Sunday, 24 June 2018

April 2018 harvest summary

Weight   0.940 kg

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £17.25
Garden crops

Weight g


Shop price

Potatoes
298
£1.00
Cavolo nero184£1.38
Rhubarb128£0.90
Brussels sprouts112£1.12
Brassica leaves68£0.25
Asparagus64£1.20
Spring onions48£1.20
Curly Kale38£0.40



Ramsons, red veined sorrel
£4.00
Herbs
£2.00
Lettuces, salad leaves
£3.00

March 2018 in pictures


What a start to the month! Freezing temperatures and on March 1st we had heavy snow. This lasted 3-4 days, disappeared and then reapppeared with a vengeance two weeks later. No way were we going to be sowing or planting anything outdoors this month.

In between snow storms the rhubarb was bold enough to poke its head above ground. It was planted about 18 months ago so we are hoping to be able to harvest some stalks from it this year.

Indoors, we were enjoying some pea shoots growing on the window sill but I suspect we may have started them off far too soon. We have no clue as to when it is going to be warm enough to plant them outside.



We finally took the plunge and sowed our tomatoes in modules indoors toward the end of the month, three weeks later than usual but there was no point in starting them off any earlier. The weather forecast is still not good and it will take a while for the ground to warm up. It looks as though that, like last year, everything will be a month late.

We did, though, have some harvest from our perennials: ramsons (wild garlic), Babington's leeks and red veined sorrel. And we were still pulling up the spring onions that probably grew from a packet I had dropped in the autumn last year. 



Sunday, 3 June 2018

March 2018 harvest summary

Weight   0.694 kg

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £10.15
Garden crops

Weight g


Shop price

Brussels sprout
286
£0.50
Brassica leaves226£0.25
Babington's leeks92£0.70
Pea shoots56£1.20
Spring onions34£0.50



Ramsons, red veined sorrel
£5.00
Herbs
£2.00

February 2018 in pictures

February is always a relatively quiet month in the garden, so it's a good time to do some stock taking. We have enough jam, marmalade, chutneys and pickles in the cupboards to keep us going for most of the year or at least until harvest time when more will be prepared. We're down to two bottles of elderberry syrup but they should see us through the rest of the winter and any coughs and colds we might develop.

It's also a good opportunity to tidy up the bookshelves and take an inventory of what we have and note what is still to be read! 
Meanwhile, outside the celery that I grew from the remains of a bunch I bought in the local supermarket has survived the bad weather and I found an overcrowded clump of spring onions. I suspect a whole packet had dropped out of my pocket some time in the autumn and was then mulched and covered over with compost. Time to thin out and eat!



We are now down to our last home grown squash. It's the second monster squash, which weighed in at 3.2kg. We may be eating it for some time! We are still harvesting some kale, cavolo nero and Babingtons leeks, and we have had the first pea shoots of the season (grown on the window sill). 
One of our lunches this month: squash and leek risotto, accompanied by puy lentils with leek and cavolo nero and pea shoots as a garnish.


And finally, the daffodils are coming out in what we call our "front patch". One could almost believe that spring is around the corner but the forecast for the beginning of March is not good.We could be seeing some heavy snow.



Monday, 30 April 2018

February 2018 Harvest Summary

Weight   1.442 kg

Garden harvest shop/market price £7.85

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £7.85
Garden crops

Weight g


Shop price

Brussels sprout
528
£0.60
Babington's leeks240£1.20
Brassica leaves234£0.25
Cavolo nero204£1.50
Curly kale134£1.34
Celery54£0.20
Spring onions40£0.60
Pea shoots8£0.16

Herbs - estimate £2.00


January 2018 in pictures

January is generally a quiet month spent mostly ordering and sorting seeds, and planning the sowings and plantings for the coming year. Towards the end of the month I started testing some of the older pea seeds in the Reading Food Growing Network's seed swap boxes for viability. Most of the packets had good rates of germination and high enough to be included in the swap boxes for another year. It is, of course, far too early to plant out the seeds once they have germinated so they go into pots on the kitchen window sill and the pea shoots add a welcome variety to our winter salads.






It's also the time of year when I go through the seeds I already have and donate the surplus to the RFGN seed swap.

We had some snow and cold weather in Caversham. The snow was quite impressive while it was coming down but it didn't last long on the ground. SI really hope that we don't have long drawn out cold spell this spring as we have over the last couple of years.



January 2018 harvest summary

Weight  2.306 kg

Garden harvest shop/market price £9.69

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £9.69
Garden crops

Weight g


Shop price

Cabbage/brassica leaves
1076
£1.00
Brussels sprouts634£2.54
Cavolo nero330£2.23
Babington's leek106£0.54
Swiss chard102£0.80
Curly kale58£0.58

Herbs - estimate £2.00