Sponsored by Upchurch River Valley Golf Course Ltd
October is coming and we will be into the Autumn although the good weather in September is providing a good finish to the main growing season. It has been a surprising year and if you were able to cope with the long hot dry spell you would have done well, but the garden needed a lot of attention in the summer. To keep everything going you would have needed daily watering for about 3 months. Most people (including myself) have probably not been able to manage that and have suffered as a result.
Lawns have suffered particularly and even with a lot of scarification, a September weed and feed and wetter weather many have yet to fully recover. I do not expect mine to get back to full vigour until next year and will need a lot of re-seeding next March. The beans are curiously in full flower and I am looking forward to a bumper crop at the beginning of October. Also the borders have bloomed and made up for the poor show in the summer. The pears produced a plentiful crop this year but were very small and have already been picked whereas they normally go through to October.
I grow my potatoes in the ground although better specimens are normally produced from grow bags. However, this year has been a disaster for grow bags as the heat and dry weather has caused a lot of casualties, so maybe, if you have the space, a bit of both is a good idea as a hedge against extreme weather.
October is a tidying up month prior to winter setting in, although for the hardy gardener winter provides a lot of opportunity and a lot of vegetables can stand in the ground through the winter months. However, the ground gets wet and muddy and the temperature drops and the lure of the log fire gets the better of me. So now is the time to clear out the weeds that are growing like the clappers in the wet mild weather. Tidy the borders, prune and dead head so they are ready for spring. Tidy the vegetable patch and prepare the runner bean trench for next year. Plums should be pruned by now, raspberry canes cut and strawberry runners planted for next year. Spring bulbs should be in but wait until November to plant tulips.
The good advice is to lift maincrop potatoes and also dahlia and begonia tubers and gladioli corms. Personally I do not bother and so far have got away with it but the time may come when I regret it. But all frost tender crops need to be picked this month like courgette, marrow, squash and pumpkins, as the first frost will ruin them.
The last main job for me will be to cut some logs and make sure the fire is all ready to start and then settle down to making plans for next year. The seed catalogues should be dropping through the door now and it is a time to reflect over the year and consider the successes and failures. Now I always enjoy doing that with a cold beer.
We are always looking for new members and try to encourage a fun attitude towards friendly competition. So if you want to grow your own fruit, vegetables and flowers or even enter any of the 3 shows we hold each year, then please get in touch, we would be happy to hear from you.
If you are interested in becoming a new member, (all ages are welcome), please contact Rosey on: 01634 377812 (evenings) or Email: rosemary@ringwoodaccounting.co.uk
Sean Barry - Upchurch Horticultural Society
Space
