What to do now - October
It's that time of year...
It's been a hot, dry summer but temperatures are now falling and the days are getting shorter..
October signals the end of the growing season as it’s time to harvest the last of your tomatoes, peppers and courgettes, and frosts start to become more regular. But it is also a time to welcome the next season by starting to prepare the soil and plant hardy varieties of broad beans and peas, while shallots and garlic can get an excellent start if their soil doesn't become waterlogged.
Now is the time to start your winter digging – the frosts and rain will help to further break down the soil so that it's ready for planting in the spring. If you combine some organic matter then the worms will ‘do their bit’ below the ground. Mulch the soil around plants above warm, wet, weed-free soil.
It’s the perfect time of year to tidy up the plot, compost the remains of the year’s harvest and plant/prune fruit trees and bushes.
You may want to consider extended your growing season by investing in a greenhouse, hot frame or polytunnel.
Allotment tasks
Sow Now
Broad beans (Aquadulce varieties are most resistant to cold), rhubarb, peas (under cover) and garlic.
Jobs
Clean pots, apply mulches, cover pot plants with fleece, insulate greenhouses and tidy up to prevent pests from over wintering, take cuttings from currants and berries.
Harvest
The very last tomatoes, apples and other hard fruits, leeks, beetroot, beans sweetcorn, squash (they should sound hollow when you tap them), kale and chard.
Leaf Salad Crops
Salad crops develop quickly, and there are a wide variety – sorrel, lettuce, endive, kale, radicchio and mustard leaves - to suit various conditions.
They can be grown in seed drills, broadcast over an area of ground or grown in containers. Either way, they offer a fresh and tasty alternative to bags of supermarket salads.
As salad crops can outgrow weeds, watering and pests are the main concerns for salad growers. Watering every two days may be necessary during long dry spells if salad crops are grown in compost rich beds (daily watering may be necessary if they are grown in small pots).
Slugs are the main pest, and can be treated with pellets, nematodes, or regular picking off. Ants and aphids can also be a problem – ants can be kept in check if the surrounding soil is kept moist. Aphids can be squashed by hand if they are not tackled by ladybirds or beetles.
Regular collect leaves when they are ready to harvest. If leaves start to sag after harvesting they can be recovered by soaking in cold water.
Protect Winter Brassicas
A well planned plot will have some well-developed brassicas as we head towards winter: various types of kale, cabbage, sprouts and broccoli. Give them a helping hand by:
- Fitting mesh or netting to protect them from pigeons
- Stake out taller Brussels sprouts and broccoli plants
- Remove any yellow leaves to discourage white fly and improve air circulation
- Apply soft soap solutions to help protect against pests the following spring
Chitting Potatoes
February is time to prepare seed potatoes for planting by ‘chitting’ them – storing them in such a way that they start to sprout before being planted in the ground.
The potatoes should be spread out over a single layer in a cool, dry place which is free from the risk of frost. Large, unused egg boxes are ideal for this, allowing air circulation between each seed potato.
Ideally the storage area should be bright but the seed potatoes should be out of direct sunlight. After a few days the potatoes will then grow short stubby shoots which will help the potato plants to grow when they are planted out to get them off to a fast start when planted out. St Patrick’s Day is the traditional day of the year to plant potatoes.
There is some evidence that you can grow larger potatoes by breaking off the weaker shoots just before planting, leaving only the three or four stronger shoots to grow.