today's weeding

It was lovely this afternoon, weeding with a rainbow, Caroline and John. Also using a new Kale recipe: Shred it, add salt and soya sauce and place on baking tray in the oven! Result like Chinese seaweed. Still interested in receiving more kale recipies.

Compost

I get frightfully excited about compost. In Edinburgh I recently got my rotting heap up to 55degreesC, I was out measuring it's temperature first thing each day. Getting compost to really take off like that takes great cuilinary skills... Bins are labelled clearly enough for all literate morons,

The horrid green bin is now redudant, but has left us with some scrummy compost ready to use.

Weeding

Lots and lots of weeding has taken place over the last two days.. especially in the long thin bed by the house. Should be ready for Catherine to get creative with in October.

Plot 4 and 5

Plot 4 now has purple sprouting broccoli, which all being well should be croppable in April... that is if it can survive the winter gales and hungry roedeer. It also has one tomatoe plant in it.. but not for much longer.

Plot 5 just has one lonely sickly squash plant at the moment and other wise is empty. I am about to put in a whole load of broad beans, in the hope they will be well established before the end of the growing season, and croppable in May.

That is the theory.

Plot 3

Plot 3, thanks to the kindness of Francis Richardson, has produced the best cabbages ever, huge and perfect. Also a seriously good crop of kale.. tough stuff, it is too tough for cows to eat and even survived being stood but a whopping great bovine, and yet Tom has managed to stuff it into the naughty nephews!

This small patch of earth is also supporting a tomatoe plant, a PRODUCTIVE corgette and a squash plant (not so productive).

Thank you Francis.

Plot 2 this year

Plot 2 has been beautiful. A fantastic mixture of rainbow chard and beetroot both of which have grown very strongly.

Also in this space we had runner beans on the tripod at the back, sugar snap peas on the trellis at the front, and a squash.. all of these grew, but not brilliantly. It may be that all of these suffered from not being planted out soon enough, so they were a little leggy and late.

crop rotation

This is not just a pic of Dad's bum...

It occurs to me that in a few months time I will have completely have forgotton what we grew where; disaster. So Here is a record:

The plots I have numbered from 1 - 5 starting at the gate and from left to right.

so plot 1: Right now it is full of tomatoes, they have grown very slowly indeed, don't look hugely healthy, and only now, late September, are they ripe to eat.. but they are sooo delicious.

There are also 3 healthy handsome chive plants.. how many chives can a household consume

harvest time

The veggie beds are looking fantastic, yummy tomatoes, cabbage, kale, beetroot, squash, corgette (ok only one), beautiful rainbow coloured chard. Really a very good showing for just our first summer and one that started late too as the veg beds were'nt ready til the end of May. A very few peas and runner beans, not sure why these two were less prolific, but then I have never been able to grow proper cabbages before.

In this photograph you can see Dad installing blackcurrant bushes in the top corner, They were moved out onto the hill last summer, since when all their tenderest shoots have been devoured by bovines.. so they have been given a reprieve.