Harvested beans (pulled up the runner beans), potatoes (about half now up), leeks (the first mature ones) a few carrots, broccoli, some sweetcorn, turnips, courgette & marrows.
Grass needs strimming, otherwise looking good.
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Planted 4 rows x 7 sarpo mira potatoes in bed B. Planted 1 caseille (josta) bush, blackcurrant/gooseberry cross at back of bed J and blackcurrant in middle. No, not the first time back since the ‘reset’ post a month ago, but sadly not far off. The weather’s been ‘orrible. Anyway, the plot was massively over grown, so did a lot of weed-pulling and grass chopping. The sweetcorn in bed B has pretty much all failed and no sign of any drawf beans in bed E. The climbing and runner beans are OK but not great. Broad beans are just flowering but not too impressive. A smattering of beetroot and parsnips in bed D, no perp. spinach. Leeks are holding on, potatoes are OK. Some donated cabbage plants we put in bed A are looking good. Harvested some mouse-nibbled radish from between bean rows, and some really good looking rhubarb. Planted sunflowers by the shed which have been struggling in pots at home. Planted squash and courgette plants in Bed B, a mix of bought from Henri’s and grown from seed in pots. Sowed more beetroot and a couple of rows of turnips in bed D. Sowed loads of lettuce and rocket between beans.
I suppose I could just post new stuff and maybe no-one would notice the one-year hiatus… but no. Last year fizzled out, bad weather, lots of stuff didn’t grow, what did grow got blight / white rot / whatever, motivation left me. Over the winter I dug over most plots and covered with leaf mold. We decided to make life easier by planting half the plot with fruit bushes that don’t need too much doing each year. Didn’t quite it ready in time to get them in before the growing season started, but maybe the opportunity to be sure that all the perennials are dug out from that side is a good one. Here’s the plan for 2012: As of May 27 we have planted the potatoes (beds C&G), strawberries (bed G/H), beans (broad, runner and dwarf & climbing French) (bed E — along with lettuce and raddish), parsnips, perpetual spinach, & beetroot (bed D). On May 27th we planted leeks (edge of bed C) and sweetcorn (bed B) from pots that we had started at home. We have some courgettes, red cabbage and sunflowers at home. Also sowed some sunflower seeds at along the road at bed A and nasturtiums along the side near the public path. The pots are just showing in bed G; the broad beans are up, but small; the runners and climbers are just showing, but no sign of the drawfs, so sowed one more at each station; the strawbs are flowering. Too early to tell about the others. Planted 2 rows red cabbage in bed B with radishes as catch crop; 1 row parsnip and 1 row beetroot in bed C; lettuces between broad beans on bed A. Harvested purple sprouting broccoli, perpetual spinach, and rhubarb. Rhubarb this year has thrown up a lot of flower stems. The winter snow and frost did a fair amount of damage, killing most of the over-wintered brassicas (3 purple sprouting broccoli and maybe some perpetual spinach survived), and causing the fruit cage / netting to collapse. Dug over beds A, B, C, G and H; covered most of bed I to keep weeds down. Planted broad beans in bed A. Harvested some v nice parsnips, more to come, and the last of the leeks.
Bed A : Onions Mostly shovelled compost around. Chopped tops of rest of the potatoes. Chopped down comfrey. Broke necks of all remaining onions Harvested two heads of broccoli, half a bag of beans, two courgettes and a tub of black berries (with a few rasps) Took a look at the carrots for the first time since sowing them under fleece. A lot of what was there wasn’t carrot, so removed it, and carrots were over-crowded, so thinned them, but there are some nice looking but small carrots there. Covered again, should be ready in a few weeks.
Grubbed up broad beans and peas from bed B. Both have been a disappointment this year: the beans were late and yield much, they were at their best while we were on holiday (normally they’re pretty much done by then); the peas dried up while we were away. Sowed white clover as a green manure. Sowed lettuce (tom thumb) and spring onions in the square at the other end of bed B where some French beans failed to grow. Also sowed Chinese broccoli and Indian mustard in bed C where the aubergine and pumpkin are doing nothing. French beans are in full flow, got 2 or 3lbs of them, Also harvested some potatoes (Anya), onions, a turnip, and a large courgette. Jules weeded beds A and B, and watered. Brought home lettuce thinnings from those lettuce between broad beans and peas, and a handful of broad beans (both are the first crops of each veg sown this year). Also brought home a garlic bulb that had blown over. |
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