On The Cusp Of Autumn...

The English gardener needs no overt sign that summer is on the wan; indeed, there exists a multitude of subtle signs indicating that the garden is now slowing down as it prepares for autumn and the long days of winter.

The vivid burst and flourish of summer activity, only weeks old in the memory, has now given way to the turning of leaves, gloomier evenings and colder mornings. Indeed, as I went for a stroll along the Thames on my lunch break today, I did so amongst a sprinkling of conkers, their polished surfaces gleaming radiantly like a waxed wooden table.

So how is the London Vegetable Garden allotment at this poignant time? A time when we are undoubtedly on the very cusp of autumn, yet still entertain the odd few days of warmth and sun?

Well, the runner beans are still cropping, but are undoubtedly on their way out. Some of the leaves are turning yellow and crinkling up, although the plants continue to produce an array of little beans, all struggling to reach maturity.

The onions have now all been harvested and dried out – indeed, the majority have even been enjoyed in cooking! The cucumber plants seem to have offered up the last of their fruits, whilst the courgette plants too seem to be succumbing to leaf mildew and look tired.

I have a few beetroots too, following the plants that arrived from Rocket Gardens. I'm looking for different ways to cook and eat these vegetables, so if anyone has any beetroot tips, please leave them as a comment on this post!

The tomatoes though, remain one last bastion of allotment action this year. Followers of the London Vegetable Garden on Facebook will no doubt have noticed that I have enjoyed a steady and abundant crop of tomatoes from the three shop-bought plants. However, my seed-grown windowsill tomatoes are finally starting to turn, with a few of the 'Tigrella' fruits now a promising orange upon my visit to the allotment this evening.

Many tomatoes have succumbed to splitting, with ants and slugs seizing the natural feast that this phenomenon naturally produces. But I still have a healthy crop of around fifteen tomato plants of differing species, all of which stand there laden with appetising fruit, just waiting to turn to glorious colour.

Hopefully I will be enjoying these fruits over the coming fortnight, before October puts paid to their progress once and for all!

Tomato Troubles!

One of the things I learnt from growing tomatoes on my balcony last year was that they need constant care and attention. I took a lot of time on my tomatoes last year, which resulted in a productive period of cropping on the London Vegetable Garden balcony!

Now that the London Vegetable Garden has moved to an allotment, my tomato growing of 2010 has been a very different experience entirely. I started off in the spring by planting some baby plants which I had purchased in the nearby garden centre. These have grown and trusses are swelling, laden with green tomatoes that are just waiting to ripen.

I have also grown tomato plants from seed back home on the windowsill. These plants were then transplanted to the London Vegetable Garden allotment when they were big enough. All in all, I have around six different varieties of tomato to enjoy this year, of which so far my girlfriend and I have been enjoying 'Golden Sweet'.

However, this year's weather has proven rather problematic for many tomato growers, including my mum and myself! The rapid changes in temperature cause the tomatoes to swell or contract, which causes many of them to split. Once they have split, they are susceptible to attack from pests, or simply drying up and decay:

Luckily, this is only affecting a handful of my tomatoes, so I still have plenty of intact fruits waiting to ripen:
I wanted to document this problem as I'm sure urban gardeners nation-wide are experiencing the same trouble with tomatoes that aren't in a greenhouse. Is anyone else in the same boat? Does anyone have any tips on how to decrease the amount of split tomatoes on the allotment?

Bank Holiday Booty!

Another weekend, another harvest! It's that time of year where allotments can quickly get overrun with produce, which is no bad thing for the urban gardener!

This August has seen plenty of rain in London, as well as plenty of muggy weather, which has been perfect for the London Vegetable Garden allotment. As stated before, getting to and from the allotment takes planning – and usually involves a 7k run! - so the fact that nature has been watering my vegetables for me has been a big help.

After spending the Bank Holiday weekend in Sussex, I thought I'd pop up this evening and see what's been happening at the allotment and collected this impressive load of booty:

As you can see, my onions have now been harvested and I shall be drying these out back at home. I'm getting good numbers of 'Golden Sweet' tomatoes, which are very tasty indeed. The rest of the tomatoes on the London Vegetable Garden are plumping up and heavy trusses are forming, which, following last years experiences, shows that it won't be long until I'm enjoying handfuls of fresh tomatoes each day!

Also, if anyone has any useful recipes involving runner beans, please do leave a comment on this post – as you can see I need lots of interesting and unusual ideas!

Edible August

This time of year often leads to inactivity on gardening blogs – the London Vegetable Garden included. Why? Well, in respect of myself, there's been holiday, busy times at work, lazy evenings walking along the river and even a rounders night thrown in.

But the main reason for inactivity on the London Vegetable Garden over the last month has been... plenty of activity on the allotment! The busy days of digging beds, sowing seeds, battling pests and constructing cane tents have now been replaced by solid vegetable growing.

Over the last few weeks, I have been jogging to the allotment a few times a week and conducting brief visits, which seem to consist solely of watering the plot (it's been very hot down in London) and harvesting the vegetables.

I am still waiting to experience my onions, cucumbers and tomatoes, but recently I have enjoyed the following:

Lettuce
Spinnach
Radishes
Potatoes
Runner Beans
Courgettes
Lettuce
Peas

Obviously this has been so rewarding for me. Whilst I really gained a sense of excitement from managing to grow edible produce on the London Vegetable Garden balcony last year, this summer has enabled me to grow crops of a much more significant size.

I may not be harvesting anywhere near enough to avoid shopping for vegetables at Tesco, but I am managing to bring home decent amounts of produce that contribute to a meal or two.

Here are some pictures of my recent harvests – I shall update you all on the tomatoes and cucumbers when I have news!

Summer Seclusion

One of the most charming things about having an allotment next to a stream is that it provides a picturesque retreat – a secluded urban oasis that is perfect for escaping the trappings of modern life. This evening, my girlfriend and I walked up to the allotment for a quiet evening picnic; the functional purpose of plant-watering given added incentive by the thought of escaping noisy neighbours for an evening.

I may have been a little creative with these pictures, but the warm sepia reflects the feeling of a warm hazy evening, in my mind at least!

Tomato Transplant!

Stick your head outside one of the windows at my flat and you'll inevitably be treated to a constant cacophony of screeching planes on their final approach to Heathrow airport. Invasive aviation aside, popping your head outside of the window is also likely to result in a brush with all manner of plants and pots, which I have been growing from seed over the past few weeks.

Along with courgette and cucumber plants, I have been growing two different varieties of tomatoes, 'Pomodoro' Italian beefsteak and 'Lycopersicon Esculentum Tigrella' (the latter are illustrated in the photo at the top of this post), to accompany the shop-bought tomato plants up at the allotment. Many of London's converted Victorian flats have huge windowsills, which is an excellent space to utilise for growing seeds – especially in this hot weather.

Anyway, I hiked the 2 miles up to the allotment this morning intending to get my home-grown baby tomato plants bedded in. I usually run to the allotment, but was laden down with bags of tomato, cucumber and courgette plants, so a slower pace was required!

I separated the plants and proceeded to bed these into the soil, which I had previously broken up with a fork. Now, these plants look very droopy, as they had only just gone in and not been watered when the photo was taken, but hopefully they will bed in fine.

For experimentation, I have also set up a couple of tomato plants in a grow bag:

I'm keen to see which set of plants grows more productively, as the soil in the allotment is rather clay-like and I had such success with grow bags on the balcony last year. I'm not sure if it will make a huge difference, but it makes for interesting experimentation nonetheless. Tomatoes also seem to be one of the few plants that the birds are leaving alone at the moment, so I'm investing a lot of faith in these plants – and the harvest that they'll hopefully bring!

Progress.

In regards to vegetable growing, the great outdoors is a hard mistress to please. The transition from balcony to allotment has undeniably been a difficult one; however the number of pitfalls, perils and pests has surpassed even my own expectations.

There's no doubt that much of this year's gardening has been a learning curve of huge magnitude; an education which has been supported by many of my new neighbours down at the allotments. Despite knowing that I am learning all the time however, the lack of actually vegetative progress has been a disappointment that's been well documented on the London Vegetable Garden blog.

Well, what a difference a few weeks make. My ongoing battles with pests have led me to attack everything from slugs to ants, when after discussions with fellow plot holders, I have managed to ascertain that pigeons are some of the worst offenders. A fortnight ago, my lettuces from Rocket Gardens looked like this:

However, Maddy (the lady whose plot I'm working on) very kindly assisted me and helped me to put some netting down over the baby plants. I was sceptical, partly as I was so disheartened, but took heed of her advice – after all, she's been gardening for years. Anyway, the netting really has worked! Slugs are still getting a couple of bites, but look at the difference the netting has made:



One of the greatest things I've learnt in recent weeks is to talk to allotment gardeners around you. They are all growing plants and vegetables in the same ecosystem, so it follows that they will all share the same problems that you are experiencing – and subsequently, have some successful solutions to share.

Anyway, the netting has been a huge success and even up at the allotment today, I noticed a few pigeons lurking around. Unfortunately, what they can't get at on my allotment, they'll find on someone else's, but hopefully my plants will now be able to re-establish themselves and everything will not be as lost as I thought it was this time a few weeks ago!