December 2017 in pictures

This month saw the first snow of the winter and some heavy overnight frosts. 

We are steadily eating our way through the winter squashes, but it looks as though we shall still have some for January at least.

The Babington's leeks are ready for harvesting and, after three years in the ground, a few clumps now need thinning out.






There are plenty of brussels sprouts in the garden, a few parsnips and some "volunteer" potatoes that were found lurking around the edge of the compost heap. I had hoped to have more from some late plantings in the growing sacks, but the foliage was completely flattened when the fence panels came down in the September storms. Better luck next year!




December is when I place my orders for fresh seeds and new varieties, but first I have to organise my existing stock so that I can see what I already have. That took half a day to do and then I could work out what I needed to order from the seed suppliers. My next task will be to create my sowing diary for the coming year.

February 2017 harvest summary

Garden harvest total 1.042 kg

Garden harvest shop/market price £7.36

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £7.36

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Cavolo nero	610	£4.12
Brussel sprouts	318	£1.13
Parsnips	280	£0.56
Curly kale	106	£0.85
Swiss chard	88	£0.70

December 2016: brassicas, artichokes, parsnips and Christmas

The brassicas - brussel sprouts, kale, cabbages, cauliflowers -  and swiss chard are well established now and promise good harvests for the next few months. They can, of course, withstand frost and December saw the first of the really heavy frosts of the winter here in caversham.

Parsnips, I am always told, benefit from a heavy frost and taste sweeter. To be honest, I've never noticed much difference!


A crop I nearly forgot about were the Jerusalem artichokes.They are grown in a potato growing bag near the back of the garden and once the leaves have died back I tend to forget about them, as I did this year. I remembered in time to dig out enough for about 4 meals. I am sure there are more in the bag and I need to empty it to find them all. Some will go back into the bag for next year but I noticed this year that the foliage looked overcrowded, so time to thin them out.

The main event of the month was Christmas and the main Christmas meal. The brussel sprouts, kale (cavolo nero) and very wonky parsnips came out of the garden. The potatoes were from Paget's at the Reading Farmers' Market.

I was really pleased with our parsnips despite their "wonkiness". They were grown in a part of zones 2/3 that has only this year been brought back into use so they did well to grow at all.

Work on preparing the horseradish sauce started about three weeks before Christmas and is the subject of a separate posting. Suffice to say it was head-blowing stuff and perfect.

And we broke out the Quince Vodka and Damson Brandy with the brandied damsons served with ice cream, cream and hazelnuts.

Christmas fare

Frost on the garden fence

First parsnips of the season

Judging by the foliage, the parsnips are doing well. I have them in two different patches in the garden one of which was a bit stony and compacted. This is where I dug out my first parsnips of the season and not surprisingly they are not the prettiest of roots. But given the growing conditions I was pleased with them and they tasted good.

I'll be building up this bed over the next couple of years with compost and mulch, so there should be an improvement in the shape and size of any root vegetables we grow there.

Elsewhere in the garden the swiss chard is going berserk. As soon as I cut some for lunch it grows back with a vengeance!