Hi there, welcome back to my Allotment x potager garden update! So, I have to confess I am about 2 months late with this post; life has got in the way of my writing! I must also confess, I haven’t been to the allotment as much as I would have liked. But, that is mainly because at this time of year there isn’t much to do other than maintaining and harvesting. However, this is starting to change now we start prepping for next year!
If this is your first visit to my website, you can find plenty more information, not only on how my allotment has progressed, but tips on how to design your own garden and much more! Click HERE to take you to my home page.
Awesome allotment introduction
So, August was a bit hotter, and a bit less wet than July, which has its pro’s and cons. And September feels like it has done nothing but rain! We have seen a transition of flowers, with the sweet peas finishing their flowering and the passing of the floral baton to cosmos, rudbeckia and dianthus.
Wherever you look, gardeners are lamenting about how difficult this year has been, and I am no exception. It’s been mixed year of success so far, as some things have grown really well, whereas others have been really disappointing. One of the things I have realised is that I haven’t grown enough of the veg I really like. For example, french beans. I only put a few plants in, thinking that would be enough but it wasn’t. I probably only got two meals out of them. So next year, I am going to plant less variety and more quantity.
Allotment Recap
At the end of last month, I forgot to give myself any objectives, and as a result I haven’t done very much other than pick flowers and veg. That will teach me. However, one of the things I have done this month, that is related to the allotment in that it is creating my own produce, is to brew my own wine! Exciting!! So I thought I would give you a brief guide on how to do it yourself!
Wine making 🍷
Ok, so I love wine. However, I am a bit of wine snob. But irrespective of that, this year I decided to try and brew my own, after a friend of mine raved about his home brew. He assures me I won’t be able to tell the difference between homebrew and shop bought. I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical, but it has been fun doing it and I do actually have a drinkable wine!
Cheating…
I have decided to give myself a head start by buying a homebrew kit. Cheating? Yeah probably. Do I care? Nope. I did actually grow my own wine grapes this year but I didn’t have enough to make my own wine, so I am hoping to use these for red wine vinegar, more on this in later posts.
For wine, I bought two kits. One for the red wine, which was a 7 day kit, which promises to give you 30 bottles of wine. The grape is Cabernet Sauvignon. And for the white wine, I splashed out a bit more cash and bought a 30 day/30 bottles kit of Californian Chardonnay. When you add the equipment the total cost, it was approximately £170. But I felt this was a bargain as it works out at approx £3 a bottle and you also get the fun of making it. Providing it is drinkable of course!
Wine making steps
The steps were relatively simple, especially when you follow the instructions on the packet! N.B. The steps below are really general steps. Exact quantities of water/grape juice/additives can be found on the instructions that come with the kits so make sure to use them if you are going to try this at home! This is how I brewed the 7 day wine.
Step 1
Buy the kit and equipment! I bought Cellars 7 day kit for the grape juice. For the equipment, I purchased a 25 litre plastic tub with lid and stopper, a thermometer, a hydrometer and a testing tube. I also have a bit of equipment which allows me to rack the wine (drain it from one container to another), which is effectively a plastic tube with a tap on the end. You will also need enough water to fill the tub, so about 15-20 litres. TOP TIP – buy bottled water. Apparently it will make a significant difference! Oh, and don’t forget sterilising tablets/powder.
Step 2
Sterilise the plastic bucket and any equipment you are going to put in your wine e.g. stirrers. Just follow the instructions on your steriliser.
Step 3
Add the grape juice to the bucket with the bottled water and some boiled warm water and make sure it is the right temperature – 23 degrees.
Step 4
At the lid and the stopper. Leave it somewhere warm to ferment – I have a chilly house, so I wrapped mine in a blanket. Then follow the instructions for when to add the other bits in the kit and after 7 days voila! You have wine.
Top Tips
- I have left mine in the bucket longer than 7 days to let it develop its flavour.
- Also, I was given another tip that I was too late to use, but you can! For a deeper flavoured wine, only use 19 litres of water. I like this tip!!
- Leave your wine in the bucket and just rack it when you want to use it. Or you can buy loads of bottles and store you wine that way. Your choice! Enjoy!
Allotment flower beds
So, back to the allotment. As I mentioned, the sweet peas have now finished and I have replaced the peas with runner beans to see if I can sneak in a few extra crops. And this will also help replace nutrients in the soil, in particular nitrogen.
I have planted a lot of perennial flowers this year which should get bigger and better next year. These include rudbeckia, delphiniums, dianthus, gladioli, lupins, verbascum, dahlia and scabious. Some of these will need mulching to protect them from the front e.g. dahlia and gladioli, but the others are pretty hardy.
My friend has a mushroom farm, so I am very lucky to be able to source my mushroom compost from there, not to mention the mushrooms are delish. Shout out to Capel Mushrooms!
Flowers that I currently have growing and are still harvesting from are: Cosmos, rudbeckia, sunflowers, antirhnum, and dahlia’s. The sunflowers are nearly done now, so I am leaving them to turn to seed and feed the birds over winter.
As well as harvesting flowers, I am also leaving some to go to seed so I can collect them for sowing next year. I have successfully done this with both cornflowers and sweet peas so far. The idea of saving my own seeds, as well as money is really appealing!
Learning points:
I need to plan as to how I am going to succession plant my flowers. Because this year I found that when one group ran out, I ‘didnt’ have anything to replace them with. I really want to have an allotment that provides me with flowers all year round. Also, I am going to start researching drying flowers, so stay tuned for updates on this.
However, if you want to see all the fabulous bunches of flowers I have been able to pick then check out my social media accounts HERE
Allotment veg beds
My veg beds are doing ok, with a number of crops maturing nicely, including savoy cabbage, red cabbage, squash, leeks and tomatoes. But, I am again disappointed that I am not getting as much veg as I would have liked. I haven’t grown enough catch crops and the veg I have got hasn’t been prolific. This may because I didn’t feed my soil as much as I should have. Hopefully the mushroom mulch will help!
However, one thing I am very happy about are my baby asparagus plants. I grew them from seed and they are smashing it! I won’t be able to harvest much from them next year as I don’t want to weaken the plant, but I am very excited that I will have a whole bed of asparagus for years to come (my favourite veg).
Here you can see my new asparagus bed surrounded by celeriac, with the occasional stray nasturtium!
October allotment objectives:
This month I am going to give myself objectives so I dont get lazy and miss things.
- Plant allium, daffodil and tulip bulbs for early spring flower
- Sow seeds for next year for sweet peas, cosmos, ammi and antirhnum
- Sow some veg for winter, such as winter greens, purple sprouting broccoli.
Conclusion
So not the most successful few months, but I’m reaping some benefits of my work and it is still an absolute pleasure to tend my plot. It is easy to get disheartened when things don’t work out the way you want. However, I am looking at the positives as well as continuously learning. This is one of the reasons I love gardening, the link to the future and the connection to communities is really uplifting.
Here’s to next month!
JT x
