Month by month
September - October 2012
Our gardening year started with the first frost on 21 September last
year. This was one day after we ate the last of our potatoes on 20 September. We cut the grass
for the last time on 24 September, ate our first apple on the 25th and harvested the last of the carrots.
The last courgette was picked on 30 September. Into October, we harvested apples, rhubarb, blackberries, and tomatoes
(granted, those had been indoors most of the time). There were more frosts, and at the end of the
month temperatures got down to -6 degrees C.
November - December
The first big snowfall on the hills came on 1 November. Waxwings appeared in our neighbourhood on the 8th of November and later in the month we saw field fares, redwings
and jays and a red squirrel. We had an
oil leak from our boiler, and we went into a deep freeze that lasted several
weeks. More waxwings were seen at the
beginning of December.
January - February
January was cold and snowy. Andy
chopped down one of the upper apple trees that was very diseased, hoping to
bring more air to the other two. The
snowdrops appeared on the 26th of January. There was more snow in February. On the 16th I replanted the
camellia in the front of the house.
March mayhem
On the 2nd of March we were amazed to harvest carrots left
over from last year! We had our first
daffodil on 8 March and on the 11th we recorded -8 degrees C. On the 16th we trimmed the hedges
and on the 18th the first lamb appeared in Benderloch. There was a huge windstorm on 22nd March and trees came down and took the power out with it. We lost huge sections of forest around our neighbourhood.
Then we had a long, cold dry spell, which ran into April, with temperatures
below average.
April drought
On 10 April I recorded “Drought last 2 months” and had a bonfire. On the 11th it finally rained, but
not much at all. The daffodils bloomed
only sporadically and some of them never bloomed at all. The camellia bloomed on the 16th and the primroses around the same time. Swallows were seen at Dunstaffnage on
the 19th of April. A sea
eagle flew over our house on the 21st. On the 23rd we replanted the Red
Falstaff apple tree in the allotment garden (still in recovery from being chewed on by a deer last year) and planted the early potatoes out on
the 24th.
At the end of the month, the apple trees were just leafing out and more
daffodils were opening. It was a very
late spring. The last frost I recorded
was on 30 April.
May showers
The first midge bit us on the 1st of May. Thereafter it was very wet for a few
weeks. Carrots, peas, and rocket were
planted outside on the 5th of May when the first chiffchaff was heard. We planted courgette, chard and butternut
squash seeds indoors, and planted the remaining early potatoes and the maincrop
potatoes on the 8th of May.
The blackcurrants bloomed on 6 May and the bluebells and rhododendron
were blooming on 9 May. The first early
potatoes surfaced on 14 May after two weeks of wet weather. The rocket sprouted on the 17th,
our first sunny warm day of the year. On
the 18th, we planted mangetout, beetroot, mustard greens, spring
onions and beans (the last indoors).
Strawberries bloomed on the 20th and the apple trees in front
were blooming on the 23rd.
The blueberries bloomed also on the 24th. By the end of May the bluebells were just
coming out everywhere (late by a month).
June catch-up
June had some catching up to do.
We planted more carrots, peas and beans on the 1st. A spotted flycatcher was seen on the 2nd of June. We planted a yellow azalea from
Morvern on the 3rd. Lupine
and allium were blooming by the 6th.
There were three days of really hot weather and the apples and blueberries
set fruit. The midges were terrible by the 11th. The rugosa rose bloomed
on the 13th. On the 16th I planted more beans, kale, and celeriac starts from Mull. We planted three tomato starts on the 19th. By the solstice, the first early potatoes
were blooming, and the raspberries had set.
Foxgloves were blooming. We
planted broccoli starts on the 24th.
The peas were blooming on the 26th and the first strawberries
ripened and we ate the first one on 28 June.
July: all guns firing
July was busy. I harvested
strawberries daily for a few weeks in early July. It was hot most of the month and I had to
water the garden. Everything bloomed –
roses, brodea, orchids in the verge.
Peas set by 9 July.
Currants started to ripen, and were eaten by blackbirds on 15 July. Lots of strawberries were
amazing for the first half of the month.
I made elderflower lemonade twice with flowers picked on the 12th and 16th (rather late for elderflowers).
Ate the first chard on 17 July. Noted that cleggs were really terrible on the 18th and I had already sustained many bites.
Picked the first peas on the 21st and raspberries on the 22nd. Kale and chard and mangetout were ready on
the 25th. Blueberries arrived
on the 26th and the raspberries were coming thick and fast at the
end of July.
August harvest
Blueberries came along slowly in August. First the Patriots were ripe, slowly from 3
August to 17 August. The Spartans were
ripe around the 20th. I
harvested currants – 1 kg from just one bush! – and the first courgette on 4
August and also some red potatoes. There
was plenty of kale, chard, peas and mangetout to eat until we got tired of
them. I picked more currants on the 15th and the final harvest of
currants on the 18th which went into the freezer. We had our second and third courgette by the 14th of August and by the end of the month the
count was up to 11. The green beans came
along (only 3 plants survived) with a crop on the 18th of
August. I would have liked more of
these.
Caterpillars started being
noticeable around the end of this month.
The midges got bad again at the end of August, after July had been OK
for midges. At the end of the month, a
snapdragon started blooming which had carried over from last year -- one of the
bedding annuals that got left behind!
What a trooper. I harvested small
carrots and two beetroots on the 27th but they were very small
yet. However, we had more mangetout than we could
eat.
September infestations
September came and still the Earliblue blueberries weren’t ripe. We had our first apple from the lower trees
on the 1st – it was good. The midges
were “horrendous” on the 5th.
More peas were coming on, from the same plants (they just keep going!)
on 13 September. On the 16th we harvested the last of the green beans.
I divided the hosta and potted up strawberry runners mid-month. The windfalls from the lower apple tree (James Grieve) were
tasty. Caterpillars, snails and slugs
ate nearly all the broccoli by the end of the month. We cut several “giant” courgettes this month.
October remainders
Marrows appeared in October, not really on purpose, but just from leaving them too long. The first frost was
on 10th October and we dug the last of our potatoes on the 12th – enough to last us several more months.
We had the last courgettes on the 13th. I picked the last of the peas (a good number)
on the 15th and mowed the lawn for the last time on the 16th. We took our apples to Argyll Apple Day on 17 October to get identifications for them.
In early November, we picked the last of the Bramley apples from the
tree. Then snow
and ice kicked in then for a few weeks. However, December was
a lot milder and wetter. We ate the last
of our stash of potatoes on 23 December.
That was a great gardening year!
Successes
Strawberries
Chard
Kale
Green beans
Courgettes
Currants
Apples
Peas
Parsley
Chives
Rhubarb
Could have been better
Carrots
Beetroot
Potatoes
Blueberries
Raspberries
Dismal failures
Loganberry – fruit went moldy and didn’t ripen
Mustard greens – never grew, maybe a bad location
Pak choi – never grew at all
Spring onions – never grew more than 3 inches
Broccoli – infested by slugs, snails and caterpillars. Horrible.
Garden layout
Crops by type (including dates)
Apples
26 April leafing out
23 May front trees blooming
9 June have set fruit
1 September ate first apple (lower tree: #3)
7 September juiced windfalls (still tart)
18 September ate windfalls from lower tree (#3) – good
17 October Argyll Apple Day – took to be identified
Beans (dwarf bush)
18 May planted indoors
1 June planted more outdoors
16 June planted more outdoors (not many sprouted)
18 August harvested beans
27 August more beans
16 September harvested last of beans
Beetroot
18 May planted outside
27 August picked small beets
15 October picked small beets
Blueberries
24 May blooming
9 June have set fruit
26 July ate first blueberries (Bluecrop I think)
3 August some Patriots ripening
17 August Patriots ripe
20 August Spartans ripe
4 September Earliblues still ripening slowly
15 September Earliblues still mostly sour, left for birds
Broccoli
24 June planted starts
26 September full of slugs and caterpillars, hardly any broccoli left
12 October starting to resprout new heads after frost
Butternut squash
4 May planted indoors
Planted with courgettes but never thrived
Carrots
5 May planted outside
1 June planted more outside
27 August harvested small carrots
15 October picked some good size carrots
Celeriac
16 June planted starts
16 October still looks OK but not very big
24 December seems to be getting a bigger root and healthier leaves
Chard
4 May planted indoors
17 July harvested first leaves
25 July harvested lots
19 August still harvesting lots
24 December some plants still alive and thriving
Courgette
4 May planted indoors
4 August harvested first courgette
11 August ate 2nd courgette
14 August ate 3rd courgette
22 August 3 more courgettes
26 August 3 big courgettes
31 August at least 12 this month altogether
9 September giant courgette
27 September giant courgette
2 October giant marrow and large courgette
13 October giant marrow and last 3 courgettes
Currants
6 May blooming
8 July covered against birds (not well enough)
13 July starting to ripen
15 July blackbird ate all currants off one bush
4 August harvested currants (1 kg from one bush)
15 August picked another 700g currants
18 August picked last currants (froze)
Kale
16 June planted start
25 July harvested lots
19 August still harvesting lots
16 October still harvesting kale
Mustard
18 May planted outside
Never grew
Pak choi
18 May planted with mustard
Never grew
Peas & mangetout
5 May planted peas outside
18 May planted mangetout outside
1 June planted more outside
26 June peas blooming
9 July peas set
21 July harvested first peas
24 July lots of peas
25 July lots of mangetout
16 August lots of peas and mangetout
13 September more peas coming on (same plants)
15 October picked last peas (a good number)
Potatoes
24 April planted earlies (Red Duke of York, 2 kg)
8 May planted main crop (Pentland Crown – white, 2 kg)
14 May earlies surfaced
21 June earlies blooming
4 August harvested first red potatoes - some with fungal blight (?)
12 October dug all the rest of the white maincrop potatoes, all remaining reds - a lot of them had cracks and caverns in the middle because of the drought in the spring, many of them rotted
23 December ate last of potatoes from garden
Raspberries
21 June set fruit
22 July harvested first handful
24 July lots of raspberries
27 July coming thick and fast
Rhubarb
harvested throughout the summer
12 October dying back after frosts
Rocket
5 May planted outside
17 May sprouted (12 days)
Never grew much at all
Spring onions
18 May planted outside
16 October weeded around onions – still very small
24 December still growing but very small
Strawberries
20 May blooming
28 June ate first berry
6 July harvesting lots of berries all week
13 July still harvesting lots all week
14 September potted up runners
Tomatoes
19 June planted starts
Never did very well and then got aphids
Notes for next year
- Plant more peas and forget the mangetout
- Plant more beans (aim for 10 plants)
- Aim for 6 courgette plants
- Put manure in all the beds in winter
- Test pH and nutrients in spring
- Put weed barrier under currants
- Peas need better and higher structure to climb up
- Protect broccoli from pests or don’t bother
- Prune apple trees in winter
- Build netting cage all around fruit bushes
- Feed apple trees a good compost and clear weeds from base
By way of comparison, the
2012 garden report is here.
