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.