Nic Dempsey

After a week away and a couple of weeks of not doing much work, we were back in the saddle this week.

Most of the work was done at the back of the plot, we cleared the space for the polytunnel which we ordered on Sunday. Like everything on the plot, it’s never a just as simple as move stuff.

We cleared the winter squash bed first, they were pretty much done but it’s always sad to have to compost the tiny baby squash that won’t ever make it, we found a couple of tiny butternut squash too, next year we might get some butternuts. I really don’t like empty beds, so we’ve ordered some beetroot and spring cabbage plugs for that bed.

Once that was done, we moved the blueberries and I moved the pallets so that we have a path to the back of the plot once the poly is up, and then Ma and I emptied a compost bin, Ma then went to weed and I turned the middle compost bin into the first one. In a couple of months time, I’ll turn it back to the middle. It’s not my favourite job in the world but I really want to get better at making compost, so I think I need to turn it more often (it’s good exercise!).

We collected the produce, which took ages, we had loads of raspberries (despite the bad year the plants seem to have had!), four ‘bonus’ winter squash, two cabbages, chard, kale, turnips, the most massive parsnip I have ever grown and some bonus short, fat ones, some salsify and herbs (lemon verbena, rosemary, lemon thyme and winter savoury.

We also dug up some of the sweet potatoes, which were disappointing but next year I will grow them in the poly and hopefully that will do the trick.

Although in some ways it’s been a disappointing (tomatoes and squash I’m looking at you), it’s actually been our most productive year, there has been so much veg. Also the alpine strawberries are still flowering and producing fruit.

Next week is polytunnel week, I don’t know if we’ll do more than put it up but there is a list of things to do in October and November:

• Repot the blueberries
• Sow garlic
• Sow onions
• Sow broad beans
• Plant up spring cabbages
• Plant up beetroot
• Weeding and tidying up
• Beds for the polytunnel
• Replace beds at the front of the plot.

The work is never done but I’m still convinced that this is my last year of making big structural changes to the plot. So it’s a big push over the next couple of months and then we can ‘just’ garden!