December 2018 harvest summary

Weight 3.074 kg

Herbs: £2
Total for main garden crops: £13.97

Garden produce price: £15.97

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £15.97

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Brussels sprouts	685	£1.71
Parsnips	411	£0.62
Jerusalem artichokes	388	£1.36
Cauliflower	382	£1.80
Cabbage/brassica leaves	300	£0.60
Cavolo nero	291	£2.18
Horseradish	220	£2.00
Broccoli	211	£2.31
Swiss chard	186	£1.40

November 2018 harvest summary

Weight 1.102 kg

Salad leaves: £2
Herbs: £2
Total for other garden crops: £6.02

Garden produce price: £10.02

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £10.02

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Parsnips	330	£0.47
Cabbage/brassica leaves	236	£0.90
Jerusalem artichokes	126	£0.45
Cauliflower	123	£0.87
Broccoli	83	£0.83
Swiss chard	72	£0.70
Cavolo nero	50	£0.38
Carrots	42	£0.42
Radicchio	40	£1.00

October 2018 in pictures

There was plenty of veg coming in from the garden this month: beetroot, beans, radicchio, cabbages, kale, Swiss chard, and the last of the courgettes. Towards the end of the month we picked the remaining tomatoes. Most of them were green, some will ripen indoors, and the rest we'll chop up and add to various recipes. 

The foraged sweet chestnut harvest was not as abundant as last year. There were fewer fruits and many of the "nuts" were small and not worth collecting and processing. The long hot, dry spells we had this year were probably to blame. 

October 2018 harvest summary

Weight 7.814 kg

Chillies: £10
Salad leaves: £5
Herbs: £3
Total for other garden crops: £40.74

Garden produce price: £58.74

Foraged food (sweet chestnuts 625g): £6.25

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £64.99

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Tomatoes	3007	£15.04
Beetroot	1193	£10.74
Courgette	807	£2.42
Squash	764	£3.00
Radicchio	391	£3.90
Cabbage/brassica leaves	378	£0.85
Cavolo nero	316	£2.37
Swiss chard/spinach	179	£1.50
Shallots	74	£0.25
Runner beans	47	£0.50
French beans	33	£0.17

September 2018 in pictures

We had an abundance of tomatoes of many colour, sizes and shapes and some of them heritage varieties. Jersey Devil is one that we shall definitely be growing next year long with Orange Banana. Both are substantial, meaty tomatoes with a great flavour.

Runner beans and climbing beans were also doing well.

We grew radicchio for the first time this year and had  several plants dotted around the garden. One, however, was overlooked when it came to gathering heads and leaves, and it quickly went to seed.  We also had a range of swiss chard varieties popping up in various spots, some of it self sown.

The squashes were disappointing partly because I was late putting them in but also, I suspect, because of the long hot, dry spells we had. Not sure is more regular watering would have helped much 

September 2018 harvest summary

Weight 19.303 kg

Garden produce price: £122.78

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £122.78

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Tomatoes	9391	£46.91
Courgette	2062	£6.00
Runner beans	1473	£14.73
Cucumber	799	£4.00
Squash	751	£3.00
Potatoes	652	£1.30
Rhubarb	615	£5.38
Figs	519	£3.58
Grapes	481	£1.92
Sweet peppers	382	£1.24
Aubergine	342	£3.60
Swiss Chard	327	£2.45
Plums	319	£1.00
Pears	288	£1.50
French beans	275	£1.65
Radicchio	180	£1.80
Parsnip	160	£0.25
Shallots	130	£0.52
Curly kale	78	£0.60
Carrots	57	£0.50
Raspberries	52	£0.80
Chillies		£10.00
Lettuces, salad leaves		£6.00
Herbs		£4.00

August 2018 in pictures

August was yet another hot month with temperatures in the upper 30s. Great weather conditions for the salad vegetables, chillies and tomatoes but, of course, the pots required constant watering. 

 

Tomatoes: Indigo Beauty and Jersey Devil

Southern Hawker dragonfly on nearby elderberries

August 2018 harvest summary

Weight 18.713kg

Garden produce price: £83.66
Foraged: £29.80

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £113.46

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Tomatoes	5302	£26.50
Cucumber	2330	£12.00
Courgette	1768	£8.84
Runner beans	932	£5.60
Pears	697	£2.00
Beetroot	562	£3.80
Grapes	503	£2.50
Aubergine	481	£3.21
Rhubarb	372	£2.42
Sweet peppers	269	£0.87
Radicchio	253	£2.53
Plums	209	£0.80
Onions	203	£0.30
Carrots	136	£0.25
Raspberries	112	£1.15
Cavolo nero	53	£0.40
Curly kale	38	£0.25
Swiss chard	27	£0.25
Lettuces, salad leaves		£6.00
Herbs		£4.00

Foraged:

Elderberries           2366       £15.00
Blackberries          1666       £13.40
Apples                     290       £0.90
Cherry plums          114        £0.50

July 2018 in pictures

It has been hot! The main part of the garden has been largely protected by mulching but it has been hard work watering the numerous pots and the grow sacks. The water buts are now empty so we have been saving water used to clean vegetables and pouring that on the garden, and are now having to resort to water straight from the tap.



The cucumbers are doing well as are the two aubergine plants. I decided to try the aubergines again, having failed over the last 4-5 years to get a decent crop and they have, naturally, been flourishing in the heat.

We were really pleased with the broad beans (variety Eleonora). This is the first time I have succeeded in growing them and we are now saving some of the beans for next year's seed. I started them off in small pots indoors and then planted them out under cover. (Enviromesh). That put a stop to the pigeons feasting on them. 

I'm most pleased with how the beetroot turned out this year. For the first time we used Charles Dowding's technique of multisowing. I honestly did not think they would turn out that well but many of them grew to about the size of tennis balls. This is definitely a technique that we shall adopt next year. 

July 2018 harvest summary

Weight 15.797kg

Garden produce price: £67.23
Foraged: £36.00

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £103.23

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Garlic	2778	£24.30
Potatoes	2531	£5.06
Cucumber	977	£3.89
Carrots	743	£2.68
Courgette	621	£2.48
Runner beans	448	£3.14
Swiss chard	291	£2.19
Peas	234	£1.87
Gooseberries	228	£1.52
Rhubarb	218	£1.36
Broad beans	182	£0.90
Raspberries	160	£1.92
White currants	148	£2.50
Beetroot	133	£1.80
Tomatoes	79	£0.62
Spring onions	59	£1.00
Lettuces, salad leaves, mustard greens, garlic scapes		£6.00
Herbs		£4.00

Foraged:

Hazelnuts       5967    £36.00

June 2018 in pictures

The weather started to heat up significantly this month and we started harvesting significant amouts of fruit and veg.

The peas in particular are doing well this month: Golden Sweet, Blauwschokker, Shiraz and Giant Bijou. 

We have plenty of potatoes and onions this year...

... and garlic scapes, and the best harvest of garlic we have ever had.

On the wildlife front we again have frogs hopping around the shadier and damper areas of the garden and two separate bumple bee nests under the shed.

June 2018 harvest summary

Weight 7.202 kg

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £39.49

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Onions	2228	£2.23
Potatoes	2028	£4.06
Strawberries	1308	£10.46
Broad beans	620	£2.67
Peas	348	£2.80
Carrots	170	£1.70
Garlic (6 bulbs)	154	£1.80
Raspberries	130	£1.43
White currants	68	£1.13
Cavolo nero	66	£0.50
Swiss chard	46	£0.35
Curly kale	36	£0.35
Lettuces, salad leaves, mustard greens, garlic scapes		£6.00
Herbs		£4.00

May 2018 harvest summary

Weight   1.306 kg

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £14.29

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Onions	858	£1.15
Rhubarb	112	£0.70
Curly kale	100	£1.00
Asparagus	72	£1.44
Cavolo nero	72	£0.55
Swiss chard	56	£0.45
Spring onions	36	£2.00
Red veined sorrel, ramsons		£2.00
Herbs		£2.00
Lettuces, salad leaves		£3.00

April 2018 in pictures

After a horrendous March in terms of weather, April brought better conditions but everything is way behind. The over-wintered crops are finally starting to grow again but we are holding off planting out most of the seedlings until we are certain we have decent temperatures and no more snow storms. We decided to chance it, though, with some of the lettuces and that gamble does seem to have paid off.

The strawberries seemed to have been unaffected and have been putting out runners. We had so many of them that we donated the spares to Southcote GrowAllot.

The rhubarb (Timperley Early) has also started in earnest and we have had our first stalks since we planted it about 18 months ago. We've also had our first home grown asparagus.

The damson plum and pear have blossomed and fingers crossed we don't have have too many heavy frosts before the fruit has set.

Pear blossom