Christmas veggies

Are you excited yet? Nah?

Christmas crappers

Some seasonal advice from the food standards agency:

Autumn Crops

Still plenty to eat from the plot, which is just as well what with the credit crunch and all that nonsense. Cabbages, leeks, carrots, apples and sprouts now too.

Sprouts

Garlic

My bulbs arrived from Kings Seeds today so I've been out there and planted the cloves. I haven't grown it before but it seems to be all the rage and I wouldn't want to be left behind would I?

Pumpkins

I've harvested these today just as we're getting close to the witchety time. That could be a cue for me to write something about the American election again but other people are doing a better job of it than I ever could.

Carnations

Eat Your Greens

"Golden Acre" cabbages and the spring variety "Durham Early" to their left.

Winter variety "January King".

Broccoli "Romanesco"

Tasty spears and nice to be eating broccoli this time of year.

Bailout Weekend

Will they or wont they? Do I care? How many of these speculators can grow a row of cabbages? Is Sarah Palin a witch?

I think we should be told.

Apples

I'm picking these now; there's three trees - a cooker, an eater and a russet - although I don't know the names of the varieties.

Carrots

As an experiment I've sown half a row of Nantes Frubund today, hopefully they'll get through the winter and be off to a flying start next spring, which should give me an early crop.

Meanwhile I've been digging up the first of this years maincrop:


Update March 2009: They didn't germinate, so I'll know not to try that again.

September Sunshine

Still plenty to eat from the plot - carrots, cabbages, courgettes, tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries and now grapes.

Grapes

Tomatoes

These are still going strong; I used to stop them after five or six trusses but now I train them up to the top of the roof.

Maincrop spuds

Well the rain finally stopped so I took the chance to dig these up. Should keep me going for a week or two.

A little song for y'all

After the astounding response to my foray into the world of American politics last week (thanks clodhopper) I thought I'd post this little song.

Carnations

These are starting to put in an appearance:

I'm Voting Republican

So every time I put up a new post there's a sudden flurry of interest (alright the hit counter goes up a couple of notches) and quite a bit of it is from the US, but I never seem to get any comments from you guys. So I just thought I'd post this to see if I can a rise out of anyone.

Very peculiar

Very peculiar weather today. The wet stuff has stopped falling out of the sky and instead there's a big hot round yellow thing up there. I've googled the symptoms and come up with something called "summer". Advanced search suggests it may be connected with "bank holiday", "olympics", "Boris Johnson pants" or "toke it up white boy". I'll keep you posted if I discover anything further.

Cosmos

I liked the separated petals on this one:

Snapdragons

These just keep on coming:

Dahlia

Raspberries

These are a late summer variety, I haven't a clue what they're called; I started them off with a root from my mate Arther.

Blackberries

I've left plenty of brambles round the edge of the plot and with all the wet stuff falling from the sky the blackberries are big and sweet and juicy and luverly:


The flies are enjoying them too; I think this is the back end of a horse fly, which I reckon looks pretty cosmic:

Still ticking

Things are still ticking over nicely; I've sown the spring cabbage today.

As the phacelia made such good green manure I've sown some more. It's a winter hardy annual so wont need to be dug in till next year.

Spuds

I've dug up the remainder of the Pentland Javalin today, a good haul and not a trace of wireworm, so I must be doing something right:

Spoilt for choice

So much to choose from at the moment: peas, french beans, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, courgettes, gooseberries, raspberries...and the flowers are doing nicely too.

Cosmos

Snapdragons

Sunflower

Courgettes

More cabbages

I sowed a little nursery row of Golden Acre in the middle of June and transplanted them this week to where the early peas were. They got a bit frazzled in the hot weather but seem to be recovering. A bit like me then.

Cauliflower

Maincrop peas

These are ready now just as the earlies have finished.

French beans

Picked the first of these today.

Leeks

These are starting to come along now. I only use them as a winter vegetable so they were sown quite late in the middle of May and planted out at the end of June.

First tomatoes

First baby carrots

Gooseberries

These are ready for picking now.

Birthday Boy

I'm having a day off from the plot today as it's the birthday. First prize for the cheekiest card goes to my daughter - I've absolutely no idea where she gets her warped sense of humour from.

Ticking over

Nothing much to do on the plot at the moment except deal with a few weeds and harvest the fruits of my labour. Just as it should be for this time of the season. I have turned the compost heap and spread what was usable as a mulch, so it's not as if I've had my feet up all day, just thought I'd make that clear for all you puritans out there.

Carnations

These are coming along now so I've put up some support:

Mulch

As the ground's wet after all the recent rain it's a good time to get a mulch on. What compost I've got I've spread around the sprouts and broccoli.

Raspberries

The strawberries are about over so it's time for the raspberries: