow some between the rows of runner beans , but anywhere
40 simplyvegetables