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!
The first aubergine flowers opened this week.
As pretty as they are, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I get some fruit this year.
The garlic took a battering against the wind this week. I wasn't sure if they had keeled over because they are ready for picking or if the wind did it.... so I pulled one up.
When I cut it open, it didn't look as if the cloves had separated properly so I'm guessing they are not quite ready yet. I'm wondering if this is what people are talking about when they mention wet garlic? I'll leave them in a bit longer but keep an eye on them to make sure they haven't been damaged and need to come up anyway.
My relationship with radishes is a strange one... I don't like them, but grow them because I have free seeds and they don't take up much room. These ones are called hilds blauer herbst und winter and I'd not grown this variety before.
I decided this time that if I didn't like them I would stop growing them and give the seeds away. I nibbled on a little bit and still didn't like it, but what if I cooked them?
A quick scout through my vegetable cook book found a recipe for citrus radish confit. I also had some turnips and had previously glazed them, so decided to make a combination of citrus glazed turnips and radish - what a difference cooking them makes... delicious!
I was hoping there would be more than two parts to my Bank Holiday Weekend gardening activities, but the bad weather has continued; yesterday it rained more or less constantly, and when it did let up there was a very cold wind blowing round the garden. Today has been better; there is still a chill in the air but the sun has come out every now and again. Nevertheless, over the course of the weekend I have been able to do a few more bits and pieces.
The jack o' lanterns have been planted out into reusable growbags.
I'll probably put squash in between them, once they are ready to go out.
I've planted out my beetroot (boltardy) plugs into a wicker planter and sowed some more undercover, and have continued sowing like there's no tomorrow; broccoli (psb & raab), cauliflower (all year round), pak choi (red choi), fennel (di firenze), chicory (radicchio palla rosso precoce), turnip (purple top milan) are all in small pots in the potting shed.
Outdoors sowings consist of a row of swede (best of all) in a raised bed with some previously planted out brassicas, and four types of radish (cherry belle, prinz rotin, french breakfast and hilds blauer herbst und winter) in a bulb crate.
The final batch of potatoes (rooster) have also been planted into potato sacks.
In the greenhouse I potted on the okra plants.
And finally, I purchased some sweet pepper (bellboy) and chilli pepper (apache) plants from the garden centre. I still haven't given up on the idea of germinating my own from seed even though my last (and was going to be final) attempt in the heated propagator only produced one chilli shake, and time is running out if they are going to have a long enough season to fruit and ripen. Might just give it one more go?!
Yesterday's rain has clearly had an effect on the outdoor sowings: radish, turnip, paris market carrots (just about), mizuna and mixed lettuce seedlings have pushed themselves up through the compost.
These are the radish (french breakfast):
Also, not to be outdone by the raspberries, there are now green leaves on both the gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes.
Yep, just the one. Of all the seeds I have sown so far, only one has germinated... can you spot it?
It's a cauliflower (all year round). What are the others waiting for?! Having checked my notes from previous years, germination has taken about a month, so I guess I am being a bit impatient... good things come to those who wait and all that.
Anyway, one or two of the garlic cloves have already put up shoots so there is some action in the garden.
So, what did I do today? In the potting shed I sowed:
- Onion (Kamal) x 5
- Onion (Sweet Spanish Yellow) x 5
in little individual pots, and some rocket in a trough.
Outdoors, I planted the shallots (Golden Gourmet) x 12 in the raised bed, and also sowed:
- Carrots (Paris Market) x 2 rows
- Radish (Prinz Rotin) x 1 row
- Radish (French Breakfast) x 1 row
in a free bulb crate that I got from the local garden centre, and finally parsnips (White Gem) x 10 in the raised bed. Now with the parsnips I have sown in toilet roll tubes (which I did in my first year), and poured boiling water on the soil before dropping in the seeds (which I did in my second year... can't remember where I got that tip from), so hopefully the two in combination should work wonders.
