Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

I wrote back on the 23rd August how I planned to sow  White Ishikura Spring Onions  and  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  carrots to grow undercover in the greenhouse through autumn and into winter in the hope of having some crops for the long dark months of winter and perhaps even few carrots for the Christmas Dinner fresh from the garden. I also sowed a line of Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 seeds in the veg patch outside to compare with those in the Greenhouse.  Firstly the outside sown Carrots failed, no great surprise as they are not a 'winter hardy' variety and were sown very late. As for the crops in the Greenhouse I didn't manage to have home grown carrots with Christmas Dinner sadly but will be having some this evening, I am very happy to report 😃 Both the  White Ishikura Spring Onions  and  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  are now ready for harvesting; okay a little later than hoped but it's fresh veg off the plot in March that isn't Winter Lettuce or Spring Greens. Th

It was a chilly day down my way Sunday but one of those lovely sunny afternoons which as long as you are suitably wrapped up against the cold is lovely to work in. I dug out the old West Ham woolly hat and a thermal vest and ventured bravely into the cold.  I mentioned earlier this month that the clearing of leaves will be high on the list of jobs in November and as you can see from the photo below I've had a few fall in the garden over the last few days! It might not be everyone's idea of a fun afternoon but once you get going raking-up leaves can be quite therapeutic and gives you a little cardio workout to boot. Okay, it's not like going on a ten-mile run but you can get a sweat on plus you do get a feeling of a job well done when finished.  I decided to cobble together a Leaf Mould bin; as described in the What jobs need doing in the garden in November post it doesn't have to be the most elaborate of structures. As you can see from the photo I have  simply wrapped

The vegetable patch is beginning to look a little sorry for itself now in November. The Green Manure mix sowed a few weeks ago has really shot up, I possibly sowed a little to thickly, but it will do no harm and does at least add some foliage to the plot at this time year and is of course doing a very important job. I mentioned in a previous post how Green manures stop weeds spreading and prevent nutrients leaching from the soil over winter. With the amount of rainfall we have had at times in October I am very pleased I sowed the mix! The plants will be cut down and lightly dug into the soil come spring.  The Runner Bean plants are pretty much done for with the last having been picked at the weekend. They have been brilliant this year, I have bags and bags of them frozen to get me through the winter. I will leave the plants for a week or two as they die down to let the leaves fall off; makes it much easier unravelling them from their supports. All the remains will naturally be composte

I have sown a packet of Mr Fothergills Green Manure Autumn/Winter mix on the part of the main veg bed that is now empty the French Beans having finished and the leeks thrown onto the compost heap having bolted.  I mentioned in a previous post what handy things Green Manures are. They stop weeds spreading as they grow so quickly, the seeds I sowed had germinated in just three of four days, and prevent nutrients leaching from the soil over winter. Clovers fixes nitrogen in the soil whilst Rye Grass and Mustard improve soil structure - these are all in this particular mix. Green Manures are also beneficial to a number of insects when few if any plants and flowers are around in late autumn and early spring.  The plants will be cut down and lightly dug into the soil come spring prior to the sowing of seeds next March/April.  If you have never used a green Manure seed mix I would highly recommend them.  On the rest of the plot it is all about harvesting and storing at the moment. The Runner

 The Leeks have bolted!  A mini disaster has beset the veg patch with the Leeks all bolting/going to seed. I have had to accept the inevitable and dug the lot up! Each and every one had gone, all forming bulbs rather than nice long slender stems.  Some will say I planted out the seedlings too early, I put them out over the Easter Weekend in early April, but I have done this many times before and all has been fine. I think it is a simple case of the weird and wonderful weather we have had this year with it so unsettled - hot when it would normally be chilly, wet when you'd expect it dry and cold when it should be time to slap on the sun cream!  With the French Beans also basically done I have cleared half the big bed in total, dug in some Chicken Manure Pellets and sown a Green Manure mix over the bare soil.  Poultry manure is a useful source of nitrogen and I also scattered a fair helping around the Strawberry plants as I do every autumn. I will naturally add other fertilisers such

 We have seedlings!  I wrote back on the 23rd August how I planned to sow White Ishikura Spring Onions and Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 carrots to grow undercover in the greenhouse through autumn and into winter in the hope of having some crops or the long dark months ahead and a few carrots for the Christmas Dinner fresh from the garden. I have also sowed a line of Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 seeds in the veg patch outside to compare with those in the Greenhouse.  Those in the greenhouse appear to be going well and I have a very high germination rate as you can see from below. Excuse my terrible sowing skills some thinning out will clearly be required - my big old sausage fingers are not built for sowing carrot seeds thinly 🤣 The carrots in the veg patch haven't germinated as well thus far but a few seedlings are popping their heads above ground and with warm weather forecast for the next few days I am hopeful a few more may get going yet.   It really has been a funny summer with

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to get several hours in the garden, pottering around, doing a little weeding, edging the lawn where it had become a little untidy, moving some pots around and generally tidying up. I also had time to begin the Winter Crop Experiment.  The White Ishikura Spring Onions  have been sown into a trough and the Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  sown into a couple of old buckets that I grow the odd thing in and a spare terracotta pot. I have used bulk standard multi-purpose compost bought from the local Horticultural Guild Trading Sheds on Sunday morning. They have all been placed in the Greenhouse and now the waiting game begins. I am as confident as you can be that they will germinate and all being well I will have a few extra crops throughout the months of autumn and hopefully even early winter.   Just for fun, as I am not sure if this sowing will work, I have also sown a line of  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 in the veg patch. This is very late for outdoor sowing

 I have decided to have a go at growing some crops that are usually more associated with summer and autumn for a winter harvest, all being well.  Growing salad leaves for winter harvests isn't that unusual, there are some that are better sown in winter. in fact such as Lamb's Lettuce. I have in the past grown various cut and come again types in pots and even old buckets, sown in late autumn and when the cold weather really hits moved under cover into the Greenhouse, which of course by that time was empty the Tomato plants having long since been removed and composted. You don't get copious amounts but I have managed to grow enough to see me through the winter months - I don't know about you but I don't eat as many salads in December and January anyway.  This year I am having a go with Spring Onions and Carrots!  I have White Ishikura Spring Onions which the packet informs me are tender with long stems and slow to bulb. Usually sown between March and July to be harve