Don’t panic, it’s not Neil that is getting thrown out! It’s the crops that have passed their best!
It is a strange time of year as we are harvesting lots but there are some crops that are already starting to look a bit tired. The unpredictable weather has not helped either, as the wet and warm conditions have meant that a few of the lettuces, the broccoli raab and the pak choi have gone to seed. Part of me felt bad that they had to be pulled up but they are no good once they reach that stage as the leaves taste bitter. In any event they make the way for other exciting things!
Something that we wanted to improve on from last year was making better use of our space and extending our growing season. One way we have done that is to keep on top of those crops that need to be successionally sown, such as lettuces, spring onions and various herbs. Another way to achieve this goal was to do some clever seed shopping. About 6 weeks ago we placed a further seed order specifically for those crops that can be sown later in the season. Once I had cleared the seeded crops this weekend I set about planting some of the new varieties which included beetroot (boston), carrot (nanco), mustard (red zest) and bunching onions (shimonita). Hopefully this will mean that we will be harvesting tasty crops during the September-December period which was pretty lean last year. We have some more late sowing seeds that we will sow over the coming weeks as more of our current crops reach the end of their useful life.
Neil was busy once again with the path on the new plot, which is growing as fast as the vegetables! We are almost out of flags now though so we are on the scrounge from anyone who has any spare. He also built a little raised bed that we have been talking about building for ages. We finally got round to visiting the reclaimed timber yard this weekend and so Neil dug up the top trek layer to give some extra depth for this new bed. In true recycling style he then used some of this top trek to level out the path flags and the rest to fill in some holes in the car park! To fill the new bed he sorted through a few wheelbarrows worth of soil from the ‘mud mound’ on the new plot, so it really looks like a sizeable chunk has gone already.
Exciting news to end with! Firstly, we ate our first homegrown cauliflowers this week and they were tasty! We tried to grow them last year and after weeks of anticipation watching their crowns form they all blew and went to seed before they were ready to be picked. This year we tried them on the new plot with much more success. We put this down to the slightly lower soil temperatures compared to the raised beds, but who knows! A little tip to share, once the heads are almost fully formed use some padded pegs to clip the outer leaves over the crown to protect it from the sun and hopefully prevent the head blowing.
And finally…we have a new greenhouse! After a few failed auctions we were finally successful in winning a greenhouse on eBay. It is a 10ft x 8ft wooden framed one with a louvre window which will replace the wooden ramshackle shed on the new plot. It is to be collected from its current owner in the next few weeks so wish us luck for the deconstruction/journey/reconstruction!
Recent Comments