We made the most of a couple a mild dry afternoons last week to spend some time on the allotment.
Our first visit more or less focused on gathering some vegetables. Most or our crops are what you would expect for this time of the year. We did, however, have one huge surprise.
We have been rather tardy at removing dead tomato plants from our plot greenhouse. This has proved to be very fortuitous as some of the tomatoes that were hanging on to the dry withered stems had continued to ripen.
Some were a bit squishy but I did manage to pick a few good fruits.
Never would I have expected to be picking tomatoes from a neglected cold greenhouse just before Christmas!
Our main harvest was typical for this time of year.
The red cabbage was huge and weighed in at 5.2kg (about 11.5lb).
Germination of the first sowing of parsnips was patchy and so I sowed more seeds to fill the gaps. The outcome was that the size of our parsnips is variable. Some are very small and some very large.
The one above left its tail behind.
The leeks are smaller than usual maybe due to a lack of moisture.
As for the carrots, some are large but also extremely wonky and many have been attacked by slugs or split. They are not a pretty sight but after quite a bit of preparatory work are still very tasty.
It's nearly Christmas and so we had to pick some sprouts. The last lot that I picked needed quite a lot of the outside leaves removing but that still left some for dinner.
Our first plot visit of the week was mainly to harvest but on Friday we tackled some of the neglected areas on the plot.
I started rescuing a very overgrown clump of rhubarb. It's only a small area but hardly a small job.
Martyn is trying to reclaim another overgrown bed. Quite a large area.
When you consider how it looked last month I think he is making really good progress.
Excuse some of the image quality as it was fairly dark when some were taken. Roll on longer daylight hours!
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How fantastic to find tomatoes at this time of year. Your red cabbage looks fantastic and like it might provide a few meals. What sort is it?
ReplyDeleteHi Joy the red cabbage is a club root resistant variety closed Red Lodero. Thanks for reading and commenting.
DeleteTomatoes for Christmas is amazing! And that big head of red cabbage is very impressive. I'm guessing it will last for more than one meal.
ReplyDeleteThe tomatoes were a huge surprise, Dave. Your guess is spot on.
DeleteThat's a cabbage and a half. Braised red and coleslaw for a month then? Do the big parsnips taste very strong?
ReplyDeleteThe large parsnips don’t taste any different to the small ones, Deborah.
DeleteThat is a prize winning cabbage! And those tomatoes are unblemished and beautiful, I know it's a real treat to have fresh from the garden tomatoes for Christmas. Perhaps you'll have to make a habit of being tardy about removing the tomato vines.
ReplyDeleteI think it helped that we had no blight this year, Michelle. It was a treat as they were also surprisingly tasty.
DeleteMerry Christmas Sue! Isn't it great to be able to harvest all the veggies for Christmas Lunch from your plot? That is a beautiful cabbage
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathy. It was good to look at the dinner plate and see everything except the meat was home grown.
DeleteIt must have been very satisfying to have those home-grown tomatoes for Christmas! This year we had no home-grown veg on our Christmas dinner-table - although there were some foraged chestnuts in with the sprouts, and we had Endive and Chicory in a salad on Christmas Eve. With more space available, I hope to do better in 2018.
ReplyDeleteIt was surprising too Mark. Will you be posting about your new venture?
DeleteWell done for going to the allotment never mind picking all that lovely veg AND tomatoes! Amazing
ReplyDeleteDefinitely unexpected tomato surprise, Belinda
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