November 2019 in pictures

It has been a relatively mild autumn so far with only a couple of frosty nights so far, but it was definitely time to pick any chillies still on the plants outside and bring indoors to ripen. And while I was tidying up the strawberry beds I found some beetroot stragglers. They were not massively big but there was enough for a couple of meals and the leaves were a welcome addition to our green veg.

The kales come into their own at this time of year and I'm wondering how long I can keep the larger of the two, shown on the left, going. Both have been in the ground for over a year.

I always have to remember that I have Jerusalem artichokes in a growing sack as the leaves have now died back. There are always some left behind ready to spring into action in the new year.

At the front of the house I decided to see how field beans would fare. I have tried various heat loving plants in this area but very few survive without constant attention and watering. In the summer, the patch is hit by full sun and quickly dries out. The rosemary bush loves it and you can also see some garlic coming up next to it. This was missed when I picked the few bulbs that grew there in the summer. 

In the winter, the sun is low and we usually have enough rain to let the plants look after themselves so I am hoping the beans will do well. The seeds looked to be from two different varieties and they are growing at different rates. Although, usually grown as a green manure they can be eaten and there is an interesting article comparing field beans and broad beans on the Garden Organic website - Growing field beans for human consumption 

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/growing-field-beans-human-consumption 

Also at the front of the house is the last of the rudbeckia (self-seeded). It is in a sheltered spot against the wall and shielded from the worst of the cold weather by a neighbour's bush and a wheelie bin. I was tempted to cut the flowers and bring them indoors but it such a pleasure to see a splash of colour outside at the this time of the year.

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. 

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. 

November 2016 A few surprises lurking in the undergrowth

We usually gather in the remains of the summer and early autumn annual crops by the end of October at the latest but leave the squash and courgette foliage for a few weeks more. This is mainly to provide some continuing ground cover while we sort out an overwinter mulch for the beds. There are generally a few surprises lurking in the undergrowth, and this year's prize goes to a queen squash that was hidden amongst the branches of the cherry plum tree. Not exactly a monster but a respectable 482g. 

Elsewhere and at ground level we uncovered a small patch of carrots and beetroot. This was at the bottom of the main part of the garden and an area that has only just been brought back into cultivation after the removal of the three sycamore trees from the other side of our boundary. This part of our zone 2/3 has not been used for about 4 years because of the shade from the trees and the mass of tree roots that were close to the surface of the ground. 

We are steadily building up the soil level with compost and mulch and earlier this year I scattered some leftover carrot and beetroot seeds at random over the ground. Leaves from a nearby squash in a pot quickly covered the ground and I forgot about them. There were enough for a meal and it shows that the soil is becoming productive again. 

The main crops at this time of year are swiss chard, curly kale and cavolo nero. The brussels are maturing nicely and we should have enough for Christmas and the New Year, with a second variety due to come to maturity later in January. 

Indoors, we were drying the tea bags and soil samples that had been retrieved from the garden and preparing them for despatch to the Tea Bag Index project at the University of Reading. The project aims to measure the rate of decomposition of organic material in garden soils across the UK. 

Details of the project can be found on the TBI website and Facebook.

An interesting alternative to the Tea Bag Index has been tried on pastures in South Dakota. See Tighty Whities Can Tell You About Your Soil Health « On Pasture for details :-) 

November 2016: Inventory of chutneys, jams, jellies and pickles

Cabbages!

Our cauliflowers are pathetic. Last year we had a bumper crop - some of them 4 pounders - but this year they are barely showing their heads.The cabbages, however, are more than making up for them and are going berserk. In the same bed are a few onions and a couple of last year's beetroot that we missed and which are now going to seed. 

A bit of lemon balm seems to have sneaked in at the middle of the lower end of the bed. It is going to have to come out simply because it will take over completely if left to its own devices. We have more than enough of the stuff elsewhere in the garden and there is only so much lemon balm tea I can drink.