While we're on the subject...

... I emptied my trial bucket of main crop potatoes (desiree) today. It is a bit early, but the tops had dried out and flopped over on all my remaining potato sacks so I wanted to see what was going on.

The tubers were absolutely fine.

So, I have now removed the stems from all potato sacks and will effectively be using the compost to store them until required rather than expecting them to grow any more. Hopefully they will be okay.

Potatoes for Christmas...

... have already appeared through the compost. I sowed 6 charlotte and 6 red duke of york into potato sacks 2 weeks ago

This is how they looked today; I'm pretty impressed

A previous attempt at potatoes for Christmas was a disaster, although on that occasion I re-sowed my home grown tubers. This time I used proper seed potatoes from the garden centre.

I was supposed to top up the compost, but didn't get round to it... this is a must do for tomorrow evening and hopefully they'll be pushing through again in a couple of weeks.

12 rounds with a Parsnip!

Harvesting my first parsnip a couple of weeks ago was a bit (well a lot) of a struggle. I was huffing and puffing, trying to dig round it with a trowel without damaging the neighbouring roots and using sheer brute force. It did not want to budge.

I did have images of a cartoon-type end to the fight where I pull it out of the ground and fall flat on my backside... the time it took, I would have settled for that.

When it finally came out of the ground I still didn't manage to get it out in one piece; the tip remained it the soil.

I really, really enjoyed eating it I can tell you.

Evening Harvest

I did a quick run round the garden yesterday evening and this was the veggie haul

It included the first picking of baby sweetcorn, although I think I left them a bit late so they are slightly bigger than they should be

I also picked a handful or so of blackberries; these have been ripening for the past couple of weeks

Missed another one

I'm sure the courgettes are hiding... I check them pretty much every day but then every now and again come across one that cannot have been there the day before. A case in point last week

And last month

As per the last couple of years, courgettes have been producing really well; they are currently being included with every meal and my freezer already has a few portions ready for winter cooking. They are great thrown in a bolognese.