What a Very Productive couple of days

Sunday 11th February 2018
Looking after my body
I woke up aching. These old muscles need recuperation time from activities such as lugging sacks of potatoes about.

So I chose gentle jobs for the day. First up was creosoting all the wood in the polytunnel for I suspect that is where the red spider mites hide away to overwinter. The metal frame has already been nuked with disinfectant and blasted with water but a multifaceted chemical attack is clearly what is needed.

All I need to do now is to clean the polythene. Most of the algae is on the inside and the outside is just grimy. I have ordered a long handled squeegee / soft broom affair for the job. The reason it is not here yet is another story.
This is a great job to do, as the light floods in afterwards.

We are not exactly having many beautiful clear winter days at the moment, so again it was not a day for outdoor jobs.

Instead I potted up some of the tomato seedlings. I've started a few varieties off early this year just to see how they do compared to the others. My hope is that the conservatory proves to be the ultimate plant rearing facility and I can start everything off that bit earlier so that harvests come sooner. I don't normally rush things, but the sooner I get a harvest the more tomatoes I will get if blight strikes later on.
I have sown some lemongrass as well and it has already germinated as has my first sowing of coriander.
I potted up the chilli seedlings too. I am still waiting for a couple of varieties to come through, but old chilli seed often loses its viability.

Finally I sowed my leek seeds for the year. I have changed variety this year as last year's suffered terribly from rust and have not stood the frosts well. I just feel it is time for a swap, so I've gone for Porbella which claims to have good rust resistance. By the way, this is not the same rust that cars suffer from!

With the sowing of this year's leeks, I harvested the last of last year's for a leek and potato soup. I harvested the last of the carrots too. They should have been harvested before the winter to save them from the slugs, but we got plenty this year so I left some standing in the ground.
The last ones left were Autumn King and had grown to a good size.
There was a fair amount of slug damage and a few millipedes and woodlice had been munching too, but I still got a good bowl full even after sorting. The geese got the rest and spent the next few days doing orange poo!
As I harvested the carrots, the chickens pecked up the baby keel slugs which had moved in. One I'm particular waited for me to hold up each newly dug carrot. The fate of this carrot harvest was a carrot and ginger soup which came out very nicely. In addition, any spare carrots, leeks and a few other bits and bobs were used to make two big pans of stock to add depth of flavour to the soups.

The evening was spent cooking. I am still keeping to my New Year's resolution of cooking more with our produce. The two aforementioned soups plus a big pot of roast sweet potato and pumpkin soup.
These soups will feed the first meeting of the Fenland Smallholders Club committee that I am chairing this weekend.

Monday 12th February 2018
Cooking and Preserving

Beef Goulash with roast Salsify and Scorzonera.

Portuguese Corn bread and very British Lardy Cake.

What a very productive day. After three batches of soup yesterday evening, I took on a Beef Goulash with Roast Salsify and Scorzonera with Ginger, Lemon and Honey. Yummy!

Then onto bread making. with a Portuguese Corn Bread (thanks to finding somewhere to buy corn meal) and a soda Pumpkin Bread (courtesy of the buttermilk I found in the same shop)

While I was doing all this, Sue was processing a ton of blackcurrants from the freezer, juicing them ready to make a jelly. She mad 30 jars of delicious damson jam too.

Next up for me was Lardy Cake. I make this wicked favourite every year, using some of the very best lard we saved from Daisy when she went to the great pigsty in the sky. 

Then biscuits for the committee meeting. Orange Biscuits, Walnut and Chocolate Slices and Prune and Peel Rock Buns.

It's a good job I am trying to lose a bit of weight at the moment!

Parsnips and Leeks allowed to Flower

Thursday 1st June
A few images from the veg patch

We never got through last year's bumper crops of parsnips and leeks

so I have left them in to flower.

They are a great attractant to predatory insects such as hoverflies.

Globe artichokes in amongst the grasses, poppies and Scorzonera flowers

The geese protect their two goslings along the edible hedge

A hoverfly doing its job

on one of the

polytunnel melon flowers

Friday 2nd June
Sue did a mega rhubarb pick again today, probably the last harvest of the year. We will leave it now to capture some energy for the plants.
I am looking forward to sampling the rhubarb and fig chutney when its ready. Meanwhile I'll have to settle for a nice bit of rhubarb crumble.

While Sue was busy with that, I put the finishing touches to the brassica netting, where I will grow the members of the cabbage family which demand a long period in the ground, cauliflowers, winter cabbages and Romanesco.

Getting the lambs ready for a journey

Monday 14th November 2016
Boris was a bit under the weather today. I think he got stung by nettles yesterday. Arthur and I stayed in and looked after him.

Tuesday 15th November
It's a time of clearing and preparing the soil for next year. I never get this achieved when I'd like to in late autumn and then the ground usually becomes too wet to work except when there is a heavy frost.
But this year the ground is, for the moment, drier. Anticipating removing a lot of dead and dying foliage, I decided to turn all the compost heaps today and to move any well-matured compost from the bottom of the heaps and place it on next year's potato beds for the worms to work in to the soil.
This was a pretty big job, but it was a good day for it.

Came across a couple of dead rats in the compost heaps.

Good to know the poison is working.

There aren't many around, but they have been more persistent than usual this year.

Boris stayed inside for the morning, but Arthur kept by my side until he rediscovered the joys of digging for voles. After lunch Boris came out and between them they managed to catch one.

Darkness comes soon at this time of year. We'll get the peg loom out soon to pass away the long winter evenings. But today there was international football to watch - that was until we really were plunged into the past when the electricity went off. It made a couple of attempts to come back, but I missed most of the goals. It made me think about what people did in the past. Winter must have been a lot harder than it is now.

You can just make out the lapwing flock as it wheels round over the distant copse.

Thursday 17th November 2016

It was nice to see a sizeable flock of lapwings wheeling around the fields today. As they turned back into the sun they gleamed white. It must have taken at least ten minutes before they finally decided it was safe to land.

Friday 18th November 2016

A forage around the garden to find the ingredients for a couple of cauldrons of soup. The leek plants are looking good and there is a whole bed of self-seeded parsley which brightens the place up at this time of year. So a leek and potato soup was definitely on the cards. The Grow-Your-Own group are round tomorrow evening, so I'll use the opportunity to use up some pumpkin too. The sage has thrived this year so a Pumpkin and Sage soup should do the trick.

Saturday 19th November 2016

A welcome significant frost and a reminder to turn as much of the soil as possible so the frost can get in and kill off some of the nasties.

The evening gathering went very well and we managed to come up with some exciting plans for 2017. More about those later.

Sunday 20th November 2016

Main job today was to worm the four sheep in the top paddock and to get ear tags in the two Shetlands which are going off next week. The wormer is just a precaution, but it has a six day withdrawal period on the meat (the minimum period between administering the medication and slaughter) so needed to be done today.
The two Shetland lambs were born and reared on the farm and have always been pretty tame as far as Shetlands go. The two commercials were cade lambs from the rare breeds farm and have been interacting with humans all their lives. So getting them penned was easy. We draw the hurdles in around them until they are pretty much pinned in. This makes administering drugs (just a liquid which is syringed into their mouths) and putting in ear tags very easy. Most importantly it's efficient, stress-free for us and the sheep.

With the ground turning sticky the commercial ewe who's been up here all the time had picked up a large clod of mud between her toes which was causing her to limp a little. This was a good opportunity to remove it - there was actually a stone inside it - and she is much happier now.

June jobs

4th June
Uncovering the strawberry patch
Just where do the weeds come from? A bit of warm weather and a spot of rain and suddenly the strawberry patch disappeared under a metre high forest of grasses and docks. It got so bad I'm ashamed to even show you a picture of it. The berry bushes and raspberries are the same. It's not been this bad in previous years but this year the grass is growing like elephant grass. Even the sheep field is outgrowing the grazing efforts of the Shetland sheep.
And so it was that I spent the whole day pulling weeds. At least the damp soil meant that the roots came out easily. But it was hard work, so much so that I drafted Sue in to help. We'd better get a good strawberry crop, especially as the new strawberry patch is about five times the size of the old one.

An artificial swarm
In the morning Sue had been doing a spot of bee-keeping. At this time of year, if the hive is getting full, the bees start building queen cells which look a bit like monkey nuts hanging down from the frames. These they fill with royal jelly to raise new queens. They are a sure sign that the old queen is getting ready to leave, taking half the colony with her. Sue took two strong hives into the winter rather than three weaker ones with the aim of splitting one or both in the spring. The imminent swarm is the time to do this. Basically you create a small colony, known as a nucleus, in a mini-hive, a nuke box. With luck you avoid further swarming and create a new colony. We'll see if it works.
Sue took honey off too. It's rape honey so timing is critical before it sets solid. This had happened on a few of the frames. The solution is to spray them with water and out them back in the hive for the bees to clean up if they can.

Despite Sue's tinkering, the bees which were visiting the strawberry plants today seemed unconcerned with me, just going about their business in amongst the strawberry flowers.

On the bird front we still have 7 turkey poults, so fingers crossed we are over the worst of the losses. They'll be staying in the stable until they are much bigger and the weather is much warmer. Lesson learned.
Sadly Captain Peacock is confirmed dead. I found his body in a bit of a mess. I found out more of the story from Don. Apparently a couple of days ago there were feathers strewn on the roadside. But Captain was still alive, sitting in the dyke. I guess though that the verge cutting must have injured him or rendered him defenceless, for something obviously got him overnight.
More news from Don. Apparently on Wednesday night yet another car came off the road at the bend and went straight through his field gates! We didn't even know it had happened. About two cars a year come off here and usually end up in the ditch.








5th June

A willowy day!

The early part of the day was spent back at the Green Backyard. This week we were making dragonflies. These start with a basic bell shape which I have never mastered. I've not been able to understand how to influence the shape. My bells end up looking like cigars! But today I finally got it. It was on the last go, just before I was about to spit out my dummy and give up.

Once I'd got the weaving technique sorted I could use my knowledge of nature to make some very realistic dragonflies.
I also started working out a design for some willow bulrushes to go round the pond in the veg plot.

Giant Beans
Back home and there was more willow magic to be woven. Last year I chopped down a couple of overgrown twisted willows, nearly taking out the stable block in the process. Over the winter we threw the branches to the sheep who did a wonderful job stripping off every last thread of bark, which should stop them rooting. Today I planted four of them into the bean patch. At the base I've planted my Gigantes beans. These are a variety of runner bean grown for the gigantic (hence the name) white butter beans it produces. I have high hopes for this new variety.

A ring of willow arches
But I wasn't yet finished with my willow day. For about 80 willow whips I harvested in the winter have been sat in a water butt growing a tangle of roots. I was planning to use them for a fedge or a tunnel but that project will have to wait for next year now. I didn't want to waste them though and while at the Green Backyard I found some inspiration. They use willow to create living archways and screens all around the place. I decided that a circle of archways around the 'wheel' of the veg patch would create dramatic effect.

As it was getting dark I had to stop. I'd planted and twisted a dozen arches. Some need to grow a little before I can link them across the top. I had four left to do, though an extension of my idea meant that an extra eight would be needed!

Last act of the day was to pick my first ever kohl rabi bulb. We had it steamed and it tasted very nice indeed. We'll try the next one raw, sliced into a salad.

6th June
24 degrees today. The morning was spent picking up some sheep hurdles and other equipment from a fellow smallholder who is giving up and moving on. You can never have too many sheep hurdles.

Straw for the strawberries
I spent the afternoon tucking straw under the developing strawberry fruits. It lifts them off the ground and stops them rotting or getting splashed by mud. I chose not to use slug pellets under the straw mulch. Hopefully I won't regret that decision.
Finally I netted the strawberries to protect them from marauding birds - mainly the guinea fowl who are rather partial to the occasional strawberry.

At the end of a hot day there was still time to finish the remaining dozen arches in The Wheel. They don't look much at the moment, but give it a year...

7th June
Mowing, mowing and more mowing. The grass has got a bit unruly (understatement) and on the few dry days we've had I've been chasing birds all around the country. I've perfected a technique of lifting up the from of the mower and using it like a strimmer. It was hot and thirsty work, punctuated by many a break for drinks. I'm sure I didn't need this many breaks when I was younger.

The mower needed rest breaks too, so in between scything paths through the jungle I planted out the leeks and celeriac alongside tagetes marigolds in nice neat rows. They make good companions and are one of the combinations I've stuck to over the years.

I grow two varieties of leek, Jolant, an early one and Musselburgh. I raise them in trays early in the year. They are slow growers.

I put some spare strawberry and herb plants into the 'permaculture' beds too. We should have strawberries coming out of our ears, but I can just never throw away spare plants

Today I kicked the broody Muscovy off her eggs too. They obviously weren't going to hatch and she needed to get back to normal life.



8th June
Glorious weather again. Too hot to do much though. Every now and then I have a day of just pottering, making the time to appreciate everything on the smallholding. It's far too easy to get so bogged down in work that you never get time to enjoy what you've created.

Our Cream Legbar hen has moved out from her three Ixworth chicks. She has jumped the fence and left them on their own! A couple of days ago we tried letting them out with the flock. The chicks coped fine but mum got into lots of fights so we had to separate them again. Mum moving out will make things much easier.

A gosling disappears
But not a day goes by without a drama of some sort at the moment. I guess it's inevitable with so many young birds. One of the small goslings has gone missing. One minute the two grey geese had three little goslings, the next time I looked there were only two. I searched everywhere but to no avail. It has just vanished. There's no way it will still be alive.

9th June
Eggs back on the menu
The garden is starting to get pretty dry now. Temperatures in the polytunnel are unbearable at times. My glasses steam up when I go in there!

As the evening temperature settled down I turned on the overhead irrigation. Three hours later I remembered I'd left the water on! I do try to set an alarm as I always think I'll remember and always end up forgetting.
The chickens are liking the warm weather. They had virtually stopped laying for a few days (this happened last year at this time too) but today we were back up to 11 eggs again.

10th June
Noisy skies
Two fighter jets spent much of the day practising their dogfight manoeuvres over the farm today. Spectacular but noisy. There was thunder too, but no rain yet. I used the evening to get right on top of the grass. Even the front lawn got cut. This is always the last one I get round to.
The trouble with mowing the grass is that, unlike other big jobs, once it's done it soon needs doing again. I'm not talking about obsessively manicured lawns and paths here. No. I'm talking just keeping it below waist height!
So it's been quite a productive week. The veg patch is coming along nicely, the grass is all mown, the strawberry patch is looking amazing, the chickens are laying again and there are willow sculptures everywhere.

Rain at last. And leeks.

Despite the screen on my phone last Sunday, I had to wait till Thursday before we had any appreciable rain. This was our first rain for almost three weeks and was needed. After the wettest winter on record, there is still plenty of moisture just under the surface.

However, the top layer is where the seedlings need to get a hold. With the delightful weather we had during my whole two week Easter break, I was pretty much up to date with everything except rotavating the spare veg patch and getting the first carrot seeds in. The only other outstanding job was a second sowing of Broad Beans and planting my last bag of onion sets. One small problem with the last couple of jobs though - they'd gone missing!
This problem was easily solved when I eventually looked inside a basket hanging in the lobby. But the rotavating and seed sowing were at the behest of the weather.
So, when the rain did finally arrive, I was straight out on the rotavator. The soil in the Spare Veg Patch is clayier and lumpier than the rest of  my veg patch. Without rain, cricket ball lumps of earth just travel round and round in the rotavator tines, emerging completely unscathed. But three hours after work on Thursday and another four on Friday had the ground looking much better, even if my arms and torso felt as if they'd taken a thorough bashing!

The rain prompted the parsnip seeds into action too. Always slow to germinate, but they always seem to come good in the end. Some very careful weeding will be required though as all manner of seedlings manage to come up before the parsnips.

And the potatoes are leaping into action too, helped by the ducks who insist on flattening the ridges. Luckily nights are warm at the moment so I can ridge them back up at my leisure. At least the ducks keep the slugs at bay. Reports from other veg growers suggest a bad year for them, but as yet I'm not seeing it, fingers crossed. So if it's down to the ducks, then a few flattened potato ridges are a price well worth paying.

Anyway, here are the Red Duke of Yorks.

 

And finally... the first leeks have gone outside. I grow them in half seed trays in the polytunnel. They always seem to germinate easily and once they are about six to nine inches tall (not quite the pencil thickness that everyone seems to recommend) I move them outside, planting them 9 inches apart in each direction. Planting leeks is a bit of a ritual. I make a hole as deep as I can with a dibber. Stopping the soil from instantly falling back in is somewhat of an art.

I then drop in the seedlings. I don't bother trimming the roots or the leaves and it seems to work very well. I then water the seedlings in and just allow the holes to fill up on their own. I always grow Musselburgh, which serves me well but is quite a late variety. So this year the first leeks in are Jolant, one of the earliest.

 

I planted a few rows of carrots. Purple Haze, White Satin, Ideal Red and Chantennay for a nice colourful mixture. I also sowed some Resistafly and some Flyaway. Hopefully they'll avoid carrot fly, even if the others don't. Lastly, a row of Autumn King and a row of Early Nantes - just for a bit of bulk standard carrotage.

As soon as they start coming through I'll sow the next lot.

 

And I'm still hoping that a few more of those April showers fall on Swallow Farm.

And sow we begin again

The dining room table is no longer available for dining.
For the near end is where I am chitting my potatoes and the far end has just been set up as my sowing station.
I normally resist the urge to sow seeds for a couple more weeks at least. In the house they just go leggy and tend to succumb to damping off. I can give them the heat they require, though for most this is only necessary for germination itself. But I can't provide anywhere light enough and airy enough.

I'd love to move them into the polytunnel, but daytime temperatures in there at the moment range from 50 to 70, and that's in a very mild late winter. 50 should be OK for leeks, but I'm not sure about tiny tomato plants, chillies or aubergines.

Pepper seeds. Four varieties in one half tray.
I'll transplant them quickly so they don't get crowded.

Leek Jealousy
Now, every year at the Fenland Smallholders produce show, someone turns up with impossibly perfect leeks, whilst mine are still far from fully grown. Fortunately last year I managed to beat them off with my red cabbage, which took the rosette in 'best vegetable grown above ground' category.
But I resolved that I too would have leeks in September. I scoured the seed catalogues and purchased a packet of leek seeds of the variety Jolant, an early variety. I sowed the seeds last week and they are already coming through.



Babies thrown out
And with the knowledge that I now have a hotbed in the polytunnel which is already beginning to warm up, I've also started off my tomatoes, aubergines, chillies and peppers too. In fact, the smaller seeds of the cherry varieties have germinated already. I'm going to be bold and put them straight out into the mini greenhouses over the hotbed and see what happens. If the experiment fails, there's still plenty enough time to start again.

Cherry Tomato "Honeybee"

Meanwhile, in the outside beds..
Of course, with the passing of winter and the advent of spring, the veg beds need getting ready. There's a constant ebb and flow between the ground drying out and another rainy day making it too wet to work. But the balance is moving towards being workable and if I don't start now, it won't be long before I have queues of young plants waiting to go into beds which are not ready.
Here's the first bed to get the treatment. Doesn't it look neat!

Meanwhile, the garlic cloves which I planted about a month ago have been making the very most of their head start.

88 degrees in early March!
ed. The newly germinated leeks and a few tomatoes which have just started to come through have been thrown into the cauldron today. They are in a mini greenhouse, over the hotbed, in the polytunnel. This morning, under perfectly blue skies, I recorded a temperature of 88 degrees in there! I really need to get myself a max/min thermometer though to see what's happening at night.





Thinking forward to next year.

Swallows gathering ready to leave

This year has been a challenging one but still I have learned a lot and things have moved forwards here on the smallholding.
But as September is upon us, I start to cast my mind to next year. Which varieties have earned their place in next year's plan? What should I change? What has worked well?

Saturday 1st September 2012
An autumn sunrise!

Of course, next year may well be completely different. But here are my initial thoughts.

Potatoes - They liked the water this year, but the swollen lenticels made them a difficult prospect to sell. Then The Blight hit. I tried over a dozen varieties, which has given us way too many spuds given that I can't really sell many. And that's a lot of digging to plant them in ridges, earth them up and then dig them out at the end. So next year I'll be more selective. I've not even investigated how some of the types have fared or harvested, but my initial thoughts are:
Earlies and Second Earlies
Bonnies - a definite - large, smooth, abundant, good-looking. Quite large losses to blight, but next year I'll be more ready to deal with it!
Red Duke of York and Salad Blue - The Yorks are a mealy potato, great for chips and roasting. Didn't enjoy the wet soil though. Salad Blues did well, but more of a novelty crop. They give a nice, sweet mashed potato, but the purple flesh turns a little greyish.
I'll probably choose one of these varieties each year. Both hit heavily by blight.
Dunluce / Arran Pilot - Two good early potatoes. Dunluce grow big quickly but Arran Pilot didn't reach full size before the tops were bitten. Probably grow one of these in future, along with Charlotte. All affected by swollen lenticels, not great on a new potato.
Swift - I won't bother with this one again. Maybe it just didn't like conditions this year, but poor yield, never really got going.
Edgecote Purple - An attractive, purple potato (clue's in the name) which has cropped fairly well. Not too many tubers got by blight. Shame I had to take off the foliage so early. The spuds which reached full size were amazing. A definite for next year.

Maincrops
I've not harvested many of these yet. Last year the Desirees and Pink Fir Apples did brilliantly, but that was a dry year so I'm expecting the opposite this year. However, there'll always be a place for both of these in my potato patch. The Setantas cropped well. Although the tops were decimated by blight like all the others, I seem to have a good crop of healthy, red tubers under the soil. I've not tried them enough ways to comment on taste yet.
Sarpo Mira - strange to see one variety almost totally unaffected by blight. Top growth is still green, even now. This is a big advantage, though I have been told that the taste is a bit bland. I'll let you know.
I'm really hoping the Orlas do well, as they're sold as the organic gardener's spud. Top rotted away with blight, so we'll see what lies under the soil.

Peas
Well, we've all learned that peas love loads of water. What a great year for them! I used to think they weren't worth growing, and they're probably not if you're going to put them in the freezer. But as a fresh crop they take some beating, even if they don't stay on the fork, especially raw which is how I prefer them. I must say, I find it hard to tell between different varieties. They're all lovely! The traditional Kelvedon Wonder did well this year and they're going cheap in the shops at the momnent. I could save my own seed, but if it's economical I like to change it every now and again.
The Sugar Snaps were lovely too, so fresh and crunchy, but I'll make more effort to get a successional crop next year. As for the mangetouts - well, the purple-podded look nice and crop well, but for me they're a bit too cabbagey. Next year I'll be trying a more traditional green mangetout.

Beans
What a disastrous year! Virtually none made it past the slugs, which is such a shame. I grow French Bean Blue Lake for fresh pods and Canadian Wonder for kidney beans to dry. I tried the latter as fresh pods last year but couldn't bear the stringiness. The Borlottis joined both these varieties in totally failing this year.
On the plus side, the pack of "exotic beans" which I got from the 99p shop (or was it Poundland?) gave me a pretty good crop of purple pods (Purple Teepee) and the yellow pods (Monte d'Or) tasted beautiful. I'll be interested to see how the black-eyed beans do.They are healthy at the moment. I'll be buying a few of these packs next year, though it's a bit of a pain having to sort out the seeds from the mixed pack.

Runner Beans
Again, these struggled to get past the slugs. The Painted Ladies are a heritage variety which I've chosen on account of their red and white flowers. They are vigorous and crop well, but I've decided to go for a stringless variety next year. I don't like a mouth full of razorlike stringy green stuff and, even if I try to pick them young, I reckon that a customer finding themselves chewing on one of these would not come back.
The Czars, which I grow for their white flowers and white beans, are much less vigorous but, when I do eat them as pods, less prone to be stringy unless they are obviously too big. So they get another chance next year.

Three Sisters
Well, it only ended up as Two Sisters but I've been pretty impressed. The Sweetcorn (Lark) has flourished, it's wispy heads towering above the carpet of courgettes, squashes and pumpkins. Aside from the courgette mountain problem, this system may get even more space next year. I'll add more different winter squashes, as they look great and store well.

The cucurbits which I grew in tyres have done very well too, so I'll continue with this next year.

Leeks and Celery
The leeks and celery seem to be growing very well indeed in each other's company. We've started taking some of the young celery already and I look forward to the leeks later in the year.

Root crops
The Parsnips (Tender & True) have, I think, done brilliantly. Another crop which likes plenty of water early on I guess. I'm confidently expecting to have to bring in a digger to get the whole roots out. I don't know whether interplanting with garlic has helped, but since they've done so well I'll repeat this next year. In stark contrast, none of my Hamburg Parsley came up from two sowings. Such a shame as I really like it. I'll try again next year, but if it fails again...
Carrots of all varieties have had a catastrophic year. I've always been able to rely on these doing well before. I'm sure they'll do well again next year and I'll still grow lots of different colours and shapes.
The Scorzonera, which did so well last year, also failed to materialise. We really like the taste but the long, black roots are extremely fiddly to peel. In contrast, its sister crop, the Salsify, has done brilliantly, as has the Celeriac next to it. Both crops need longer to harvest, but I'm full of expectation. I'll leave some Salsify to flower, since it's a lovely plant all round.
Beetroots have done OK this year, though germination was poor and the slugs got all of those which were planted later. But I do love the taste. I think three types is enough, a red one (may try one of the longer tubers next year), stripy Chioggia and a golden one for sure.

Brassicas
As usual, everything else has got on top of me and the poor brassicas have dropped off the bottom of the list. Next year! The turnips did well early on!



So, that's the beginnings of my plans for next year. No doubt over the winter months I'll be absorbed in planning everything in much more detail. There's the flowers and herbs too, and of course I have a polytunnel for next year which will give a whole new range of opportunites and challenges.

Roll on 2013!

Leeks and Celery

Last year's spare leeks,
this year's architectural minarets,
next year's leek seed.



Sunday 1st July 2012
A clear start to the second half of the year

The last of my root beds to be planted has been reserved for leeks and celery. Though not strictly roots, they fit in here well within my crop rotation. Whereas carrots and parsnips definitely don't need too rich a soil (it causes them to split), leeks and celery are reputed to enjoy a soil enriched with pig manure, so earlier in the year I covered this bed with pig straw and left it to settle down.




Leek transplants

Puddling In
I sowed my leek seeds a while back into seed trays and, for the third year in a row, they have germinated extremely well and grown strong. Baby leek plants seem to really enjoy life in the seed tray.

There is a traditional method of transplanting leek plants into their outdoor home, known as puddling in. It's a lot more straightforward than it sounds. Basically I use a dibber to create a 6 inch hole. I prick out a seedling and drop it into the hole, then just add water. In dry times I'd fill the holes with water every couple of days, but when it's wet nature will do the job. The holes gradually backfill as they are watered.
Standard practise used to be to chop off half the roots,
but it's questionable whether this does any good.
Mine have always done well without this operation.



The leek and celery bed

The celery, too, has been growing in seed trays in the greenhouse. I plant the self-blanching type as I really can't be bothered with digging trenches and earthing up to blanch. I'm not a great fan of celery anyway, though Sue likes it and it's useful in stocks and soups. Eventually it may be surplus to requirements as lovage (a perennial crop which I'm growing from seed) and celeriac can perform most of the same functions.
I've got a couple of last year's celery plants which made it through the winter and are coming into flower. I'm hoping to get viable seed from them. If so I can just grow a few celery plants each year without having to purchase a whole packet.

For now, though, the seedlings have been planted out in blocks surrounded by ranks of leeks. Some of the leeks have been planted closely. I'll take out every other one and eat them as baby leeks. Otherwise, it's a long wait now before we enjoy the benefits of these crops.