Summer harvest is mostly over, so October is the time to think about soil. A good month to clear and compost, to weed and hoe, but please remember to leave some crops to seed. Birds need the winter feed.
We are an organic-only site so will mulch much of the plot. We will spread it after rain and leave it to lie on the soil’s surface for worms to do their aerating work over the winter.
This plot is a bit small for green manures – mainly because I can’t seem to stop planting other things for spring – but we have had good results on other sites with various mixes of field beans, red clover, phacelia, vetch and Hungarian grazing rye (Secale cereale) to feed and break up the heavier ground.
We will be planting onion sets and garlic this month or next, depending on weather, how much ground opens up and the greed of the pigeons. It is around now they’ll return to attacking the sweeter young kale. Our chard will be next. They’ll leave the radicchio and other bitter chicories until late winter or early spring –though we are toying for the first time with using nets.
Our simple rule with growing garlic is to break the bulbs and plant each clove in a sunny spot at twice its depth about a hand-width apart in rows a foot apart. I resist it every year, but love to see the young bright green shoots at a time such things are in short supply.
We will also likely sow Super Aquadulce broad beans for much the same reason. I seem to have a near overwhelming need to keep the allotment (and me) alive.
October is also a good time to divide rhubarb crowns or to plant new sets. Mostly though it is the perfect month to enjoy pottering about.
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