When Will Bonfire Night End

The clue should be in the name Bonfire Night and it should take place on November 05. Long ago that was the case unless November 05 fell on a Sunday in which case Bonfire Night took place on Saturday night. That was it just one night. Not these days though. Last weekend we had bonfires and fireworks on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. It’s been a case of sporadic fireworks going off each night through the week with more bonfires and fireworks on Saturday night the 10 November. Our poor dog can’t rest as all fireworks now seem to come with loud bangs and crackles. Perhaps we’ll be able to get through Remembrance Sunday without anyone letting off fireworks. 

We still have our annual challenge of when to pick and what to do with our medlars.

They’re still waiting to be picked from the small tree in the garden. They are still very firm to the touch so I don’t think they've “bletted” yet. If only I could tell the difference between fruits that have bletted and those that have rotted. The Royal Horticultural Society has this on its web site regarding medlars.

Harvesting
Medlars are ready to pick in late October or early November when they are about 2.5-5 cm (1-2 in) across. At this stage they are not fully ripe. 

You can leave fruit on the tree well into autumn to develop flavour provided there is no danger of frosts. Pick in dry conditions when the stalk parts easily from the tree. 

Storage until ripe
The fruits are unpalatable immediately after picking, but can be used to pleasantly flavoured jellies, can be used in desserts and for wine-making. To be eaten raw they must be stored before using. 

Briefly dip the stalks in a strong salt solution to prevent rotting. Store fruit eye downwards and not touching in trays in a cool, dark, frost-free place. Use when the fruit is ‘bletted’, that is, the flesh softens and turns brown, but not rotten. This will usually take about two or three weeks. 

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I might leave them on the tree for another week as the forecast isn't for any keen frosts in the next week. Maybe I’ll try them “unbletted “ with some apples in a pie.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Weather Winners and Looser's - So Far

The milder weather continued on Friday but it remained mostly dull and cloudy all day with some light rain starting in the late afternoon.

A winner in our garden at the moment is our banana plantation. Although we've had a few frosts with the temperature getting to fractionally below 0°C our plantation remains intact in the late autumn weather.

So I think it’s fair to say our bananas are winning at the moment but it will just take one hard frost and they’ll become green mush.

On the plot our shed is the loser. The wind this week has been strong enough to rip the felt off the roof. It’s not ripped completely off but certainly needs some repair work.

Fortunately the damage was spotted by our neighbouring plotter Joe who was good enough to make a temporary repair by putting the felt back and adding some well positioned bricks on the roof to hold the felt in place.

That’s what I consider being a good neighbour - Thanks Joe

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Last Tomatoes Harvested

The milder weather continued through Wednesday and Thursday with the daytime temperature just managing to reach double figures and remaining mild over night with the frost having disappeared for the time being.

I decided it was about time I harvested the remaining tomatoes from our home greenhouse. The ones in the plot greenhouse were finished weeks ago but at home the tomatoes have taken much longer to ripen.

Not too bad a harvest for the beginning of November. You may spot our entire sweet pepper harvest, consisting of two Jimmy Nardello’s, amongst the tomatoes. That large Amish Gold should make an excellent couple of sandwiches. I guess after that very cold start to the season our tomatoes haven’t done too badly. At one time I was doubtful about getting any tomatoes at all as the plants just refused to grow in the cold spring weather. 

The table below summarises how our six varieties cropped .

Taste wise of the six I found Jakarta a little disappointing but perhaps it just didn't appreciate the cool conditions. Gardener’s Delight and Amish Gold produced the tastiest tomatoes with Alicante and Moneymaker just a little way behind. All were better than the watery tasteless supermarket varieties. The San Marzano’s have all gone into producing tomato sauce for use over winter so the taste test hasn't really been checked just yet. 

I’d certainly grow the same varieties again next year although I might consider an alternative to Jakarta if something catches my eye in the seed catalogues.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Cold then Wet

Monday was a cold sunny day and it tempted us into the garden to do a little bit of planting and some tidying up. The weather changed during Monday night as rain moved in to make Tuesday a wet and windy day but much milder.

It gave me chance to pot up our new apple tree Baya Marissa. Sue has more about this apple tree on her blog here. The plan is it will spend the worst of winter in the greenhouse before being moved outside once the weather improves in early spring. The plan at the moment is that it will be moved into a larger pot and grow along side our other “pot” fruit at home rather than be planted in the plot. 

I’m undecided as the whether it should go into a bigger conventional type of pot or be planted into a large air pot like our new cherry tree. I've got all winter to make up my mind.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Carrot test results

Saturday morning was the first time my thermometer had fallen below 0°C this autumn. It was only just below as it fell to -0.1°C. It remained dull and cloudy for most of the day with just a hint of some sunshine in the early afternoon. Sunday morning much the same down to -0.2°C and remaining dull and cold all day with the thermometer not managing to make it to 4°C.

The last time we visited the plot I dug up some Autumn King carrots. I've now lifted some of all four varieties that we've grown this year. Regular followers will be aware that after a complete crop failure in 2011 we tried everything we could this year to produce a decent crop of carrots which we consider an essential part of our winter root vegetables. There’s information here about the methods used to grow our four different varieties this year.

From a growing perspective all the varieties have performed well producing good size carrots. Protection from seed sowing until September with environmesh has been extremely effect at keeping the dreaded carrot fly at bay and so far all the roots have been unaffected. One of my main concerns was that using weed control fabric would provide a breeding ground for slugs and snails resulting in lots of damaged roots. This doesn't seem to have happened and considering all the rain this summer, conditions must have been ideal for hose pesky molluscs. There has been a little slug damage mostly to the Early Nantes roots, the remaining varieties that have been lifted damage free so far.

As for taste the only disappointing variety has been Flakkee with not such an intense carroty flavour as the other three varieties. I will probably grow four varieties again next year introducing another variety to replace Flakkee.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Turned Out Cold and Wet on the North Yorkshire Moors

We headed off for the North Yorkshire Moors as the forecast was for a decent day with some sunny spells. As we turned off the main road between Pickering and Whitby there were excellent views over the town and out over the sea.

This was around lunch time and although it was cold it was a beautiful sunny day. It didn’t last much longer as the clouds rolled in and the sun did a disappearing act. By the time we reached the same vantage point a couple of hours later the view looked like this.

 

Difficult now to distinguish between sea and sky as the rain set in.

 

We also had one of those SAT NAV moments. We were exploring the Esk Valley and I was expecting some narrow roads but this "ford" was a little bit too deep to risk.

 

Judging by the depth marker the water was around 2 feet deep somewhere around the middle of the river which was running pretty swiftly. To be fair an earlier road sign had warned of a deep ford ahead but who takes notice of every road sign. Better safe than sorry it just meant reversing back up the road to turn round.

 

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Winter Vegetables to the Fore

Thursday began November with yet another cool and cloudy day with temperatures below average for the start of the month.

We made our first visit to the plot for just over a week as we'd run out of fresh vegetables and Sue had some wallflowers and tulips to plant. I thought it was about time to try some of our Autumn King carrots. As I lifted them out of the soil, these looked like good carrots. The ground remains very wet and the carrots needed a wash to reveal their true conditions. No carrot fly and no slug damage so just the flavour test remains.

Whilst in testing mode I lifted the first of this year's parsnips, Gladiator, and they too after a quick wash looked to have produced some decent sized roots for winter. The cauliflowers are probably the last of this year's crop although I left a couple of small plants in the ground to see if they will eventually grow to produce a head. The cabbages too are the first of our autumn variety Kilaton. Our summer crop of Golden Acre are  now finished.

To finish off my experimental visit I lifted a couple of our celeriac roots. It's stretching the imagination a little to call them roots. They look as though they need potting on for next year. A complete failure again so I'll have to try something different and see if I can do better next year.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt

Could Have Guessed

Wednesday finished off October and just like the majority of days this month it was cool and cloudy with some rain in the evening.

For us October hasn't been particularly wet with rainfall for the month around 75% of that expected but we may well be the exception with many other locations receiving well above their average monthly rainfall. The main feature has been the cool temperatures throughout the month with the final average of 8.9°C making it the coldest October since 1992. We've also had a distinct lack of sunshine with less sunshine than the previous two Octobers. The same can be said for June through to September.

This summer’s certainly been a major disappointment. After that brilliant start in March and a sunny May thoughts were of a great growing year but in the end it turned out to be a difficult and challenging season.

Copyright: Original post from Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrettt