I finally feel as if I have caught up with everything; all of the fruit and veg I had planned to grow this year is now underway... some of it a fair bit later than previous years, but who says those dates are rigid anyway?
Today, I finally sowed carrots (nantes 5 & autumn king) and parsnips (albion). I also came across an unopened packet of butternut squash which had a sow by date of 2016; there were only 5 seeds so I thought I may as well sow them all.
To mark this momentous day, a couple of cucumber seedlings decided to make an appearance.
I am making some configuration changes this year, moving a few beds around and still haven't decided where everything is going to go, but as a result the poor raspberry canes have just been sat in the original packaging I brought them home in for over a month. So, I made the executive decision for this year to grow them in sacks alongside the potatoes. I have no idea how this will work out, but the roots looked quite healthy so fingers crossed.
Whilst I'm mentioning potatoes, they have put on some good growth since I planted them at Easter. The ones in buckets are doing just as well as the ones in the sacks.
Might start sowing flowers this weekend.
The strawberries have come on leaps and bounds in the last week or so... all of a sudden the plants have shot up; this was a couple of weeks ago...
... and this is today
Strawberries everywhere!! I also spotted a tiny cucumber or two making an appearance; these ones are passandra
I've got a good feeling about this season.
It's been ages... not posted since January; so far this year it's been a slow process but hopefully things are looking up with the weather and it shouldn't take too long to catch up.
So, what's doing well?
I have a fine selection (if a bit slug & snail munched!) of courgette, pumpkin & squash in the greenhouse; some of the larger ones should be ready for planting out soon.
Cucumbers and a couple of watermelon plants are also coming along nicely.
Tomotoes are coming into their own after a very slow start.
There is a very fine tray of various lettuce needing to be planted out...
... a few peppers and a couple of cape gooseberries coming up behind everything else.
The potatoes (for Easter) clearly didn't arrive in time, but they are looking quite healthy; I doubt they will be ready yet, but I might have a bit of a rummage in the sacks to see what's there.
And finally, there are loads of flowers on the strawberries so hopefully that means there will be lots of fruit.
There is still a lot to be done though; haven't sown any peas or beans yet, only have a few brassicas, sweetcorn germination was very poor so need to resow, not sown any leeks, parsnips or turnips either as it's been too cold... I am going to be very busy for the next few weeks!
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!
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...
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!
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
Yes they are tiny, but earlier this week saw the appearance of the first seedlings. You can just about see the rocket in here
Slightly easier to spot is the mixed salad
In harvesting news I pulled a few leeks
and dug up the last of the parsnips
on the same day that I sowed a row of white gem into a recently re-built raised bed.
I also sowed 6 mini-white cucumbers in the greenhouse. I have returned to this variety because they have always produced perfect results for me and in large quantities. I seem to struggle with the more traditional longer cukes so have decided to stick with what works well for me.
Now for a confession... I had to re-sow some broad beans. My autumn sown batch that were doing so well were killed in the frosts. My own fault; I kept reminding myself that they needed to be fleeced but never got round to it, so there are six new sutton sowings in the greenhouse alongside the cucumbers.
Where does the time go? It didn't help that today was almost a complete washout... this is how I performed against the plan:
lettuce to sow - nope
lettuce to plant out - yes, a selection of little gem and reines de glaces now reside in the wicker bed
brassicas to plant out - sort of... well, 50% of the ones I intended to plant out have been; 2 romanesca nautalino, 3 flower sprout and 2 savoy cabbages are now in a raised bed. The rest are still in the potting shed.
tomatoes to pot on and/or plant out - yes, 4 moneymaker have joined a slangen longoda and a mini-white in the reusable growbags
chillies to pot on - yes, all done... no photos though.
sweet peppers to pot on - yes, all done and they are flowering / bearing fruit already
squash to pot on - nope, but on closer inspection they didn't need to be
melons to pot on - again nope, but didn't to be
courgettes to plant out - yes, the final all green bush is now planted outside. Had to dispose of one of the earlier ones though and I'm not sure if it was a tondo di toscana or a gold rush... as I only had one of each of these might have to resow a couple of each.
cucumbers to pot on and/or plant out - yep, see mini-white above... the other ones, marketmore, marketer and a gherkin aren't actually ready to go out yet.
peas and beans to plant out (and work out why some of the ones already planted out appear to be dying) - nope, urgently need to to this during the week, but the good news is the earlier ones seem to be perking up.
sweetcorn to plant out - yes, all done
a raised bed that needs clearing - yes, this is where the newly planted brassicas are.
a fruit bed that needs weeding - yes, and I also put down some straw to hopefully keep the remaining strawberries clean.
nematodes to spread... that will teach those damn slugs! - oh yes, all out war has begun.
