August 2019 Harvest Summary

Weight: 17.799kg

Total for main garden crops: £47.77
Salad leaves: £4.00
Herbs: £4

Garden produce price: £55.77
Foraged: £62.70

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £118.47

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Tomatoes	1695	£13.56
Cucumber	1309	£3.50
Runner beans	1156	£6.94
Rhubarb	760	£4.75
Grapes	617	£2.47
Raspberries	463	£4.40
Potatoes	394	£0.99
Carrots	337	£1.69
Beetroot	325	£1.30
Pears	298	£0.60
Yellow courgette	234	£0.75
Cavolo nero	190	£1.43
Damsons	140	£0.65
French beans	137	£0.82
Gooseberries	132	£0.90
Green Courgette	122	£0.34
Spring onions	121	£1.20
Swiss chard	96	£0.72
Celery	59	£0.20
Sweet peppers	44	£0.14
Sprouting broccoli/brassicas	33	£0.36

Foraged:

Blackberries	2963	£29.63
Apples	2460	£4.43
Cherry plums	1850	£11.10
Elderberries	1680	£16.80
Plums	184	£0.80

July 2019 in pictures

Not many photos this month as we've been busy with work and other projects, but we have been harvesting plenty of fruit and veg (See A Caversham Garden: July 2019 harvest summary
https://cavershamgarden.blogspot.com/2019/12/july-2019-harvest-summary.html )

We were delighted to see that the bumble bees were back this year. They had found a way underneath the shed through a hole close to the ground in the corrugated iron. An excellent choice as there is flowering comfrey next to the hole. Ideal for breakfast for the bees as they leave first thing in the morning.  

A very different bee was spotted in residence in the garden wall: a mason bee. All I ever managed to capture on camera was the hole in the wall that was the entrance to its nest. 

Flowers were really coming into their own this month. At the front of the house the self sown rudbeckia were showing off and in the main veg garden one of the radicchio underneath the damson plum was sporting mauve/blue flowers.

July 2019 harvest summary

Weight 6945g

Total for main garden crops: £38.45
Salad leaves: £4.00
Herbs: £4

Garden produce price: £46.45
Foraged: £0.00

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £46.45

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Potatoes	2377	£5.95
Broad beans	1117	£4.87
Garlic	798	£6.30
Peas	583	£5.83
Strawberries	460	£2.76
Rhubarb	268	£1.10
Gooseberries	205	£1.17
Cavolo nero	202	£1.52
French beans	195	£1.17
Tomatoes	139	£1.39
Raspberries	138	£1.66
Shallots	134	£0.54
White currants	106	£2.56
Celery	98	£0.30
Sprouting brassicas/broccoli	85	£0.93
Runner beans	40	£0.40

June 2019 in pictures

Right at the beginning of this month we had one of what we call our first and last Sunday lunches. We had the first of the peas (mangetout), garlic scapes and cavolo nero of the year from the garden. We've been picking onions (in the bubble and squeak) and broad beans for a few weeks. We ate the last of the sprouting broccoli/brassicas (in the bubble and squeak) and the overwintered swiss chard. Pie, potatoes and carrots were from Reading Farmers' Market. 

Two of the bag beds had peas that were grown at the start of the year indoors for pea shoots. We usually manage to harvest three cuts before they start to get a bit tough, and then we plant them outside. In previous years we have had mixed results: some would just give up or show minimal new growth (cold weather conditions plus rodent activity perhaps?) whilst others would grow quite well and produce an average crop. This year they are going berserk and we are having to hack them back on a regular basis!

We've picked some more of the overwintered onions, the first of the garlic and the strawberries. The sorrel, both french and red-veined are plentiful as are the various herbs.

At the end of the month, temperatures rose to over 35degrees C and the forecast is for the hot weather to continue well into July. The pots will need regular watering, but I am hoping the mulch that we put on the main beds earlier in the year will help those retain moisture for longer.

June 2019 harvest summary

Weight 8371g

Total for main garden crops: £50.71
Salad leaves: £4.00
Herbs: £6

Garden produce price: £60.71
Foraged: £0.00

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £60.71

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Strawberries	1517	£7.59
Potatoes	1279	£3.84
Broad beans	1180	£5.07
Peas	965	£7.72
Onions	884	£1.06
Rhubarb	855	£5.56
Garlic	579	£6.90
Raspberries	273	£3.28
Spring onions	185	£3.50
Cavolo nero	161	£1.21
Garlic scapes	158	£1.58
White currants	122	£1.95
Shallots	92	£0.32
Sprouting brassicas/broccoli	69	£0.69
Swiss chard	32	£0.24
Radicchio	20	£0.20

May 2019 in pictures

The brassicas are now flowering in earnest and going to seed. They will soon have to come out to make way for summer and autumn crops.


Meanwhile the Eleonora broad beans are doing really well. At this relatively early stage we pick the pods while they are still quite small and cook and eat them whole, along with some of the tips from the plants. There has been some blackfly on a few of the plants on the outside of the block but we seem to have got away with a light infestation.

We are still harvesting a few of the sprouting brassicas that haven't yet broken into flower, and there are the overwintered spring onion, onions, Swiss chard and bulb fennel. The last, though, was very close to bolting. Must remember to keep a keener eye on them next year.

Overall, I feel that we are finally using the garden to the full for the whole year: one crop finishes and is replaced with a new sowing or seedlings. Meanwhile the cat guards the strawberry and asparagus beds, with the rhubarb offering her some shade from the midday and afternoon sun!

And talking of new sowings, this is the time of year we start the runner beans. First they are soaked overnight. Then they are placed between wet paper kitchen towel until they start to germinate, when they are transferred into small pots and home made compost. These are harvested from last years plant's and we always have excellent germination rates.

May 2019 Harvest Summary

Weight 5759g

Total for main garden crops: £29.29
Salad leaves: £2.00
Herbs: £6

Garden produce price: £37.29
Foraged: £0.00

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £37.29

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Onions	2366	£3.55
Swiss chard	1083	£8.12
Rhubarb	840	£5.25
Fennel	456	£1.82
Sprouting broccoli/brassicas	436	£4.36
Broad beans	182	£2.80
Pak choi	77	£0.54
Asparagus	76	£1.00
Garlic	71	£0.60
Spring onions	62	£0.50
Shallots	42	£0.15
Cavolo nero	40	£0.30
Radicchio	28	£0.30

April in pictures

Spring onions, pak choi, swiss chard, red veined sorrel and wild garlic are in abundance and this month we ate the last of our stored winter squash.

We had the usual excellent crop of wild garlic leaves and flowers, but also saw an interesting variant of the plain green leaved variety. There was a small clump which had a cream coloured stripe running down the centre of the leaves. I've found a few other examples of variegated ramsons by running a Google image search, so it is not unheard of. We didn't pick any of the leaves or flowers but marked the place and are hoping for more next year.

The rhubarb has been going berserk this year and has flowered for the first time. It obviously likes this spot but I think it has overshadowed and crowded out the Babington's leeks that are nearby. We'll find out later the year if we have lost the leeks from this patch, but we do have more dotted around in other areas of the garden.

April 2019 Harvest Summary

Weight 2123g

Total for main garden crops: £17.14
Salad leaves: £4
Wild garlic: £4
Herbs: £4

Garden produce price: £29.14

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £29.14

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Swiss chard	613	£4.60
Sprouting broccoli/ brassicas	391	£3.91
Spring onions	268	£2.14
Pak Choi	241	£1.93
Rhubarb	194	£1.70
Cabbage/brassica leaves	140	£0.28
Asparagus	118	£2.12
Onions	112	£0.11
Cavolo nero	46	£0.35

March 2019 in pictures

The greens and overwintered oriental leaves have been doing well, especially the purple pak choi. The onions are also coming along nicely.

After the warm weather we had had in February the brassicas that had begun to form heads started to bolt and flower. Although we didn't get many solid heads for harvesting we did have plenty of loose leaves and flower heads that tasted a lot better than sprouting broccoli. So nothing was wasted.

The broad bean seedlings were planted out. We've gone for Eleonora again this year; quick growing and very tasty. 

March 2019 harvest summary

Weight 1.098 kg

Salad leaves: £2
Wild garlic: £4
Herbs: £2
Total for main garden crops: £10.44

Garden produce price: £18.44

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £18.44

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Brassica leaves/spring greens	1060	£2.12
Babington's leeks	305	£3.05
Swiss chard	214	£1.61
Sprouting broccoli/brassicas	176	£1.91
Cavolo nero	174	£1.30
Radicchio	42	£0.45

February 2019 in pictures

February turned out to be a very strange month. We had a spell of unusually warm weather, which made it very tempting to start sowing outdoors. Bearing in mind that we had heavy snow falls in March last year, it was a temptation that was best resisted and we stuck to starting off veg seeds in modules indoors. 

The remaining cabbages were starting to form nice compact heads and there were some Brussels sprouts left. With outdoor temperatures increasing, temporarily at least, the brassicas and kales all started to bolt, and some even began to form seed heads. So there won't be any more solid heads of cabbage from the current plants. Looking on the bright side, though, we do have a steady supply of spring greens, sprouting "broccoli" type flowers, and plenty of young chard.  

The strawberry plants were flourishing and the weather was ideal for thinning out the plants and runners. They've been potted up for sharing with friends and local food growing groups.  

February 2019 harvest summary

Weight 1.098 kg

Salad leaves: £1 
Herbs: £2
Total for main garden crops: £5.02

Garden produce price: £8.02

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £8.02

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Cavolo nero	157	£1.18
Sprouting broccoli	90	£0.78
Babington's leeks	103	£0.89
Brussels sprouts	360	£0.75
Swiss chard	83	£0.65
Cabbage/brassica leaves	317	£0.65

January 2019 in pictures

January is always a quiet month with very little to do in the garden other than keep everything tidy, minimal weeding and watch out for heavy frosts. We had a few overnight this month and I did wonder if they would affect our rhubarb which had already sprung into action. It seems to have survived the freezing temperatures as have the overwintered broad beans that have been planted amongst the Brussel's sprouts.

We decided, though, to cut the remaining overwintering lettuces that were growing in a pot but I wonder if they would have survived the cold snap had I left them.

Most of the garden work has been indoor - checking seed catalogues and taking an inventory of what we already have. 

January 2019 harvest summary

Weight 1.179 kg

Salad leaves: £1.50 
Herbs: £2
Total for main garden crops: £5.25

Garden produce price: £8.75

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £8.75

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Brussels sprouts	570	£1.71
Cabbage/brassica leaves	404	£1.01
Broccoli	60	£0.60
Swiss chard	59	£0.50
Pea shoots	57	£1.14
Curly kale	29	£0.29