September News from Upchurch Horticultural Society - From the Potting Shed

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As we move into September the evenings and mornings are certainly getting nippy, but the day time temperatures are lovely and we are being promised an Indian summer. Personally, I take that sort of talk with a pinch of manure and still haven’t forgotten Gordon Brown’s BBQ summer. I believed him, got the BBQ out and watched it go rusty. This year actually reminds me of 2008, which may not have been too memorable, other than the fact that Autumn arrived at the start of October and produced a cold winter. The fruit seems early this year, the pears are picked, and the apples are huge. My Braeburns are a month early, there is a mass of berries and the starlings are starting to flock together. There is always talk of hard winters at this time of year but there may be some truth in it this year.

My poor lawn has been clobbered again this year, just when it had almost recovered from a couple of years ago. It's greening up again after the summer but will need a lot of scarifying with a spring tyne rake to get the dead thatch out. I gave it an Autumn weed and feed with low Nitrogen (N) and high Phosphate (P) and Potassium (K) which will help to strengthen the roots through the winter. In a previous house, I dug up the lawn and re-seeded it with Canada Green. This is a mix of Red Fescue, Rye and Kentucky Bluegrass. It produced a thick mat of vigorous grass that was drought resistant but needed a lot of cutting. So that’s the plan for next year.

I finally managed to weed the borders recently after two years and they do look bare, although the spring bulbs will hopefully provide a good show. The perennials from a “local nursery” have taken well and provided more colour and the dahlias are looking good despite a couple of casualties. The plug plants did not do well, but really need to be raised under glass. The Duchess threw me out of the conservatory this spring to make room for her house plants so I need to get a greenhouse.

In my fervour to face up to pandemic, I tried to get ahead of nature in the vegetable patch this Spring and got caught by a late frost. The climbing beans have come to nothing and a late sowing just hasn’t made it in time. A solitary marrow has struggled into growth and I am patiently waiting for the first stuffed marrow of the year. Curiously the sweetcorn survived but has produced a lot of small cobs which have ripened but are half bald! Potatoes have been excellent along with the broad beans which this year were Exhibition Longpod. A mass of beans but no opportunity to exhibit them.

Earlier in the year, I noticed that my plums were oozing a clear resin so when it came to harvest I opened them up for signs of sawfly. Some were maggoty but not all, so I do not think that this indicates a parasite. All the plums that were infected had a neat little hole in them about 1mm wide where the larvae had burrowed their way in.

Next month is the big tidy up and this year I am going to lift the potatoes, just in case. The log store is full with plenty of kindling and I will steadily retire from the garden. There are parsnips in the ground waiting for the first hard frost to sweeten them up and a late sowing of leeks to go in because I lost those as well. It’s been a strange year and still strange and it is difficult to predict where all this is leading. Hopefully, things will get back to normal, the pandemic will pass and we can all enjoy a good Xmas. But one thing I will do is always making sure that I drink from a clean glass and remember to take the mask off.

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