Back to normal.

Today I got back to my normal routine in that I spent the afternoon on the plot.
At the Trading Hut yesterday I had looked over the plants for sale and bought 3 strips of cauliflower plants that mature at slightly different times, so I set about planting them. I am quite fussy about how I do this, digging a square hole about 4" deep then using a bulb planter to make a planting hole at the bottom. Half a handful of lime is scattered in the hole to help prevent Clubroot.

The lime is stirred into the soil at the bottom of the hole then the cauliflower plant set in the hole. The surrounding lime/soil is used to firm the plant in, burying it quite deeply so only the top shows and any stem is buried.

The hole serves to concentrate any water onto where it is needed and then allows for easy earthing up later. The mature cauliflowers I have been harvesting have had a magnificent root system which is probably why I have been getting such good crops!
A small dose of fertilizer at the end of the month will be followed about a month later with a little sulphate of potash to promote the big heads.
I hope I am as successful with these summer/autumn cauliflowers as I was with the winter ones!


Before packing up I spent 20 minutes digging over a clear patch of ground to sow some roots. Once again my 'Backsaver' spade came into its own. The hardest part is digging out the initial trench and barrowing it to the other end of the patch. Then, once I start, the ground is quickly turned over! The patch in the picture (5 x 12 feet) took me less than 10 minutes to dig!

The heap of soil in the foreground is ready to shovel into the final trench alongside the path.
A quick run over with the hand cultivator and everything is now ready to sow into on my next visit later this week.
Finally I harvested a huge heap of Spinach Beet leaves and the last of my leeks, sadly running to seed. (If I had the space to leave one I could have saved some seed for next year!) I also cut a single spear of asparagus - my first from the patch I planted last year. Not sure how I will share it with my wife but.....!
Most of the plants appear to have died but the few remaining are just beginning to crop! I look forward to the shoots I found just below the surface coming through!