Shirley Lanigan tells you what to do with rhubarbs, apples, pears, plums, raspberries, rocket, Jerusalem artichokes, Swiss chard, leeks, winter cabbage, spinach, purple sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and strawberries. Phew!
The year is winding down slowly, and in the garden this is obvious everywhere. This year the autumn was particularly wonderful and all the more appreciated for being so at the end of yet another wet, miserable summer. But autumn too has more or less moved on and left in its wake chillier, darker winter weather to take hold.
But the wonderful thing about gardening is that the winter is the parent of the spring. The processes that gardens are undergoing through these coming months will quietly prepare it for the explosion of growth in the New Year. So much for what nature might be doing.
When it comes to the gardener, the jobs taken care of in the garden over the next few months will be repaid many times over by results next year. In the kitchen garden there are plenty of things to watch out for and jobs to see to in November.
A blanket of mulch
Rhubarb is long finished cropping by now. The leaves are yellowing and dead and any left lying over the plants need to be removed. Many plants need to be protected under a blanket of mulch, leaves or compost to shield them from the worst that the winter can throw at them by way of low temperatures and frost.
The thicker the blanket, the better the plant will perform. It can continue to develop roots over winter in the warmed ground. But in the case of rhubarb, a protracted cold period is exactly what the plant needs to prepare itself for next year.
Therefore, removing dead foliage and cleaning off the top of the crown will set up rhubarb plants for next year’s growth. If you want to lift and divide rhubarb crowns, now is the time to do this. It is also the best time to plant young plants bought in the nursery.
Load of compost
Prepare the bed well before planting new rhubarb plants. The same applies if you are digging up and dividing old crowns. Add in a good load of compost or well-rotted manure as you remove perennial weeds and their roots. Plant the sets or crowns close to the surface of the soil with buds just barely covered. Make sure to firm them well in, as soil expansion, if there is frost, will lift the plants up out of their bedding.
Each plant can take up a good deal of space, as they measure approximately a metre around. But one plant is usually enough to keep an average sized family in stock.
More plants than that would only be required if space is not at a premium, the family really love their rhubarb and you are willing to freeze or make jam with the surplus. (Rhubarb jam is hugely improved if stem ginger is included.)
When it comes to harvesting, leave the plant until it is in the ground about 18 months. When the time comes to harvest, only take a few stems in the first year. Rather than cutting, rhubarb stems should be twisted gently and then pulled cleanly away from the plant.
Many people have a fondness for the special pale pink forced rhubarb stalks that look like little jewels when cooked. There is an art to obtaining them. Obviously wait until the plant is old enough to deliver a good number of stalks.
Well-rotted manure
In February, cover the plant with a thick layer of well-rotted manure or compost mixed with straw. Place a rhubarb forcer or even an old black bucket over this and wait for about six weeks when the stalks are soft and pink.
While this produces what most people consider the champagne of rhubarb, it puts a lot of stress on a plant and so it should not be cropped again for another two years.
(If this is the plan you could also begin to drop hints to friends and family on the desirability of a lovely terracotta rhubarb forcer as a present for Christmas.
They look good as garden ornaments even when not in use. The desire for forced rhubarb is another reason for growing more than one crown. With three crowns one could be forced, one rested and the third for the ordinary late crop.)
Finished harvest period
Meanwhile, the last of the apples, pears and plums have been picked. I wrote enthusiastically about autumn fruiting raspberries back in September, and to drive the message home further, they have just finished their two-month harvest period in this part of the world.
After a month of constantly available fruit, the family began to get fed up with daily fresh raspberries and the second month was spent freezing them for use over the winter.
So once again I would recommend the planting of autumn raspberry canes as soon as possible for a small crop next year and for bigger crops in subsequent years.
Rocket is a salad crop that can be sown as late as the end of October and if you put fleece covers over it the crop will have an even better chance to deliver a modest crop of leaves in the late spring.
Jerusalem artichokes
Jerusalem artichokes have been growing like wildfire all summer and autumn. The plants are anything up to three metres tall now and ready for harvesting. Often thought of as similar to potatoes, the Jerusalem artichoke is also a tuber but different to the potato in other respects.
They should be dug up for eating as and when they are required. This is because they do not store well. Out of the ground they lose nutrients and the sugars in the tubers are converted to starch, ruining the taste. (Having been served artichokes too long out of the ground could be the reason that some people dislike their taste.)
Cut the foliage back to about 30 cm over the ground as the frosts hit. This will ensure that you can see where the crop is in the ground. This is important on several levels: It is of course necessary to know where your underground crop is so that you can find it when you go to dig, but in the case of artichokes, it is also important that you dig every last tuber up and use it.
A risk is worth taking
Any left in the ground will grow on next year with more vigour than you would wish. They can become rampant weeds. But because they are such a tasty vegetable, the risk is worth taking. Making sure you have everything dug up means that next year, you will only have to deal with the newly planted seed crop.
Related to sunflowers
Jerusalem artichokes are related to sunflowers and carry small sunflower-like blooms. Their tall slim habit along with the sunflower-like appearance means that they can be used as decorative plants. Sometimes they are even used as tall and fast-growing screens between beds and paths. Always bearing in mind the need to annually dig up every single tuber, this gives them a versatility not found in many vegetable crops.
Other crops ready for lifting and cutting are Swiss chard, leeks, winter cabbage and spinach.
Protective nets
Those cabbages still in the ground should have nets over them to protect them from pigeons that could otherwise reduce them to lacework in quick time. The same applies to purple sprouting broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
It is important to go further than simply draping netting over the plants. Pigeons will just stand on the plants and peck through the net. Employ the taller plant supports that are no longer needed on the decorative garden to make a fence around the cabbage plot and then drape the netting over this ‘cage’ and secure it to the ground pinned to batons or slim planks.
If you have a strawberry patch, it should be cleaned up for next year. It is important to reduce the opportunities for disease and pests to settle in among the old foliage over winter. Cut out dead and brown leaves.
Lift and remove any remaining layers of straw or hay put in around the collars of the plants in the summer to protect the developing fruits. The rotting straw is an ideal place for slugs to hide as well as bacteria to develop, which will cause trouble with next year’s crop.
Straggling runners
Once this lot is consigned to the compost heap you can get in and uproot any weeds that have taken hold among the strawberry plants. Then cut away any straggling runners and the tiny plants on the end of each.
The tidied bed will not just look more presentable over winter but it will be ready to start growing with gusto in the spring without an accumulation of weeds, pests and diseases.
It is not too late to plant strawberry plants. If the plants are big, you will probably be able to pick fruits from next year. Discard any old strawberry plants that were not very productive this year.
Strawberry plants are short-lived and should really be replaced about every three years.
About Greg Baxter
Loading ...
