Harvest Monday - some late potatoes and a peek on the allotment

Phewee, it's howling with wind and rain out there but we've got it lightly over in the east compared with the south west of Britain being battered by Storm Imogen. So I'm sitting with a rug round my shoulders thinking how lucky we are to be safe indoors.

Yesterday (Sunday) was looking like a bright day so I headed down the plot for a few hours....it turned out rather blustery but I was pleased to be outside.

Now, this might just look like a patch of weeds but I knew there were some Anya potatoes under there. I'd left them because the chard had self seeded on top. But as it's been so mild I figured they probably would start sprouting in the ground and decided to have a root around.

It also meant the spot got weeded at the same time and I managed to avoid disturbing the chard which should produce some more leaves

Not too bad, I think this was just from 4 seed potatoes. They did have a few shoots but I broke them off as I was uncovering them.

I roasted some of them later, yummy

On the plot I also spied the purple sprouting broccoli has started sprouting, yippee. This was from a two year old plant that I cut back to the main stem last spring and simply left in the ground. So not much effort involved there, bonus.

It went nicely with the roast potatoes - the leaves are tasty too (The pale leaves are from a bought organic cabbage from the veg stall on Norwich market)

Earlier in the week Jan made this baked egg dish with a chilli from the lean to and onion etc

Back on the plot, this is one of my 'u' or 'n' shaped beds which I'm converting into 3 individual rectangular ones. It was 3 pallets wide all the way round, with a gap left in the middle for accessing the inside of the 'u' (Autumn broad beans in the background, probably blown away by the wind now)

You might think those are all weeds but most of the plants are actually the self-sown corn salad, growing away nicely, more free food!

You can see the U shape a bit better on the other bed that I've yet to start on. They've been quite successful, especially as they helped me to even out a slope across the plot, but the wood is now rotting and the couch grass gets in from the edges too. You can also see the large PSB plant in the top right of the bed. And the prolific blackberry hedge along the right too.

From the other side. Doesn't look much at the moment! I'll end up with 6 beds eventually

Back at home, some Rosemary I'd snipped off and put in a jar for easy access has unexpectedly produced roots

I don't need any more Rosemary plants so maybe I'll pot these on and give them away. But it shows how easily they can be propagated

And my second batch of cress on the windowsill has done well. Next time I'll use a shallower container to make it easier to snip off the cress. And also fold down the edges of the piece of kitchen roll before sowing the seeds so that doesn't get in the way either.

And finally, some dwarf curly kale I picked from the plot earlier in the week. This is again from a two year old plant that I pruned back last spring which produced more leaves again. No effort involved, hurrah (except the tiny baby snails seem to like it)

Oh, a bit off-topic but I was very pleased with myself on Saturday as I managed to replace the washer on a dripping tap - the tap valve was really stiff but with a mixture of leverage, rubber glove for a bit of grip and a spot of lubricant it eventually gave way...just call me plumber Lou.

 

Okay, that's enough from me for the week, thanks for reading. Linking in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres

 

 

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