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.

Shallots

Last year I grew red onions from seed. Although I did get a few that developed to an eatable size, they were all pretty small. I'm not sure whether the rubbish weather was to blame or whether it was because I grew them from seed. Anyway, this year I thought I'd have a change. Before Christmas I put in Senshyu Yellow Onions and today I've put in some shallots. My fingers were frozen in the few minutes I was outside, so I've covered them up with fleece (will keep the birds off too!). The onions are beginning to show some green shoots already, so I won't bother covering them. Only time will tell...

Last year's red onions

Ready to get sowing

I spotted a half price, double size growhouse in the garden centre the other day, so it would have been rude not to buy it really! I've been waiting for the weather to warm up a bit but there's no sign of that yet, so I figured it was time to construct it anyway. I've taken the bottom section out of my old, smaller one and it now fits neatly under the kitchen window. Plenty of room for lots of seed trays, no need for all the shuffling around and balancing I did last year - all I need now is some sun!

Asparagus

I wasn't planning to grow asparagus, as the family never seem that enthusiastic when I buy it. But when we went to the garden centre the other day, Amy persuaded me that I should get some as she loves it! Needless to say, the pot was purchased. Today I finally managed to find 5 minutes between the showers to get it in the ground. The pot label says it's a year old, so I might even get a few spears this year if I'm lucky...

Garden planner software

I've been playing with the 30 day free trial of Dobies (of Devon) garden planner software. I've not included the whole garden, and not used all the software's features, but I like it so far. I put in last year's plants and it warns me for this year's positions for healthy crop rotation which is handy. It can create a web page for mobile use which might be useful when I'm outside, although could result in a very muddy phone!

If you're interested, the webpage it generated is here.

Christmas Veggies

They may have been small (and not quite perfectly formed) but I managed to harvest a few fresh carrots and sprouts for our Christmas lunch! The carrots had been got by carrot fly larvae, but I managed to cut those bits out and once I'd added some shop bought veg we had a feast (although mine definitely tasted better than those I bought!) The aim for next year - keep some parsnips and potatoes as well...

Purple radishes

On a sunny day, way back in August, I pulled up these beauties. They didn't look much covered in mud, but just look how bright they were once I'd washed them off! The first few I harvested small, but realised that they are supposed to be this big, so left the rest to grow away and picked them when they started flowering.

They sat in the fridge for a while before I could decide what to do with them. Apparently it's a German tradition to eat this type thinly sliced and served with salt as an accompaniment to beer! As I mentioned before, the taste was more than a bit overpowering for our tastes, so I looked up some recipes for radish relish. In the end I combined a few to come up with my own, but these 2 were good sources:
www.radishgarden.com
www.food.com

What I ended up using using was:
1 1/2 lb Radish
1 1/2 large Onions
3 sticks Celery
3 tsp Salt
3/4 lb Sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Dill seed
1 1/2 tsp Celery seed
1 whole Chilli
1 1/2 tbsp Mustard seed
12 fl oz Vinegar

As yet I haven't tried the finished product, preferring to let it mature. It must be close now...

Long over-due update

It's been far too long since I last did a post, but I've got several lined up to get back up to date. The school holidays didn't leave me much time to get out into the garden, but luckily there wasn't a great deal to do. Then we went away for a couple of weeks and inevitably the weeds and pests made themselves at home. I'm finally feeling on top of things again, so will find some time to finish off the waiting posts.

Overall, I've not done too badly considering the terrible weather we've had this year, but have learnt a few lessons along the way - there are some things I will definitely try again, and others I won't!

Time for some more salad

Wow, what a change in the weather - sunny and mid 20s!! I cleared out the first sowing of salad leaves and rocket a couple of weeks ago (see here) which left some space for more. So this morning, I made the most of the sunshine and sowed a wide row of mixed leaves (not spicy this time - a more traditional mix of lettuces) and another of basil.

Having watched Gardener's World last Friday, I'm feeling quite smug about my carrots - Monty Don only managed to harvest 3 tiny ones, whereas I've already pulled a few and have got lots more nearly ready. We love carrots, so I've put in some more today (Autumn King). Rather than a narrow row, I've sown the carrots in a wide row (as Monty Don did!) to see if that works better. I also put in the last 7 red onions that were still in pots. They've gone in next to the carrots in the hope that the smell keeps the carrot fly away.

We found the purple radishes a bit too strong to eat raw, so I've sown some traditional pink ones today (French Breakfast). Let's hope they're more palatable!

Innocent seeds update

Back in the Spring, I collected quite a few seeds from Innocent Smoothies and duly planted them (see here and here) and watered them. Unfortunately hardly any of them germinated (1 single carrot, no tomatoes). I followed the instruction on the first few packets, but the basil packs split open when I removed them from the packaging. I planted  the seeds anyway and this is what they look like now (after I pinched out a few of the growing tips for pizzas!). The seeds came in thinnish cardboard, but my feeling is that it was too thick for the seedlings to break through. I think I'm going to leave them in pots now, as all my bedding plants and the pot of basil I planted out have all been either eaten by pests, or washed away!

Sunday 15th July

Well, today is St Swithun's Day, so according to the legend, whatever the weather does today will continue for the next 40. If that's the case, things are finally looking up - we've not had a drop of rain today (the first in far too long!). As a result, I managed to get out in the garden again. Our back garden is completely sodden and incredibly muddy - and that's just the lawn!

The tomatoes are growing nicely, although without a bit of sun they're not going to ripen very well.

I cleared the foliage from the Kestral potatoes in bed 6 today, and dug up most of the spuds. The foliage was beginning to go yellow and I was worried about blight setting in. I need to go through the bed a bit more thoroughly tomorrow in case I left any behind. I did find a couple of rotten ones today, along with alot of red ants - they were soon scurrying around to protect their eggs, and the sparrows had a feast! We had quite a few roasted for lunch (potatoes, not ants!) and the rest are in the salad drawer of the fridge for another day. I've never tried roasting new potatoes before, but I was following a recipe in "River Cottage Veg Everyday" - they were yummy, definitely one to do again.

I also harvested/thinned the spring onions today - we had this lot sliced on pizzas -another success!

Nice surprises

Yesterday I decided to clear out the salad leaves and rocket that had bolted. I had intended to collect the seeds, but realised that I still have thousands of seeds left from this year. The chances of me successfully harvesting the seeds and then storing them, let alone remembering to use them next year seemed pretty slim. So, onto the compost heap it all went!


In the process I accidentally pulled up a spring onion. It's much more bulbous than I was expecting, but tasted lovely.

And I also found some self-sown alpine strawberries in the border. The strawberries I planted are not faring very well in the rain, but these were little(!) beauties.

Courgette flowers

After my early disasters (see here and here) with courgettes, I finally have a healthy plant and some flowers! The only problem is that they all seem to be males, i.e., no fruit bud behind the flower. I've looked this up and apparently it is quite normal. Although it can be caused by stress (inconsistent water or not enough fertiliser) it is normal that the first flush of flowers are all male, to be followed by females later. I'll just have to be patient...

Harvesting (in the rain!)

After all the waiting, we're now getting quite regular veggies! Amy and I picked a couple of strawberries this week (although they got eaten before I thought about a photo!) - they were a bit soft with all the rain, but very tasty all the same.

We've had quite a few more potatoes (Kestral) - they look so colourful, but unfortunately they loose the purple when they're cooked.

Yesterday I picked the first of the peas, carrots and purple radishes (and some more spuds!).

The peas were a great success - will definitely grow some more of these.

One of the carrots had split open. I've looked into this a bit and it seems the most likely cause is too much water (especially after a drier spell). Hmmm, we have had exceptional rainfall recently so I'll blame that.

The radishes look great, but the flavour is a bit overpowering to say the least - I may have found the strongest variety! I'm now looking for recipes that use cooked radish - so far I'm thinking radish curry (Kerala style) or chutney...