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.

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. 

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.

May 2018 in pictures

The bluebells were starting to take over the herb patch and were probably responsible for killing off the chives, which had been there for years. They might be pretty but they were in the wrong place so out they came. In any case, they were the Spanish bluebells and not the native English variety.

After a late start, because of the consistently cold weather, the lettuces and peas are catching up in the gro-beds and I've risked planting out the first few tomato seedlings. The overwintering onions are also starting to fill out. 

In the main part of the garden the broad beans (Eleonora) are doing well. This is the first time I've tried to grow them. Underneath the beans I've scattered some mixed salad leaves seeds together with some carrots.

By the end of the month the beans had really taken off, the potatoes in the grow sacks are surging ahead and the overwintered garlic looks as though it will soon be ready for harvesting.

The rhubarb now seems well established and there was enough for me to experiment and make some rhubarb and citrus marmalade.

June 2017 in pictures - it was hot!

It was hot this month!

One of the parsnips was overlooked during the winter harvesting and started to sprout leaves. We decided to leave it to go to seed. When they get to this stage they are euphemistically referred to as "architectural plants", that is they are big! We managed to harvest a good quantity of seeds and will see how worthwhile the exercise was next spring when we sow them. 

A good year so far for our raspberries and our handful of strawberry plants. The strawberries are beginning to multiply so we should have a good harvest next year.

Garlic scapes, onions and peas. Plenty of garlic scapes this year and delicious steamed as a vegetable or chopped and added to salads.

Regular supply of lettuces that were planted earlier in spaces in pots and between other veg.

First potatoes of the season from the garden. I had a gentle rummage around the top of a few of the containers and came up with these beauties. Also some onions and various greens.

Onions!

And wonky carrots. Really pleased that we are finally starting to get some even though they are "individual" in appearance. They were delicious!

Brandywine tomato

White Versailles currants

Gooseberry - Winham's Industry

Perfect weather for drying washed duvets over the kitchen wall

Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus)

May 2017 in pictures

Really pleased to see that the pear blossom and fertilised flowers survived/missed the frosts. It looks as though we shall have at least a dozen pears this year, up from last year's single fruit that survived.

A typical Sunday Lunch for this time of the year. Starting at the top and working around the plate clockwise: steak and ale pie from Reading Farmers' Market; pea shoots (kitchen window sill); stuffed purple sprouting broccoli leaf (garden) stuffed with risotto; purple sprouting broccoli (garden); carrots (Reading Farmers' Market); potatoes (supermarket); various brassica leaves (garden).





Typical daily veg collection for May and on this occasion the veg was for a shared meal at a meeting and AGM of Transition Town Reading (TTR). Includes swiss chard, purple sprouting broccoli, onions, cavolo nero, various kales and oregano.

And this is what I made for the TTR AGM: winter/spring vegetable quiche, spicy vegetable and chickpea flour muffins, and sprouting broccoli leaves stuffed with vegetable risotto.

At the front of the house, the new(ish) rosemary bush is now well established and liking the hot dry environment. The surplus garlic cloves that I planted as an experiment are also doing well. 

Some of the runner bean seedlings that were started off under cover. Having been caught out with late frosts in previous years these will not be planted out until late May or the beginning of June.








I bought some interesting varieties of tomatoes and chillies from Homecrafts in Caversham, and was forced to use the bath as a "waiting room" for them a while. Tomatoes were Brandywine (pink beefsteak variety), Principe Borghese (red egg/plum shaped fruit)  and Costoluto Fiorentino (red beefsteak).

Although there is a lot just beginning to grow some of the crops are finishing. Last year's planting of swiss chard is now going to seed but there are still several meals worth left before they need to be pulled out.