Flu and what-have-you

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 27 September 2011 in growing | 3 comments

So I got myself all stoked up to do stuff and blog about it to get myself back into the swing of things then I got the flu. The only thing that’s been productive around here in the last two weeks or so has been my phlegmy chest. I’m still not running at full steam but I thought I should try to hop back aboard the blogging train before all the carriages race away from me and this metaphor goes off the completely off the tracks ;)

These last few weeks have mostly been spent slumped on one sofa or another, watching a whole lot of films and eating a whole lot of soup. But in my slightly-better moments, I’ve done some sewing after getting a new embroidery book out of the library just before the virus hit (book review coming soon) and wandered down to see the chickens, lamenting about the sorry state of the garden and wondering if things will fruit/ripen before the frost hits.

The latter put me in a bit of a “I’m a bad gardener” slump until I realised that even with all the dead things, the things that won’t quite get there this year, the things that didn’t stand a chance and the lack of any summer sowing whatsoever, we’ve still got at least ten edible things growing in the garden that we can/will eat: achocha (outdoor – will pick soon), tomatoes (greenhouse & outdoor), courgettes, marrows (ok, so they’re essentially the same thing but we used them differently), cucumbers, peppers, chillis (all greenhouse), leeks, pumpkin and swiss chard.

And that’s before we get onto the wild greens/fruit (predominantly nettles but there are also some bullet-like blackberries at the end of the garden and the dregs of elderberries on the trees near the kitchen), the technically-edible-but-I-probably-won’t-eat-them-now things (like the new leaves/shoots on the squashes & the achocha, or the marigold leaves & heads) and herbs (rosemary, lavender & mint still going strong outside, basil & chives inside, and things gone to seed both outside & in that are still usable just not as good as before they flowered, like dill & oregano).

And it’s also not including eggs – the six girls are still kicking out on average five a day, which is nice.

When I’ve got a bit more energy/less mucus, I’ll write more about our growing year here – lots more lessons learnt and things to definitely not do next year – but this has made me feel a little better about things, that there have been some successes as well as the many failures.

What’s still on the go in your garden?

What’s in your veg plot over winter…?

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 8 September 2010 in growing | 0 comments

A weekend away (on a great cheesemaking short course) means I’m behind on the garden again, sigh…

As well as trying to give encouragement to the bit behind the curve summer veg in the greenhouse, I’m trying to clear space for the winter/spring veg too. I know I should be grateful that most of the courgette/marrow plants are still giving forth their bountiful and succulent fruits, but I’ve got about a hundred brassica seedlings awaiting their moment in the fading autumn sun.

Like my summer growing this year, I’m still experimenting with my winter/early spring selection – to see what grows in this garden – so I’ve got a range of different things to try this year. My leeks are already planted out and doing well. So that’s something. And there are some late-autumn-cropping broccoli on the way. But the rest of the aforementioned brassicas (two types of winter/early spring cabbages, two types of kale and cauliflowers to over winter) are causing me the most concern at the moment. All those seedlings are currently in our sun porch/nursery. I want to get them out into the garden ASAP – they really want to stretch their legs – I’m just not sure where they’re going to go. I think I need to get more mercenary about the dumping the underperforming squashes (another story, another sigh) – and perhaps even cull a still very productive courgette plant, since it’s the only thing left in one of my little curved beds on the middle level. There are also a few containers/planters that could be recommissioned and if I ever get around to building the large/low raised-bed style planters I’ve been planning, that would buy me a lot more growing space, although I had mentally allocated that for garlic…

I can’t forget that the summer harvest from the greenhouse will largely be over and done with in the next few weeks, so I’ll have some space in there for more sheltered growing. I’m not interested in heating the greenhouse really but it’ll be more sheltered and warmer than outside so I suppose some of the tubs of brassicas can have a slightly easier life in there… I’m going to use the (also unheated) sun-porch for winter salad because it’s easier to keep an eye on in there.

…So that’s another half dozen tasks to add to my to-do list. Busy busy busy!

What are you growing this winter? Is there anything you’re starting now/soon to overwinter? What do you grow in an unheated greenhouse overwinter?

Experimenting in the garden: leeks & tomatoes

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 10 August 2010 in growing | 0 comments

As I mentioned in my “lessons from our garden so far” post, this year is about experimentation in our garden. It’s our first growing season in a new place, with very different sun, light & soil conditions from anywhere I’ve grown before so it’s interesting to generally see what works and what doesn’t. I know what the books say will work and what the books say I should do, but sometimes that doesn’t mean squat ;)

There are a couple of areas where I’m experimenting a bit more specifically.

Leeks
A number of respected sources recommended lopping off the top thirds of the leaves and the bottom third of the roots on transplanting. Other equally respected sources recommended transplanting them as they are and “not mutilating them”. So I decided to half-and-half my leeklings – or rather third/third/third them because I ran out of space, and had to plant the third in another spot. So my leeks experiment is:

• some leeklings top & tailed
• some leeklings left intact
• some leeklings in a bed where they’ve been trampled on by the cats & my clumsy boyfriend.

I think it might be between the first two about which is more successful.