The week before last we planted our first lot of broad (fava) beans and sowed our first lot of peas and I wrote that I would post about this later.
If you pop over to our vlog, I have posted videos of planting the broad beans and sowing our peas. If you watch the videos you will notice that we are rather cavalier in our approach to planting and sowing.
As is usually recommended we sow two bean seeds to a cell, but then we part company with the recommended technique. If, as is usually the case, both seeds germinate we don't discard one of the seedlings but plant both as if it was just one plant.
It seems a sin to reject one of the seedlings when it has done its best to germinate, and we haven't found that planting the two seedling together affects their growth. Of course those leaves don't remain perfect for long as the weevils move in almost immediately as the telltale notches indicate.
Fortunately, as long as the beans grow away at a reasonable rate the weevils only spoil things aesthetically and don't affect the harvest.
As for peas we buy a large bag of peas and scatter the seeds liberally in a shallow trench. Some would say this is overkill but it works for us. There are plenty of seeds to share with any hungry wildlife and we usually have a good harvest - oh why did I tempt fate by saying that?
Only last year a fellow plot holder asked how it was that we had such a lush row of peas. Our attitude is that the only right way to garden, is the way that works for you and these methods have served us well over the years.
Last week we planted the last of our seed potatoes. These were left overs from earlier planting, and the intention was to use them up. We had some Nadine, one or two Winston and, as the tubers were small, quite a few Osprey.
It's a good feeling to complete potato planting. The first lot of Rocket and Casablanca planted in open ground are just starting to push through and the container planted potatoes in the greenhouse are growing quickly.
I also planted some All Year Round cauliflowers to fill up the brassica bed started earlier.
I also planted some All Year Round cauliflowers to fill up the brassica bed started earlier.
Sowing is now well underway and our sowing and planting list is growing far too quickly to list everything here.
On the allotment more beds have been prepared and the grass paths cut.
This was managed before the weather turned unfriendly at the weekend. The winds will no doubt have shaken the apple and quince blossom to the ground but hopefully some fruit will have set.
I've mentioned previously that we are rejuvenating an area of our garden and so we have bought a small clematis and a couple of cornus to add to the bed.
I'm hoping that one cornus will develop red stems and the other yellow but one thing that I am unsure of is, should I cut them back or has this already been done?
If you're interested in taking a walk around our garden, I've posted a video here
We have managed some harvesting. The overwintered cauliflowers are producing heads and although some were fairly small they were starting to blow and needed cutting.
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| 23 April |
Some of the cauliflower went into a turkey and cauliflower bake.
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| 26 April |
Although the PSB is starting to flower, I managed to pick enough for a helping.
The overwintered cabbages are also starting to look rather shabby, but I managed to get enough from the specimen above to make a batch of coleslaw.
When I was sorting out the cabbage patch, I came across these twins but they lived for another day.
At the moment a weekly harvest isn't complete without featuring rhubarb.
Some of our clumps of rhubarb are becoming crowded so, Martyn split some and planted up a new bed.
At the moment a weekly harvest isn't complete without featuring rhubarb.
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| 28 April |
This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on
Dave's blog Our Happy Acres
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