10 February 2015 at 7:53 pm (Uncategorized)
Potato List 2015
First Earlies
Second Earlies
Maincrop
12 January 2015 at 12:43 pm (Uncategorized)
9 March 2014 at 10:01 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: allotment, garlic, goldfish, greenhouse, onions, pond, potatoes, seeds, sets, shed
We were away for the festive period coming home on the 2nd of January in the dark. A neighbour said that there were tiles and slates missing from the house roof and that the greenhouse had been destroyed. I was heartbroken.
I now have a shiny new greenhouse put up last week but the seagulls have already added some decorations to the toughened glass panes. Today, I sowed some seeds in the greenhouse.
Down the plot, things got a little damp. However, on opening the shed, noticed that one of the boxes of birdfeed had been gnawed through – rat(s). Today, we emptied out the shed with a view to salvage tools and stuff after disinfecting. On a happier note, my son planted some garlic, shallot and onion sets. We also did some weeding. The goldfish are happy in the pond with at least 3 different “sizes” of fish (original, first lot of babies from 2012, babies from 2013..)
Getting into the gardening spirit this year has been slower than usual – what with the weather….. and also, our regular Potato Day end of January was not happening this year due to redevelopment/refurbishment at Garden Organic’s HQ. We found another Potato Day to go to, at a agricultural university in Shropshire in February. We bought a lot of seed potatoes (there was plenty of choice, and we were able to buy loose), and also the allium sets planted today, and some seeds. It did not have the chaotic feel that Potato Day at Ryton sometimes had.
10 January 2013 at 6:35 pm (Allotment, Vegetables)
We had some mixed success with the onion family. Garlic was a bit on the small side, but we did have some decent onions (from sets I think). Leeks have been good, none have bolted (so far).
Roots have been a different story, apart from a few parsnip (luckily, no burns this time!), salsify and scorzonera. Will leave a salsify and a scorzonera to flower (they are pretty) in the spring. Carrots and beetroots decimated, both germinated OK, but something ate the beetroot leaves and didn’t recover (not even a golf ball size root). Carrots looked sad.
Potatoes were OK, although many were holey (slugs, other things), but we did have some!
Only the early sowings of peas did any good, but we did well with broad beans, and runner beans. Didn’t have that many French ones this time.
We had plenty of marrows (marrows, and not overgrown courgettes), and a couple of squash things. Marrows have kept well. We only harvested one pumpkin, was too late putting something underneath another pumpkin and so it was eaten by various creatures, turning into a mush gradually. Still, the pumpkin we harvested was nice.
19 November 2012 at 11:27 am (Uncategorized)
Brassicas
Had mixed success with brassicas this year. Many seedlings succumbed to clubroot, noticed when we were transplanting. Caterpillars were vigilantly removed, and occasionally fed to the goldfish (new acquisition this year for the pond installed last year), cabbage butterfly eggs squished (I wonder how many would be needed to make an omelette!) but some leaves still had holes made in them, by slugs. It has been a wet year so the slugs and snails have been happy.
There were a couple of heads of calabrese, and a pointy cabbage. All yummy. Yesterday, we harvested some green sprouts, although those that are left may not last until Christmas. Not to worry, we have sprouts, and they are not the easiest brassica to grow to harvest.
The savoy type cabbages are doing well (not sure which savoys…) as are the red cabbages. Lost some though.
Summer/autumn caulis didn’t really produce a good head. One was about the diameter of a tennis ball but had also been eaten by those pesky molluscs. Not sure if we have any for winter/spring, but there are some pointy-leaved brassicas still on the plot.
There is a purple sprouting broccoli sprouting purple already. Ah, Rudolph is an early one and should be cropping now.
Turnips have been good, although not enough! Should have sown more…
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