Christmas veggies

Got these in today ready for dinner tomorrow with the oldies.
Forking leeks out of frozen ground...


...and carrots...


...the sprouts were a bit easier:



Happy Christmas to us all, we're utterly brilliant.

Tree O'Clock

Did my bit today by taking part in the BBC Breathing Places Tree O'Clock event to plant as many trees as possible between 11 and 12 o'clock today in an attempt to break the world record for most trees planted in one hour. I toddled along to our local event at Allestree Park organised by WildDerby and along with lots of other people planted my dozen trees. Hopefully next year they'll do something really useful and plant up the golf course.

Not only that I also scored a few hawthorn whips to plant at home; I've used them to fill in some gaps in the hedge on the plot. Regular eco-warrior I am today.

Aquadulce broad beans

Coming up nicely:

Getting started

On the winter digging:

Spreading compost...

...and digging it in:

Stephanie McMillan

Proper autumn

Proper autumn now, not that you'd know it from the balmy weather and yes, global bloody capitalists, I still blame you more than ever.

Halloween and all that nonsense. Thankfully I haven't grown any pumpkins.

Still plenty to eat from the plot mind - carrots, leeks, autumn greens and the last tomatoes; barrow loads of apples; peas and beans from the freezer; onions and potatoes from store.

I've planted out the garlic and also sown some broad beans and peas for (hopefully) some early crops next spring. Other than that I've been getting on with some structural jobs. Oo-er, get me.


The colours of autumn - the last of the tomatoes, carnations and sunflower heads.

Blimey I'm getting all artistic. Don't tell Emma.

Slabbing

The path down the middle of the plot gets muddy in winter so I've put down some recycled slabs:


Cool eh? Very structural.

Carnations

Still enjoying these before the frost cuts them down:

Cosmos

Bees enjoying the last cosmos flowers:

Autumn greens

Spinach, the last of the primo cabbages and pak choi:

Letting in the light

The plum tree suckers in the orchard were becoming trees in themselves so I've taken them out to let in more light to my growing areas. I'm hoping to replace them further over with some sweet chestnuts - Castanea sativa "Marron de Lyon" if I can get hold of some.

I'm not losing sleep over this as I've planted other trees along the back of the plot over the years - rowan, yew and hawthorn - all good for wildlife. And it's nothing on the scale of these guys:



endciv.com

Still here

I know I haven't posted for a while but I'm still here; I even let the anniversary of 9-11 go by without comment. Apparently it was an inside job. Later on I'll tell you something you didn't already know.

So things are slowing down, no mists yet but plenty of mellow fruitfulness. The blackberries and plums are about over but there's still raspberries, apples, pears and even a few bunches of grapes.

The runner beans are done too but there's still fresh peas, cabbages, carrots and leeks as well as onions, garlic and potatoes in store.

Green shoots

No not the mythical economic recovery but spinach for autumn greens:

Cosmos

Carnations

Still going strong:

Last row of peas

These always get mildew at this time of year but the peas inside are just fine.

Carrots and leeks

Sprouts

Looking forward to these.

More autumn greens

Primo cabbage:

My favourite colour snap

So yellow.