3rd August 2021
Twilight working (and darker than that by the end!). Even when facing challenges, working outside is usually so therapeutic. The feedback loops on the land are direct and comprehensible; some are slow, yes, but none are utterly abstruse, as so many human interactions can be. The seed goes in to the ground, and grows or fails to grow. You can narrow it down to a few possible causes – next time, you can mitigate against them, if imperfectly.
Weeds grow because the soil is fertile and the crop does not
totally dominate it – so you must act as a browser (feeding your compost or
your chickens) to preserve your harvest.
Insects and birds and moulds attack in fairly predictable
ways and at fairly predictable times (though the wild seasons of 2021 have been
their own challenge). You cannot prevent their partial success, but you can
work symbiotically with your gardens to further your joint existence – food for
you, space for the crops.
And the result of this travail is, by the grace of God,
harvest. Tonight was a harvest night. A De Nizza courgette, really turned to
marrow; several smaller cucurbits; all the remaining small lettuce plants (with
the remaining heads being larger than a shop-bought one!); and a basket full of
radishes, some as big as a cricket ball.
Some, like the radishes, have taken virtually no effort or
care – sow, weed, water, repeat. The lettuce needs protecting from slugs too.
The courgettes have gone from seed tray to bigger pots to beds here, and need
ongoing aid beyond the usual – management of damaged stems, keeping fruit off
the ground, and so forth. But of course, it’s fair to say the general value of
the harvest goes up alongside – radishes are very tasty fresh, but are chiefly
really a chop-in vegetable for stir frys or roast veg trays thereafter; lettuce
is fresh and tasty but light; courgettes, on the other hand, can provide real
bulk to a meal, all whilst tasting rich and luxurious.
By electric light I continue work at home in the yard, trying
to help our tomatoes along. Despite poor pollination – widely reported by other
growers this year – I think we are still on course to turn a comfortable, if
not large, profit on our seeds. Tomatoes are hard, but given they can grow to
maturity in the North-East of England, they can’t be that hard! We’ve avoided
blight this year, too, which ruined our crop last year. However, we need some
sun now to ripen the harvest. I help by trimming dying branches and leaves, and
I even pot up some small but fruitful plants (very late in the season, I know!)
to help them with their nitrogen needs. The mini-greenhouse plants have grown
vigorously, but have struggled even more with pollination than the main crop; I
identify only one sizable fruit on any of the ten or so plants, though I
imagine a couple more will come through in time.
6 eggs, 2 cherry Tomatoes (0.4oz), 1 very large De Nizza squash,
2 small De Nizza squash, 1 small Golden Zucchini, 4 Beauregard lettuce heads
(equivalent), 15 French Breakfast radishes
4th August 2021
I spend another therapeutic time at the allotment, though shorter this time. I shuffle the Golden Ranger – and this time find an egg! So she is not eggbound, just slow in production. Partly the weather will be a factor, but I really rather suspect her historic injury has left her less vigorous.
I also find a miracle bean! Low on one of the (mostly dead)
plants I find a rusted bean pod with a very thick centre. At home, sure enough,
the outer beans are tiny and shrivelled from infection, but the central pod has
grown an absolutely enormous bean. I’ll count it as a little redemption.
The potatoes today are mostly brown, but need picking as the
earth erodes round the dying plant.
6 eggs, 17 raspberries (42.5g), 14oz potatoes (green weight
included), 0.56oz Aquadulce broad beans (0.1oz shelled)
5th August 2021
Helen brings in a healthy harvest today, including another very large De Nizza, really a small marrow.
Brief trip to encourage the chickens to bed in the evening.
Fewer eggs today than normal; part coincidence, perhaps, but also reflective of
consistently grey weather. I also take the first blackberry of the year – still
slightly sharp.
4 eggs, 2 large Black Beauty courgettes, 1 small Golden
Zucchini, 1 very large De Nizza squash, 1 large De Nizza squash, 1 small De
Nizza squash, 7 raspberries (17.5g), 1 blackberry
6th August 2021
Again I go to the chickens to chivvy them to bed after finishing work in the evening. I shore up a potato ridge – I’ll need to harvest some of those tomorrow to prevent greening. With the plants having died back, the ridges are eroding, and the most exposed potatoes are no longer covered by the plant’s leaves.
7 eggs
7th August 2021
I harvest a lot of the remaining Early potatoes, with very little green weight (the only ones really suffering are tiny nodules which had, at any rate, begun to sprout; I might even keep the biggest of these as a sample seed for next year).
The sheer weight – 9.6kg, 21lbs – is encouraging.
Concentrated carbohydrates to bring us through the winter. But potatoes – like
virtually all harvested foods – has expiry risks, so I’ve bought some hessian
sacks for storage under the stairs to prevent greening and sprouting.
4 eggs, 21lbs 3.3oz Early potatoes
8th August 2021
Aside from collecting eggs and chivvying chickens, I go and pick up most of the remaining peapods. They’re still going, though – there are even still a few flowers. Peas keep flowering as long as you crop them – it’s why sweetpeas are a “renewable” flowering plant for decorative purposes. I’m pleased with the peas this year – though we only sowed a relative few, and as a dwarf variety they don’t exactly get big and burgeoning, the way I think of it is this: if for the equivalent of pennies, and a couple of square feet, we get the equivalent of a bag or two of peas, we’ve turned a profit in an exceptionally efficient manner.
5 eggs, 0.9oz Meteor peas (0.28oz shelled)
9th August 2021
An afternoon trip for the chickens and to make a list. So much to catch up on and to do. Final sowings (some overdue), plant out spare plantlings, weed, harvest.
Helen uses a pound of foraged blackberries and raspberries
out of the freezer from last year, and there is plenty more where that comes
from. Crazy to think of the abundance still in store – for free!
I head down in the evening, in rapidly failing light, and
hurry through some work, including sowing some carrot seeds – over a month
late. Sometimes, though, it’s worth trying something, especially if on a small
scale, to see what happens. If they’ll be ready at roughly 3-4 months, we can
realistically harvest them at the end of October – and our autumns are usually
mild and often sunny and warm (September is often better then August).
I finish the evening’s work at home on the July accounts. “Income”
below does not include onions, which have been drying, but does include a pro
rata guess at the actual value of the Early potatoes harvested in July, bearing
in mind the relatively high green content. The (*) represents using a
complimentary voucher and reducing the price.
INCOME (equivalent £££ saved): £66.71 (Meteor peas 70p,
Beauregard lettuce £14, eggs £34, Aquadulce beans £7.50, rhubarb £1.37, Welsh
onions 4p, Cherry tomatoes 30p, French Breakfast radishes 60p, Early potatoes
£2.30, Black Beauty courgettes £2.40, Golden Zucchini courgettes 20p,
raspberries £1.50, De Nizza courgette 80p)
EXPENSES: £15.38 (2 bags Layer’s Pellets £14, cabbage mesh
£1.38*)
£51.33 effective profit, which renders the two months so far
in net profit, with 2-3 big income months still to go for the year. The plan
has to be to have a good harvest, and then plan winter projects in relation to
the effective profit for the summer/autumn, so that by the end of next May we’re
breaking even. Then next year can be an outright profit year.
7 eggs, 1 French Breakfast radish, 6 heads of Beauregard
lettuce, misc onions
Twilight working (and darker than that by the end!). Even when facing challenges, working outside is usually so therapeutic. The feedback loops on the land are direct and comprehensible; some are slow, yes, but none are utterly abstruse, as so many human interactions can be. The seed goes in to the ground, and grows or fails to grow. You can narrow it down to a few possible causes – next time, you can mitigate against them, if imperfectly.
I spend another therapeutic time at the allotment, though shorter this time. I shuffle the Golden Ranger – and this time find an egg! So she is not eggbound, just slow in production. Partly the weather will be a factor, but I really rather suspect her historic injury has left her less vigorous.
Helen brings in a healthy harvest today, including another very large De Nizza, really a small marrow.
Again I go to the chickens to chivvy them to bed after finishing work in the evening. I shore up a potato ridge – I’ll need to harvest some of those tomorrow to prevent greening. With the plants having died back, the ridges are eroding, and the most exposed potatoes are no longer covered by the plant’s leaves.
I harvest a lot of the remaining Early potatoes, with very little green weight (the only ones really suffering are tiny nodules which had, at any rate, begun to sprout; I might even keep the biggest of these as a sample seed for next year).
Aside from collecting eggs and chivvying chickens, I go and pick up most of the remaining peapods. They’re still going, though – there are even still a few flowers. Peas keep flowering as long as you crop them – it’s why sweetpeas are a “renewable” flowering plant for decorative purposes. I’m pleased with the peas this year – though we only sowed a relative few, and as a dwarf variety they don’t exactly get big and burgeoning, the way I think of it is this: if for the equivalent of pennies, and a couple of square feet, we get the equivalent of a bag or two of peas, we’ve turned a profit in an exceptionally efficient manner.
An afternoon trip for the chickens and to make a list. So much to catch up on and to do. Final sowings (some overdue), plant out spare plantlings, weed, harvest.
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