Looking back its nearly a year since my last post!
First my computer was getting very slow making every post a trial but also I was struggling keeping up with my 10 rod plot. Now the laptop has had an upgrade and is now almost like new and my son has joined me in working on the plot.
- So now I hope to have time to maintain the blog!
Last year was a very mixed bag. All my onions, some of the shallots, and even some of my leeks, ran to seed. Potatoes were also less productive: the bags of perfect spuds were quite small but we've survived so far and we are still eating home grown. The Brussels Sprouts we are harvesting at the moment are just big enough to use and neither have my cauliflowers grown this year.
Fortunately, I'm happy to be harvesting my first ever Black Kale together with the usual parsnips and leeks. And we are still using up the shallots from 2018, which is a good thing as the 2019 crop is not very large.
While I dwell on the problems of last year, it cannot be that bad as I came across last year's prize tickets from the show in August and there were a few! And the lettuce I planted in the old tomato grobags in the greenhouse. This is despite losing two of the plastic roof panels in the recent gales. A costly repair.
Having spent a month over Christmas and New Year visiting my son in Milwaukee, USA, I didn't get started until nearly the end of January. Since then I've started digging out my compost bin, mulching the asparagus bed, and
I've moved one of my brassica tunnels to its new site what spring cauliflower and cabbage are already growing. A mulch of partially decomposed leaf mould will keep them cosy and moist even if it stops raining.
I've also started clearing the rubbish from behind the greenhouse and round my Loganberry. Perhaps I'll get a better crop this year now I've dug out the huge spiky bramble from beside the greenhouse!
First my computer was getting very slow making every post a trial but also I was struggling keeping up with my 10 rod plot. Now the laptop has had an upgrade and is now almost like new and my son has joined me in working on the plot.
- So now I hope to have time to maintain the blog!
Last year was a very mixed bag. All my onions, some of the shallots, and even some of my leeks, ran to seed. Potatoes were also less productive: the bags of perfect spuds were quite small but we've survived so far and we are still eating home grown. The Brussels Sprouts we are harvesting at the moment are just big enough to use and neither have my cauliflowers grown this year.
Fortunately, I'm happy to be harvesting my first ever Black Kale together with the usual parsnips and leeks. And we are still using up the shallots from 2018, which is a good thing as the 2019 crop is not very large.
While I dwell on the problems of last year, it cannot be that bad as I came across last year's prize tickets from the show in August and there were a few! And the lettuce I planted in the old tomato grobags in the greenhouse. This is despite losing two of the plastic roof panels in the recent gales. A costly repair.
Having spent a month over Christmas and New Year visiting my son in Milwaukee, USA, I didn't get started until nearly the end of January. Since then I've started digging out my compost bin, mulching the asparagus bed, and
I've moved one of my brassica tunnels to its new site what spring cauliflower and cabbage are already growing. A mulch of partially decomposed leaf mould will keep them cosy and moist even if it stops raining.
I've also started clearing the rubbish from behind the greenhouse and round my Loganberry. Perhaps I'll get a better crop this year now I've dug out the huge spiky bramble from beside the greenhouse!
I have also started digging out the Jerusalem Artichokes that shaded the end of the greenhouse. The wind just blew them over so they weren't very effective. I have some willow wands from pollarding my tree at home so I am thinking of growing a clipped willow screen there instead.
At home, despite my consummate lack of skill, I have started sowing in the insulated frost-proof section of my greenhouse using my heated propagators. Tomatoes, cabbages, peas and beans and several other seedlings are already on the go! I guess I'll still have to buy plants from the Trading Hut when mine shrivel up and die - but I keep trying!
At home, despite my consummate lack of skill, I have started sowing in the insulated frost-proof section of my greenhouse using my heated propagators. Tomatoes, cabbages, peas and beans and several other seedlings are already on the go! I guess I'll still have to buy plants from the Trading Hut when mine shrivel up and die - but I keep trying!
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