🍂 October on the Allotment
Dear Member,
October is a vital transition month on the allotment, focused on harvesting final summer crops, clearing spent plants, and preparing your soil for winter. 🥕🍅
Gather any remaining runner beans, squashes and pumpkins before hard frosts arrive. ❄️ “Cure” pumpkins and squashes by leaving them in the sun or a dry, airy spot to harden their skins for storage. 🎃
🌱 Improve Your Soil
Spread a 5cm layer of well-rotted manure over empty beds, allowing worms to naturally work it into the ground over winter. Alternatively, sow a green manure crop on bare patches. 🌿
♻️ Tidy the Compost Heap
Add healthy green waste and fallen autumn leaves to your compost area. 🍁
🥬 Jobs for October: Vegetables
✅ Keep checking any tomatoes you have put aside to ripen on a windowsill or in the greenhouse. 🍅
✅ Most leeks will stand into winter, but any early sowings can be harvested now. 🧄
✅ Dig up your maincrop potatoes if you have not already done so. 🥔
✅ Pick and clear any remaining peas and runner beans. Continue harvesting:
- Chard 🌿
- Spinach 🥬
- Carrots 🥕
- Celeriac 🌰
- Lettuce 🥗
- Oriental vegetables 🥬
✅ I planted Florence fennel in July as an experiment. If you sowed yours earlier, lift and store any bulbs before they are damaged by frost. ❄️
✅ Towards the end of the month, sow winter lettuce and a couple of short rows of hardy peas and broad beans for an early crop next spring. 🌱
✅ Plant out spring cabbage and overwintering onions and garlic. It is also an excellent time to plant rhubarb crowns. 🧄🧅
🏡 Jobs for October: In the Greenhouse
✅ I have just cleared my greenhouse of all plants and given it a thorough clean. 🧽
✅ I will be insulating it with bubble wrap to protect tender plants stored over winter. If you prefer not to do this, several layers of newspaper provide an effective alternative when frost is forecast. 📰❄️
✅ Wrapping plant pots in bubble wrap also helps insulate their roots. 🪴
🌸 Jobs for October: Flowers
✅ Remove pot saucers and raise pots onto feet to prevent waterlogging over winter. 🌧️
✅ Empty spent summer pots and hanging baskets and add the contents to your compost heap. ♻️
🧅 Check Your Onion & Shallot Sets
If you have recently bought onion or shallot sets and do not intend to plant them yet, remove them from the mesh bags immediately.
⚠️ Never leave them bundled together as they can trap moisture and rot.
✅ Store them in a cool, dry and well-ventilated area until needed.
🧄 Garlic Cloves
For anyone new to allotments, a garlic bulb consists of around 8 to 12 individual cloves.
👉 Each clove should be planted separately.
I know this sounds obvious, but I once knew a chap who planted the whole bulb! 😄 We had to dig it up and replant all the cloves individually.
🎉 WHGAA AGM
🏆 The Association’s 50th Annual General Meeting will take place at:
📍 River Valley Centre
White Horse Drive
Emerson Valley
MK4 2AS
📅 Friday 2 October
🚪 Doors open: 7:15pm
⏰ Meeting starts: 7:30pm
☕ Refreshments will be available, and we hope to see you there.
💙 We will also be presenting the final cheque to Willen Hospice, who will give a short presentation about their valuable work after the meeting.
🌐 Check Our Website
Our website is constantly being updated, and a recent addition is the photographs from the Produce & Allotment Show. 📸
Whilst we had more entries this year, we would still love to see even more members entering their produce in 2027. 🏆
We often hear members say that their produce was better than what was on display… but they still do not enter! 😊
👉 Remember, the show is organised exclusively for fully paid-up members and is not open to non-members.
🐦 Special Offer: October to December
🎁 10% Off
All bird feeders and bird food.
🐦🌻 Take advantage of the offer while stocks last!
🌻 Happy Gardening!
Mick Goodman
Membership Secretary
