It's warmed up a bit this week and was even sunny on Sunday, which was great as that was when I fitted in a few hours on the plot. I did a few different jobs, of course not all that were planned (it's so easy to get distracted).
I did have a couple of little friends to keep me company - two robins that were sooo cute kept coming right up to where I was working for a peck around, and when they weren't looking for morsels, they were singing beautifully. One got a treat, a tasty green caterpillar I found, gobbled up as soon as I threw it over to them.
Jobs included; topping up my garlics with compost (some of you might remember that I planted them a bit high, so I wanted to cover them up a bit), clearing the brambles from around my hazel tree (I have a little one too, that was in shade and crowded-out so recently I cleared back an overhanging privet tree to give it more space and light), the hazels have catkins on, which is a good sign for more nuts this year.
I also weeded round the base of two of my dwarf apple trees (I have 4) and added some compost on top. I've been clearing out a huge old pile of cut brambles that I'd been mounding up since getting the plot - it has some really good leaf mould in it (that I'll use for my hugel bed) and masses of tougher broken dead stalks, some of which I've already used as a layer for my hugel bed. But with so much material available I decided to use some of the broken up stalks as a mulch on top of the compost, to try and stop weeds a bit. There's about 8 years worth of stalks so I'll be trying it round lots of my fruit bushes. Not sure if it'll work!
And on to the harvests this week -
I also noticed that one of my squashes had a bad spot on it, so roasted it up, with some of my foraged chestnut roast from the freezer (the chestnuts were foraged, not the roast!), my own potatoes plus the cabbage. Yummy
There was enough leftovers for lunch today too.... bonus! But I only have one squash left now, sigh. It's a big'un though so should go a long way. I'd better keep an eye on it to look for signs of deterioration. It's not ideal keeping them in the lean-to greenhouse - I think they need to be kept warmer but I don't have anywhere appropriate at the moment.
Linking in with harvest Monday on Daphne's Dandelions :)
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Lovely savoy cabbage. The last time I tried to grow them I had massive aphid problems and I haven't tried again. That was years ago!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle, my main problem is little slugs and snails getting in, right in between the leaves, but this one didn't have any for some reason. Maybe because it's been cold.
DeleteSurprise beetroots! Always nice to find a surprise. That cabbage looks wonderful ...
ReplyDeleteYes Susie, I was pleased to find the beetroots! I thnk I might grow some in my small back garden plot this year, the allotment is a bit dry for them and they don't do so well there. I'm more likely to water at home.
DeleteBeautiful harvests - One of these days I may try to grow leeks again. I'm not sure why but I've always considered them a difficult veg to grow - I think I may have tried to grow them way back (10+ years ago) and they didn't amount to anything, which has left that lasting impression.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret! The last few years I've sown leeks in pots at home then plant out in the space once my potatoes are harvested - we get leek moth caterpillars and I had bad damage a couple of years, but you miss the moths if you plant out later. It does mean my leeks don't have much growing time before winter, so are a bit small but they put on a bit of growth in spring too. Or you can plant out earlier but cover them with mesh. I'm not sure what bugs you get over there though. The leeks do need quite good soil too, which I dont really have but I keep trying to grow them anyway :)
DeleteI think 2014 was a difficult year for Leeks, so I'm impressed with that one of yours. Re the bramble trimmings: do you find that they break down well enough, or do you get left with lots of hard spiky bits in the compost?
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark, I plant them out late as described above so they dont get very big (if I was more organised I'd grow several varieties to harvest over a longer period, and cover over earlier plantings). This was my biggest leek at the moment but hopefully the others will carry on growing through to spring. Otherwise I'll just have posh baby leeks ;) I'll probably leave a couple to go to seed too, for the insects and to spread seed around.
DeleteWith the bramble trimmings, it seems that if you cut them when they're alive they will break down quicker but if you're clearing old dead brambles they're rock hard! So I have a mixture in my stack.im mainly hoping they act as a barrier to light to prevent weed seeds germinating but also wonder if slugs and snails might hide in between them :/ The leaves from live trimmings have made good leaf mould though but to get to it I'm having to pull the pile apart (hence trying to use up the woody prunings too)
The cabbage looks absolutely delicious. You've reminded me that I have a big Turk's Turban squash with a spot in it as well, I need to tackle it soon. CJ xx
ReplyDeleteThanks CJ, I'm not that good at growing brassicas so anything is a success in my book, even a little cabbage like this! Yep, you don't want to lose a squash to mould, so get cooking!
DeleteAre your savoys small like ours are this year. Welcome all the same.
ReplyDeleteMy brassicas are quite often small sue, not just this year :) I've got a couple more little savoys that are even smaller but fingers crossed they might grow a bit more.
DeleteThat cabbage looks so pretty. I've got to go through my squash today and pick a few to bake up and puree. I've run out of puree in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteCabbage is so nice when you cut through it Daphne, nice patterns :) and nice not to find any slugs lurking too (or half a slug).
ReplyDeleteYour squash success is very inspiring, I'm going to try and grow more this year.