Up at the Big House

I am tempted to start lifting Leeks, any time now I think. They are looking good. Having been planted out into holes made with a dibber in the bottom of a shallow trench and then gradually earthed up, to now, around 100mm above ground. There should be a nice length of blanch.

I am still giving them a fully organic liquid feed regularly. They are around 40mm diameter.

I sowed spring cabbage Durham Early last month. Thinly spaced in their final row. Come thinning time I moved the best of the plants sideways and created a second row. This does save any disturbance if you are sowing a little late.

What the in situ plants miss is being seated a little deeper on transplant sowing in a groove helps overcome this and a little earthing up should get rid of any leggyness.

The grey dust between the rows is fresh wood ash to deter the molluscs.

Here we are nearing the end of October and one of my greenhouse Cucumbers is is still flowering and cropping.

There is a big danger at this time of mildew setting in, I am providing as much air flow in the daytime as I can without letting temperatures go too low. The small fruits are going into vinegar as cornichons, will this one make maturity.

We have had a couple of ground frosts at night but the bright days have meant some heat for my solar storage which is keeping the temperatures up under glass at night.

I have finally got round to podding my Legume seeds. Broad beans.

And Peas.

Unlike some commercial seeds germination will probably be near to 100% There are more than adequate supplies of both. After cropping heavily the last pods to set were left to ripen.
They will now go into brown paper bags in a cool place for storage.

As promised, pictures of the Cultivated Blackberry variety that I train up a vertical post.

With many of the spurs pruned out, on the left hand side, having fruited this season, the 100mm square wooden post 3 Meters  tall, has the main stem trained to it right to the top.
On the right is the replacement stem which does not fruit until next year, this is trained using the same post as support.
All side growth is pruned to a bud at approximately 200mm. Once fruiting is over, this years stem is removed completely to ground level.
 In the Spring the replacement stem has all growth removed after the first flower cluster on each spur. The trick is to keep on top of the growth, only retaining what you need.
Almost magically a new shoot for a new main stem will be produced which is trained for the following year. Any extra ones that appear are removed.

Heavy industrial gloves offer some protection when working on the training, some blood was shed in persuite of these pictures. Because the plant is not crowded the fruit can reach its full potential and quality.
I will take more pictures once the winter pruning is done.

The previous lace curtain Broccoli as it is today, a couple of the old leaves are visible, the others have been shed.

There is no doubt about it the Cabbage Caterpillar is a nuisance. They ruin a hearted cabbage to the extent of making it unusable, if you want summer hearted cabbages organically you need to be very vigilant. I tend to concentrate on sprouting and spring cabbage, they both crop before the caterpillars get going.
Brussels Sprouts, Kale and Sprouting Broccoli have to develop into a plant when the caterpillars are at their most active. Hand picking of the caterpillars or the eggs is the best defence. What though if you do get an attack whilst you are on holiday, is it curtains for a lace curtain like the one in the photograph.

Surprisingly not, as long as the central growing point is not destroyed, recovery can be full with no huge set back. I didn't set up a test it occurred naturally, two plants in a row were attacked. They have recovered and are comparable with those that had no damage. Those large leaves are destined to be shed as the plant grows. Organic growing is possible without panic about every pest.

I am taking the liberty to post my reply to a comment as a post. I mentioned the report that some seed tested by a gardening magazine had appallingly low levels of germination.

This is how it can happen.

All seed suppliers have an obligation to ensure that the seeds they supply conform to EU standards of germination.The seeds must be tested and a certain percentage must germinate. Packets carry a statement. "complies with EC rules and standards".

In the old days,prior to the EU the figure was quite low. I am sure the statement was "conforms to minimum standards of germination".
This meant seed suppliers could, and probably still do add 50% known bad seed to a batch.

Say the new seed has a 99% germination rate, the old seed only 50%, mix the two and you have a mix with 75% germination, well above the old legal figure.

Profit goes up by 100%, the old seed should have been thrown away and gets sold at full price in two packets.

I don't know off hand what the EU percentage is. No doubt it is suppliers, bend on profit in hard times, who have played the mixing game too far and not bothered to test who have sold packets with 92% dead seed.

I was told by a friend with a relative who was an employee of a seed company that every year the old was mixed back with the new. If this practice is overdone some of the seed could be many years old.

I remember when I started gardening that Sweet Corn was not really suitable for the UK climate, gradually varieties have been bred (without GM) which perform well.

The cold wet English summer this year I thought would be a wash out for Corn On the Cob.

Not so,  yield may be a little down but size, set and flavour of the Conqueror F1 Hybrid from Thompson and Morgan is superb.

Talking of seed suppliers, I have mentioned before that some may add old seed to the new stock to increase their profit. The result will still keep their seeds within the legal germination percentages.

Did anyone see the report by a gardening magazine recently? I heard it mentioned on Radio4 Apparently some suppliers sold seed with as many as 92% dead. Were they the cheap ones, Oh no!

'When I were a lad', I would walk home from school at lunch time, to eat, what, I don't remember. Did mother leave something for me or is this when I developed my one pan, no plate culinary skills, so useful for camping and fishing trips.

What I do remember is the Conference Pear tree, trained against a wall in a corner, it produced reliable crops every year. On my way back to school I would pick a pear to eat. I would start early as soon as they reached a reasonable size, almost as hard as rock, I love them like that.
Later they get golden fleshed and juicy sweet, delicious, but I really do enjoy them hard.

How to eat a Conference Pear. Hold at base, pull stalk hard, out comes a wee tooth brush, I won't mention what we called them. Bite off the top and continue to eat from top down until all you have left is the wee hard calyx which was around the flower. There is no core or pips to worry about, no mess and no waste.

Every garden I have had I have planted a Conference Pear, still I reach out on the way down the garden for a healthy snack. They have cropped very well this year, the photo shows some scabby spots on a couple. I didn't set them up for the picture, they are nothing to worry about and all edible and of course organic.

There are some Runner Beans behind them in the picture, the recent low temperatures have no stopped them cropping yet.

I have a love hate relationship with my cultivated Blackberry, I have a scar on my leg still from an encounter in June this year. It grows unruly rapidly, despite my pruning and will 'get me' if it can. I missed a pruning session earlier and had to cut off some of the first flower buds, (I train it vertically as a cordon to keep it tidy). As I thought it mattered little, it has cropped heavily, the latest flush of fruit is the best.

This is where the hate turns to love, I popped a 2 Pence piece in the dish to show the size.