Two weekends' worth in one blog. There is simply not enough time to garden, do allotment, tend greenhouse and now blog. But we must try. The greenhouse is very beautiful and even has some things in it, mostly tomatoes which is ye traditional greenhouse croppe. However, we have enlivened the proceedings with a melon (cripes!), cucumber, chili and sweet peppers. Whether any of these will survive the mysterious rituals of "damping down", raising blinds (wot blinds?), temperature control and ventilation who can tell. As far as our loyal readers are concerned, the chief value of the greenhouse is the opportunity it affords us to get more developed stuff on the plot at an earlier point.
(There may be editorial changes to this post along with pictures.)
Rather than go Bed by Bed as in recent blogs, we'll just give you an overview of proceedings.
Seeds sown - more Winter Cabbage and Kale in the seedbed, additional remedial peas for what we had fondly hoped would be a flourishing pea/mangetout area but is sadly not (fear not, the other peas at the end of the plot are doing great). This is a mystery, as we did dig in two trenches there of household compost.
Plants moved/planted - practically all the brassicas have been moved from the seedbed to the brassica bed. These are broccoli (2 sorts) and red cabbage. Not much space left so the winter cabbage/kale can only be moved once the summer crops are eaten. Everything on this bed looking very healthy, including the first broccoli which are now developing their calabrese heads, so here's to the Power of Lime. And the new netting solution not only looks great but seems (touch wood) to have prevented any Cabbage Whites from invading and laying their dastardly brood. But we mustn't count our eggs (or cabbages/broccoli). We donated two broccoli seedlings to Jan and Pat. Sunflower seedlings planted at the end, along with a couple of runner beans.
A few french beans and corn, sown directly into the ground, have come up. However, there are large gaps. Plan B (sowing some at home, buying from Homebase) has been put into action. The weird thing was that by accident and certainly not be design there were exactly the right number of seedlings to fill the gaps - spooky.
Weeds - weed weed weed weed, along along the bank and a huge effort in the Pagoda, where the many tall grass stems were getting seriously out of hand.
Construction - we began the assembly of a temporary shade shelter thingy to affix to the shed roof, as we have no shade on the plot.
General progress notes - all appears to be doing well, other than the peas mentioned above. We have been carefully selecting carrots as delicious hors d'oevres. Munching a just picked carrot is true joy. One of the first early potatoes made an early entry into the world due to the vigour of the weeding exercise and it was duly served with supper. We take a bite and are instantly rewarded by the sublime taste of early potato, a reminder of why we got so much into growing our own in the first place. There is really nothing like it - no butter or salt needed, just the true taste of potato.
The recently planted broccoli and squash appear to have survived, bar one which went to the slugs. We purchased a large pumpkin seedling and have defiantly planted it on the bank, surrounded by a temporary plastic pot and many slug pellets. And strawberries! We have now picked our first bunch and they are lovely, though evil mice have had a go at a few of the ripe ones. We put down traps baited with strawberry - which are completely ignored. Rats (ho ho). Onions, shallots, parsnips and garlic all looking healthy, and indeed, the overwintering onions look almost ready for eating.
Unfortunately, the runner beans sown into the Pagoda seem to have been consumed which is sad for me, who likes eating them. Although we remain hopeful that one or two might defeat the weeds and rise up.
(There may be editorial changes to this post along with pictures.)
Rather than go Bed by Bed as in recent blogs, we'll just give you an overview of proceedings.
Seeds sown - more Winter Cabbage and Kale in the seedbed, additional remedial peas for what we had fondly hoped would be a flourishing pea/mangetout area but is sadly not (fear not, the other peas at the end of the plot are doing great). This is a mystery, as we did dig in two trenches there of household compost.
Plants moved/planted - practically all the brassicas have been moved from the seedbed to the brassica bed. These are broccoli (2 sorts) and red cabbage. Not much space left so the winter cabbage/kale can only be moved once the summer crops are eaten. Everything on this bed looking very healthy, including the first broccoli which are now developing their calabrese heads, so here's to the Power of Lime. And the new netting solution not only looks great but seems (touch wood) to have prevented any Cabbage Whites from invading and laying their dastardly brood. But we mustn't count our eggs (or cabbages/broccoli). We donated two broccoli seedlings to Jan and Pat. Sunflower seedlings planted at the end, along with a couple of runner beans.
A few french beans and corn, sown directly into the ground, have come up. However, there are large gaps. Plan B (sowing some at home, buying from Homebase) has been put into action. The weird thing was that by accident and certainly not be design there were exactly the right number of seedlings to fill the gaps - spooky.
Weeds - weed weed weed weed, along along the bank and a huge effort in the Pagoda, where the many tall grass stems were getting seriously out of hand.
Construction - we began the assembly of a temporary shade shelter thingy to affix to the shed roof, as we have no shade on the plot.
General progress notes - all appears to be doing well, other than the peas mentioned above. We have been carefully selecting carrots as delicious hors d'oevres. Munching a just picked carrot is true joy. One of the first early potatoes made an early entry into the world due to the vigour of the weeding exercise and it was duly served with supper. We take a bite and are instantly rewarded by the sublime taste of early potato, a reminder of why we got so much into growing our own in the first place. There is really nothing like it - no butter or salt needed, just the true taste of potato.
The recently planted broccoli and squash appear to have survived, bar one which went to the slugs. We purchased a large pumpkin seedling and have defiantly planted it on the bank, surrounded by a temporary plastic pot and many slug pellets. And strawberries! We have now picked our first bunch and they are lovely, though evil mice have had a go at a few of the ripe ones. We put down traps baited with strawberry - which are completely ignored. Rats (ho ho). Onions, shallots, parsnips and garlic all looking healthy, and indeed, the overwintering onions look almost ready for eating.
Unfortunately, the runner beans sown into the Pagoda seem to have been consumed which is sad for me, who likes eating them. Although we remain hopeful that one or two might defeat the weeds and rise up.
Soon we will be eating, on a regular basis, broccoli, onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, strawberries (and blueberries), potatoes and peas. Yum. And that's before all the bean and courgette frenzy.
Weather notes: very rainy few days has made a huge difference to the plot. Plenty of sunny days, some quite hot. We now have a sprinkler device (we have to keep up with Jan and Pat after all).
Philosophical note: I ponder as to what our harvest will look like this year, in comparison to last year. We did so well last year, knowing very little. Now we know more, but will this in itself make any difference? There is no doubt that we will have a different kind of harvest - more garlic and onions, less peas. But that is part of the "fun" and a cost-benefit analysis (hours worked/output) seems totally inappropriate under the circumstances.
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