Sunday, March 31, 2013

Carrots

Just found this post that I wrote last October, but doesn't seem to have been published:

I've been regularly picking carrots for a few weeks now. A few had split (blame the weather) but not so many of the recent ones.These little ones were the first of the Chanteney carrots that Amy planted. They look good and taste fine, but they have pretty much all had a green top, and don't taste as carrotty as the conventional ones. I'm not sure about green bits, so tend to cut the worst out, which is a bit fiddly given the size. I wonder whether I should have earthed them up like the potatoes?

Getting ready for the summer

This morning the clocks changed, the sun was out and it was beginning to feel a bit like Spring. Our back garden is gradually drying out, so it's now possible to walk on the grass in Crocs and not get muddy toes! Anyway, I thought I'd make the most of it and decided to prune the raspberries that I planted last year (have a look here). 4 of the 6 canes have started sprouting and it looks like there's a few runners coming up too, so I guess they weren't too waterlogged last year. I've also dug out some of the bottom of the compost bin to use as a mulch for them (and the strawberries in the same bed).

By this afternoon, the winter had returned - overcast and cold. I decided the ground is still a bit cold to sow much in the raised beds, so have started a few things off in seed trays in my new growhouse. I've put in some Galaxy runner beans (in toilet roll tubes), Lisbon spring onions and a couple of types of mixed salad leaves (Mr Fothergill's mixed lettuce leaves and Suttons Spicy Oriental mix). These were all from seed packets I opened last year, but hopefully they'll still germinate well enough.