Allotment Ramblings

On the Plot.

I rather like December for gardening, which is a bit strange considering there’s not a lot you can do outside in the short days even if the weather is fair. It’s a month for reflecting on what went by and what is to come, preferably indoors and warm by a fire. Although this is the darkest month with the shortest day of the winter solstice and the cold winter months of January and February still to come, it’s very much the time of renewal and starting rather than ending. After the shortest-day solstice on the 21^st December the days will be getting longer again, and spring isn’t that far away.

There’s not a lot you can plant out in December but if you’ve not got around to it, you can plant out garlic broad beans and peas direct. They actually benefit from a period of cold, which prompts growth later. Garlic doesn’t like to sit in water, so if your soil is heavy and holds water, try dibbing a hole with an old spade handle or suchlike. Put about an inch of sand into the base and plant the clove on top, filling above with fine compost. This ensures good drainage and stops rotting.

It’s worth removing any yellowing leaves from your winter brassicas. Dead leaves are doing no good and encourage diseases such as botrytis. Wildlife will be on the lookout for food, especially the pigeons, so keep vulnerable plants like brassicas netted.

 

It’s a good time for repairing and renovating. There’s always something to do if you look hard enough! Don’t forget you’re not going to have time when the season is in full swing.

Perhaps turn the compost heap over and ensure compost bins are covered to prevent excess rain leaching the nutrients and to keep some of the heat of decomposition in.

Remember there’s still time to start making leaf mould. If you’ve a good supply of leaves, which are falling fast now. Start by building a leaf mould cage. Very simple to do, you just drive four stakes into the ground and staple chicken netting around to make the cage. Pile in the leaves and leave them alone for a year. You will find the pile reduces by two thirds at least, so keep filling the bin as more leaves fall.

Try and keep things tidy to avoid providing winter homes for pests waiting for the spring but a little untidiness on the edges is not a bad thing as conversely it can provide shelter for predators.

Fruit

Take hardwood cuttings of soft fruit. Gooseberries, red, white and black currants, and vines can all be propagated by cuttings inserted in the open ground now. Choose sturdy well ripened shoots of this year’s growth cutting them just below a bud and trimming to just above a bud.

For black currants take them about 8-10 inches (200-250 mm) long, 12-15 inches (300-380 mm) for the other fruits. Insert them into the soil to about half their length. It is customary to grow all except blackcurrants on a short stem – so remove the buds from the lower part of the cutting. All the buds should be left on blackcurrant cuttings.

It’s a good time to split rhubarb, dig up the old crowns and split from the top down with a spade into three or four. Leave on the surface so they get frosted before planting out in early Spring,

Check any ties and staking are secure for young trees or windrock can check growth or even kill off the tree. You can plant bare rooted fruit trees and bushes in December and prune apple and pear trees.

Cut down canes of autumn-fruiting raspberries which have finished fruiting and burn to prevent fungal diseases spreading.

Harvest

There’s a surprising number of crops that can be available to harvest in December. Winter brassicas such as Kale, cabbage and cauliflowers are best harvested when ready now.

Keeping with brassicas, don’t forget Brussels Sprouts. Start picking from the base upwards, leaving the smaller ones at the top to develop.  Sprouts are very good as a frozen vegetable. Blanch for 3 minutes prior to freezing. To use, defrost and then drop into a shallow lidded pan with melted butter, salt and ground black pepper. Keep moving in the pan to avoid burning and serve when hot all through, a matter of a few minutes. Delicious!

Leeks should now be ready, just take what you need and leave the rest to stand until required. Leeks are much better harvested from the garden as they are required but in severe weather this can be difficult, so you can lift a few and heel them in on well dug ground, this will not freeze solid and will keep them fresh.

Any carrots left should come up to prevent pest damage in the ground for storage in damp sand or peat in the shed. Parsnips and swedes can be lifted and stored the same way although they are very hardy and may be left if the ground is not needed. You can always cover them with fleece or straw to help stop the ground freezing them in.

Jerusalem artichokes will be available, and you can enjoy parsnips. You may well have perpetual spinach, celeriac, chicory (non-forcing and forcing varieties), endive, kale, kohl rabi, lettuce, winter radish, spinach, and turnips. Double check your stored potatoes, removing any tubers that have started to rot before it can spread to the rest of the sack, it only takes ten minutes. Watch out for slugs that may have got into the sack.

A little light reading for all the men who have plots. Gardening can halve prostate cancer risk https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gardening-can-halve-prostate-cancer-risk-says-study-funded-by-world-cancer-research-fund-9l7zfngpj?shareToken=2681029dec742314be32b6eec6d97688

 

Well that’s enough to keep you going for a while. God willing, I will be back in January 2020. Don’t forget your membership of CHAS is due from the 1^st January 2020 so if you are not skint from Christmas go to growchiswick.org and renew online.

I hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and in the New Year all your wishes come true.

And for all our politically correct members

Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practised within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dennis Flaherty Allotments Secretary

allotments@growchiswick.org