by Keith Jordan
The long sunny summer finally came to an abrupt end – it was too good to last, but great while it lasted! It is the season for reaping and gathering crops, garden shows and harvest festivals. Harvest festivals are often traditionally held on or near the Harvest Moon (the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox) – this year it will be September 18-19 in the Northern Hemisphere. The early evening moonrise (around sunset) makes every Harvest Moon special – a great sight today but once gave vital extra light to communities (before tractors) frantically trying to harvest crops they knew were vital for survival.
Perhaps western or affluent societies have become too complacent about food that is always available and at a cost they can afford. There have been so many reports of good harvests this year. I’ve certainly picked and eaten more fruit and vegetables in the last few weeks that I ever could have bought at shop prices. The berries and fruits are still coming on with blackberries, autumn raspberries, pears and apples in abundance. There is a good feeling about bringing the harvest safely in and ‘plough the fields and scatter’ as the harvest festival hymn goes. Every culture celebrates the harvest in some way and there is probably a ‘squirrel-like’ scavenging instinct in us all, despite the shops and markets massed with food.
Good storage of produce can help with your own food security/family budget. Any excess carrots and beetroot can be stored in trays of sand or dry soil in a shed. Intact potatoes can be lifted, dried and stored in a traditional, and still effective, straw ‘clamp’ in a sheltered spot. It’s basically a heap of spuds, covered in straw/hay then a layer of soil but it makes a good insulated layer protecting the crop from frost. Apples varieties that have a long storage can soon be picked, put in trays and stored over the winter in a cool frost free cellar or shed, but it must be mouse free! Cover outdoor tomatoes or bring them into ripen now or the first frosts will reduce them to pulp! Ripen marrows, squashes and pumpkins in the sun until they have a hard skin – store in a dry, frost-free site.
With damper, cooler days the perpetual spinach is really cropping well now, especially covered with horticultural fleece creating a microclimate. Naturally many wild biennial plants germinate outside now with damp soil. Green manures will as well (and help to suppress weeds). Parsley is similar and, if sown in a sheltered site, should survive the winter as small plants, giving you and winter or spring crop.
Clear skies and cool nights in September are a risk to all the sub-tropical crops like courgettes, runner beans, tomatoes so cover or ‘gather in’.
September 2013