End of Year Review

So, here it is... my end of year review. First things first, lets get the disappointments out of the way:

Beetroot - what on earth happened there? I had new varieties, burpees golden and chioggia to try but they came to nothing more or less; partly because next door's cat thought that the freshly sown bed was put there for his benefit, but even subsequent sowings were poor. Old faithful boltardy did better, but I still didn't get as many as I should have done.

Brassicas - the less said about these the better; I'm not even going to detail them separately as absolutely nothing grew.

Broad beans - my first proper attempt was devastated by blackfly.

Courgettes - not a single fruit formed on any plants... actually, that's not strictly true; there were a couple but they just shrivelled up, and I have never failed to grow courgettes before.

Cucumbers - after the first couple the plants just seemed to give up so I also gave in and pulled them up.

Herbs - failed to germinate... end of story.

That's enough of that, now onto the good stuff.

I had more berries than previous years; a constant supply throughout the summer, from strawberries

to raspberries

and blackberries

Onions were spectacular

and tomatoes were consistent; they kept cropping until November

This year I also kept a tally of how much it would have cost to buy all of the fruit and veg that I produced; excluding the few things that never made it to the kitchen scales the grand total was.....




... drumroll




... £115.85 and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I'm under no illusions that I'm near self-sufficient (especially not this year), or have broken-even but still, it means I didn't spend it on produce.


The highlights were:

Potatoes £29.00
Tomatoes £15.31
Parsnips £10.55
Raspberries £8.62
Onions £8.54
Peppers £8.48
Strawberries £8.29

So, onwards and upwards to 2013 and next season!

Reliable Potatoes

I tried some new varieties this year; maris bard and bonnie, along with charlotte which I grow every year and they consistently made it to the dinner table from the first batch in June, through to about September

So much so, that I decided to take a break from them for a while; I cut the haulms and then left them in their sacks.

It wasn't until November, after a tonne of rain that I felt like digging some up again but wasn't expecting them to have survived very well; my good intentions to move the sacks into the greenhouse out of the wet weather had not materialised so they had just been getting drenched!

So I was pleasantly surprised when I unearthed these

and these

There were only a couple of rotten ones in amongst them; cue potatoes on the menu at every meal for the next few weeks!

Glorious Parsnips

This year's parsnips definitely warrant a post of their own; I eagerly harvested one in August and wasn't disappointed, then waited until November before pulling up two or three each week

However, the amount of wet weather we were having and the waterlogged ground started to worry me, so in early December I decided to pull them all up; this was a mammoth task in itself as thinning out is not something I tend to engage in

and I wasn't expecting so many

So, what to do with them all? Half of them were blanched and put in the freezer for roasting later; the rest of them became one of the easiest soups I have ever made.

I simply, chopped them up and fried them with some onion, sea salt, cumin, paprika and a couple of whole chillies

Added stock and cooked until softened

Removed the whole chilli and blended; it was quite thick so I needed to add a bit more stock to get the perfect consistency

It kept us fed for days!

Peppers & Chillies

Before I get to my end of year review there are one or two things that I want to give specific mention to, so think they deserve their own post; the first being peppers and chillies.

After a very slow start they did come into their own eventually and cropped for ages; here is a selection of them

 

 

 

 

I harvested the final batch at the beginning of this month

 

 

A couple of batches of chilli jam later and I'm more than happy that they came good in the end.

Mighty fine haul

Today has been a good day... the sun was shining and I harvested a mighty fine haul from the garden.

Emptied the first sack of very pretty bonnie potatoes; this is the first time I have grown this variety and am very pleased with the results

A lovely selection of beetroot had reached picking size, so they came up

Tomatoes are ripening quite frequently now, so this is what gets picked on almost a daily basis

I have never been known for patience and my lack of it got the better of me today; I've been admiring the foliage on the parsnips and wondering what was happening under the ground so pulled one up

I should also be harvesting cucumbers and courgettes right now but it just isn't happening; so far I have only had 3 cucs and the plants aren't producing anything else so I made the decision to put them out of their misery and pull them up. On the courgette front I have not had a single one... I'll probably end up pulling them up as well, but saw a ray of hope on one of the plants this afternoon so will give them another week or so.

But, I don't want to finish on a negative so here are first blackberries of the year

It may only be a grand total of 3 at the moment, but there are loads more just about to turn so watch this space...

Things are looking up

Finally the chillies are starting to ripen... seems like I've been waiting a loooong time

Could get a batch or two of chilli jam after all this year.

Onions & Garlic The End...

... well, only because I don't have to do anything more than eat them.

Since pulling them up I have been trying to beat the (many) rain clouds and putting them out in the sun to dry; they've come up trumps

In a few weeks I'll be planting out next year's harvest...

Proper Salad?!

I'm trying not to get too excited, but I think I may have harvested a whole salad... along with the rest of the grow your own community I have been battling with slugs this season so these two lettuces that have made it to picking size only slightly nibbled are a particular success

All washed up; literally leaf by leaf to make sure there were no lurkers in there, they look great and the taste is far superior to what you get in the supermarkets

Tomatoes have been ripening at the rate of about 2-3 a day which is slower than normal, but again the taste is amazing; this is the last few days worth

 First beetroot came out of the ground today

Sadly the cucumbers are way behind where they should be so they don't get to realise their potential today, but there are some signs that I may eventually get something to harvest

Add a few of today's potatoes

and I think I've got a pretty decent salad there.

Just need to get some of the other veg: courgettes, french beans, brassicas and carrots to catch up!

Berries Galore!

Well, not quite; although we have had a couple of punnets worth of strawberries so far this year. This batch was picked today

It is a constant battle to beat the slugs and there are so many more that they get to first... they don't even eat the whole fruit, but damage them just enough to make them unfit for human consumption! Then the woodlice get in there and have a go at the decomposing ones.

Partly my fault as I have let the soft fruit bed run wild this year; I didn't cut down the raspberry canes, or remove the straw that I put down last year, or weed it, so I have created a haven for creepy crawlies to thrive in.

So much so, that picking anything that doesn't naturally rise above the mayhem is like a bush-tucker trial. These gooseberries had the added complexity of thorns hampering their collection (the redcurrants got pulled off during the process and are not quite ripe yet)

So, learning point for next year... keep on top of the general garden maintenance!

First Taters

Eleven weeks ago I planted my potatoes in sacks and today I uncovered the first batch of maris bard

I thought it might have been a bit early, but my lack of patience got the better of me... they are a decent size though so it's all good.

Something About Aliums

In a year when not much seems to be growing very well in my garden (hence my almost 3 month absence from posting), the aliums have come through for me.

Troy...

Electric...

and Iberian Wight...

... planted out in the autumn were pulled out of the raised beds earlier today and are currently sunning themselves on the lawn. Let's just hope the sun hangs around for a few days to help them dry out!

Cucurbits-R-Us

Very successful germination of cucurbits has taken place in the greenhouse; 3 black beauty

2 tondo di toscana and 2 zucchini

I'm still waiting for the all green bush and gold rush to show. In cucumber news, 4 mini-whites have germinated

Even the outdoor wonder melons have come through; although I've managed to get them to the flower stage before but never got them to fruit... this year we shall see

Nearly Harvest Time

I'll soon be harvesting the first crops of the season... the first sowing of mixed salad leaves are coming on a treat in the greenhouse; they're almost at full picking size

I have tried a couple of leaves already and they are extremely flavoursome. For some reaon the rocket leaves sown on the same day are a fair bit behind

I suppose that means a staggered supply so it's not all bad.