Last week wasn't off to a promising start when on Easter Monday we woke up to this:
Thankfully, the snow that fell disappeared quickly.
We weren't the only ones to be happy about this.
On Friday we managed a visit to the plot, primarily to tidy up the greenhouse and harvest the remaining parsnips.
Martyn did a good job of the plot greenhouse.
Whilst he was sorting things out in there, I did a bit more tidying up. Some of the beds have untidy areas at the end that have been neglected. I planned to sort these out over winter but the weather had other plans for me. The area below is only partially sorted out but for such a small patch I seemed to remove lots of grass.
Tidying the planting bags was a far gentler activity.
So far the annuals that I planted out, although not actively growing, are surviving.
The daffodils, primroses and forget-me-nots are starting to cheer things up.
The honeyberries are also flowering but if they follow the same pattern as previous years they are unlikely to set fruit. I've since read that two different varieties are required for successful pollination, but when we bought ours there was only one variety available.
Hopefully the other fruit bushes will make up for the lack of honeyberries. The jostaberry and blueberry buds are breaking.
On Friday we gathered the best harvest of the year so far.
All the remaining parsnips were lifted. They have started to regrow so would have soon become woody and inedible. With this in mind and being loathe to waste them, I decided to freeze the ones that were left.
We managed a small helping of purple sprouting broccoli which for some reason does do well for us so this was a treat.
I found a few spring onions that had overwintered in the growing bags.
We managed another afternoon at the allotment on Sunday when we managed to plant some of our potatoes.
We planted up a bed of Casablanca - an early variety that we really like and have grown for quite a few years. We had four small tubers left so these were planted up in an air pot and left in the plot greenhouse.
In another bed we planted this year's six trial varieties - four tubers each of Jazzy, Mayan Gold, Elfie, Carlingford, Apache and Carolus.
We managed another afternoon at the allotment on Sunday when we managed to plant some of our potatoes.
We planted up a bed of Casablanca - an early variety that we really like and have grown for quite a few years. We had four small tubers left so these were planted up in an air pot and left in the plot greenhouse.
In another bed we planted this year's six trial varieties - four tubers each of Jazzy, Mayan Gold, Elfie, Carlingford, Apache and Carolus.
The trial potatoes were planted through weed control fabric but the early potatoes were planted and earthed up. We lift the early potatoes as we need them and it easier to harvest individual roots without the fabric.
This week I am linking to harvest Monday
hosted on Dave's blog Our Happy Acres
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My potatoes are all in now. I'm growing some Maincrop varieties for the first time, as well as my usual 1st and 2nd Earlies. I had a Honeyberry plant until recently (just one). It set fruit OK (though not a lot), but we found the taste rather unpleasant, so I got rid of the plant.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe we are not missing anything them, Mark. The flowers are quite pretty though.
DeleteYour weather does sound a lot like ours. Your harvests have more variety than mine though. Talking to a farmer here I found a PSB variety that overwinters in our area with protection, so I am going to try that this year. We bought some of the broccoli from him and it was quite tasty. I ripped up our honeyberries too, since our opinion of them was much like Mark's. Our deer loved them though!
ReplyDeleteOur problem is club root, Dave. There doesn't seem to be a club root resistant variety of PSB.
DeleteHoneyberry certainly has a deceptive name, sounds like it should be Blahberry instead. The plot is looking good and I'm sure that it's going to be looking green and lush in no time.
ReplyDeleteIt's a member of the honeysuckle family, Michelle hence the name which appears it is not living up too. Catalogues hyped it up as tasting like a blueberry which ot obviously doesn't. Very naughty of them.
DeleteI have not been able to get out into our garden this month yet - it's so frustrating! I've never noticed those planting bags before - are they purchased as such or is their intended use something else and you have improvised?
ReplyDeleteThey were bought as growing bags for tomatoes, Margaret but we didn't like them for that purpose
DeleteGood to see the back of the snow and that harvest, lucky you having a little purple sprouting broccoli. Your fruit buds are ahead of mine! It must feel good to be able to get on with the jobs after that awful winter. Lovely having the daffs indoors.xxx
ReplyDeleteIt did feel as though we were getting somewhere at last, Dina
DeleteWe woke up to falling snow on Easter Monday Sue but it soon gave way to heavy rain. Today we woke up to thick fog which cleared mid morning after which the sun came out. It's good to see the foliage on various fruit bushes appear. Well done on getting some of your spuds in. It finally feels warm enough :)
ReplyDeleteWe had fog Monday morning too, Anna and then the afternoon working in the garden.
DeleteI love how fat your parsnips and leeks are. It's great that you were able to get the annuals and potatoes planted. You're getting a lot marked off your to do list. I really need to get the tomatoes and peppers potted up into individual containers, the situation is starting to get dire.
ReplyDeleteIt was satisfying to get something done, Phuong but there are still lots on the list. Tomato and pepper seeds will only be sown this week or next.
DeleteLovely update and harvest Sue blessings to you and Martyn
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda
DeleteYour harvest looks really good, Sue. So satisfying to have a good range of fresh food at this time in the year
ReplyDeleteI think we will be limited to leeks for a while now, Kathy.
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