January 2019 harvest summary

Weight 1.179 kg

Salad leaves: £1.50 
Herbs: £2
Total for main garden crops: £5.25

Garden produce price: £8.75

TOTAL SHOP/MARKET PRICE £8.75

Garden crops	Weight g	Shop price
Brussels sprouts	570	£1.71
Cabbage/brassica leaves	404	£1.01
Broccoli	60	£0.60
Swiss chard	59	£0.50
Pea shoots	57	£1.14
Curly kale	29	£0.29

November and December 2018 in pictures

There have been a few heavy frosts during the latter part of November and some of December, but in general the weather has been surprisingly mild for the time of  year. 

Brassicas are doing well, including the Brussels sprouts, cabbages and broccoli - and there are even some self sown plants popping up around the garden (brassicas and Swiss chard). I don't normally pull up the cabbage and broccoli plants when I harvest them but leave them to grow spring greens from side shoots. I also sometimes let one or two Swiss chard plants go to seed. It is only when I need the space to plant out seedlings or sow crops that I remove the whole plant.

The radicchio plants are lasting well with frequent cutting and the few parsnips that did germinate this year gave us some huge roots and more than enough for our Christmas dinner and meals into the New Year. 

We've netted over some of the areas not primarily to protect the plants against frost but to stop the pigeons nibbling the plants. Even the plants in the raised beds next to the kitchen and bathroom extension are not immune! 

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