Grow your own jobs for late August at The 80 Minute Allotment

This week I've been clearing away crops that have finished, harvesting some and sowing others, and learning a couple of lessons along the way...

Grow Your Own Jobs for Late August

Clear away broad bean plants

The broad beans did really well for me this year, producing a bumper crop, but they've finished now. They also appear to have developed rust or been eaten by something. They look pretty poorly and certainly won't produce any more beans now so I pulled them all up and put them on the compost heap.

Broad beans are looking poorly, and have finished anyway

Harvest French Beans

The dwarf french beans are now at their peak, with quite a few to pick on each visit to the plot. But clearing away the broad beans from alongside them made me realise how shaded the french beans were until now.

Dwarf French Beans are ready to pick

A simple oversight in my planting plan was to allocate a space for the french beans on the wrong side of the broad beans. Although the french beans normally grow taller than the broad beans, (which were "The Sutton" - a dwarf variety) they are much earlier and so were taller than the french beans at the time the french beans were planted out.

This is a lesson learned for next year, when my french beans will be at the front of the bed. 

Build up the compost heap with weeds

The warm sunshine has encouraged weeds to grow this year, and now that we've had quite a bit of rain, after a long dry spell, has accelerated weed growth even more. I've used some of my limited time at The 80 Minute Allotment to pull up as many as I can.

I'm not too fussy, the plot does not need to look immaculate. 

But every weed removed is less competition for the things I do want to grow. I start closest to my crops, removing weeds form right next to them first, and then from further away as time allows.

And every weed is free compostable material, which will be broken down on my compost heap by the worms, bacteria and goodness knows what else, eventually turning into something rich and crumbly that i can mulch the beds with to add nutrition.

If you have an open compost heap ( meaning a pile of waste rotting down in the open air rather than one in a plastic bin or other container) then the combination of warm summer temperatures and regular rainfall creates excellent conditions for breaking down waste into compost.

Compost heap made from upcycled pallets

If it's dry where you are, or your compost is in a container with a lid, then sprinkle some water on the top of the heap occasionally to keep moisture levels up. 

Sow spinach and lettuce now for autumn harvest

Even when I'm clearing away spent crops that have finished, there always seems to be the opportunity to look ahead to something for the future. This is an enjoyable element of gardening and growing your own, that it keeps you thinking positively about what is yet to come.

In this case now that the weather has got back to normal, it's worth sowing some seeds of lettuce and spinach. Seedlings would not have survived in the temperatures of 30C we had for several weeks, but now it's nearer 20C, and there is some moisture around, it should be easier to keep them going.

Slugs and birds may still try and nibble them, but a few organic pellets and some netting will reduce the risk. 

Even better is to sow in a seed tray and plant them out when they are big enough to handle. I'm doing this with lettuce but the spinach will take its chances in the main plot.

If all goes well, I'll be able to pick some leaves in September. 

Check brassicas 

I'm pleased to say that my brassicas are safe and well in their mesh cage. This is to prevent cabbage white butterflies laying eggs on them because if they do they are likely to be ruined by the caterpillars once they hatch, as happened last year.

Brassicas safe in their mesh cage

Every so often I get inside and have a close look at them. They have been nibbled a bit, probably by slugs and snails. But there are no signs of eggs or caterpillars, so no need to squish anything. The plants are large enough now that they will withstand a bit of a slug attack without any long term effects.

So for now the Kale, Cabbages and Broccoli can just sit there quietly minding their own business, growing until it's time to harvest them later in the year.

Lift, dry and store onions

Once the leaves die back on onions it's time to lift them, let them dry, and then they should be able to be stored for months if kept somewhere dry and cool out of direct sunlight.

My onion harvest

I planted several batches of onions at different times this year to see whether planting earlier allowed them to grow bigger. I definitely learned when not to plant them. To see the results, go here:

When is the best time to plant onions? 

That's how I'm spending my 80 Minutes a week on the allotment at the moment. What are you up to this month?

Happy growing,

Paul

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