Monday, February 10

Preparing for the new season?

We haven't really been doing much gardening recently but have been to the allotment a couple of times over the last fortnight, although each time we haven't stayed very long. Visits have mainly been to harvest  although, Martyn has done a bit more clearing and digging over the old honeyberry bed.
It's been roughly dug and there is still plenty more to do before the bed will be ready for replanting.

So what did we manage to harvest?
On our first visit we harvested a couple of cabbages, there was  plenty to use from the larger of the two but, to be honest, hardly anything from the smaller cabbage. The constant rain has ruined quite a lot of crops and the cabbages have suffered quite a lot of damage some of which only becomes apparent as leaves are stripped off.

We were lucky with the two small cauliflowers as any that grow beyond this size are again ruined by the rain. We also managed to pick a few sprouts

Fortunately the parsnips seem to be surviving being planted in mud.

On our second harvesting visit, the wind was whipping round the plot so one task was to recover the brassicas as the enviromesh had been partially blown off leaving some plants uncovered. The wood pigeons had taken advantage of this and nibbled the broccoli leaves but fortunately had left the florets untouched so we had quite a lot of PSB ready to pick.
This was photographed in the shed to avoid it blowing away. As we had quite a lot, I decided to make broccoli soup. The recipe stated that just the florets were to be used but after picking off any damage leaves I used the leaves and stems too, why waste them?

We also picked a small cauliflower. There were some larger ones but the wet conditions had spoiled them and the curds were brown.
We picked quite a few leeks as we decided to freeze a batch before they spoiled. This year, for some reason, quite a few have developed a hard core.
This post seems to have developed into a tale of woe as our red cabbages are very small too so we picked three.
To rescue things the parsnips were still going strong.

I'm really glad that this year isn't our first year for growing vegetables as I think I would be rather disheartened.

Our other garden related activity last week, was to visit out local garden centre's potato day. As usual we bought six varieties to try out. These were Gemson, Maris Piper, Mayan Rose, Pentland Javelin, Sarpo Una, and Ulster Prince. We bought four tubers of each variety. Some are quite well known varieties but are ones we haven't grown before or maybe have in the past but can't remember how they fared. We've bought Maris Piper from the supermarket but that doesn't mean that it will grow well in our soil.
Our main selections were  Apache, Casablanca, Elfe, International Kidney, Nadine, Osprey and Rudolph. Apache, Elfe and Rudolph were promoted from last year's trial varieties. Casablanca is a firm favourite early variety which will be sown in tubs in the greenhouse as well as in open ground.
Whilst we were at the garden centre we also bought onion and shallot sets.

We have bought Red Karmen, Centurion, Hercules, Sturon and Pink Panther onions. Pink Panther is new to us but the rest we have grown before. They are all globe shaped as I prefer these to the flattened varieties. We were going to buy a small pack of Red Karmen, as the red onions never do as well for us as the brown ones, however when it came to it, the small pre-packed sets cost exactly the same as the larger quantity in the net bags.

The shallots we selected were Red Sun, Golden Gourmet, Longor and Meloine.
Some of the potatoes are already chitting and all have been set out in the summer house and will have fleece thrown over them if it promises to be frosty.



Let's hope that the weather and soil condition improves before we need to start planting! To finish on a positive note, our early rhubarb doesn't seem to be letting the prevailing conditions deter it from making a start.
 

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

You don't have to have your own blog in order to join in conversations. It may seem that everyone who comments knows one another but bloggers always welcome new commenters, after all that is how we all started. 

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett









28 comments:

  1. Sue, I liked Martin's video 'Potato day', I've not seen before so many varieties of potatoes. Sure you have chosen the right ones. I love broccoli soup as well but I cook the florets only without leaves.

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    1. They Are just some of the varieties available, Nadezda. I hope that we have chosen well.

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  2. I agree, I never waste the stems on broccoli of any kind, in fact I think I prefer the stems to the florets on regular broccoli. I often freeze the stems if not using them immediately. It can only get better from here, once these weather fronts are done. Surely?

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    1. I just hope that the eventually is sooner rather than later, Deborah

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  3. That is more PSB in one photo than I have managed to harvest here in two years! I'm hoping this year my greenhouse planting will increase the harvests. In your experience is red cabbage always harder to grow than the green? I have a really hard time with it here.

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    1. That’s the most broccoli that we have picked at once for quite a while, Dave. We do find red cabbage generally harder to grow than green but usually manage some decent plants so it’d always worth planting. It’s one of our favourite vegetables too. One positive is that the pigeons tend to leave it alone,

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  4. Oh the PSB! I like the stems and small leaves too. I've used the larger leaves for wraps. It's good to have some high notes at this time of year. Your rhubarb stand looks very healthy too. I keep my clumps more defined but maybe it's ok to do as you do. Any advice?

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    1. I’m not sure what you mean by more defined, Sue. Rhubarb dies off in the middle and spreads outwards. Occasionally in needs digging up and splitting but we don’t tend to do that too often.

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  5. Preparing for new growing season is really hard working for me. Looks everything is well done, Sue.

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    1. We have lots of digging over to do Endah but it’s far too wet.

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  6. I think this is an amazing amount of produce for a winter picking. At least it would be in our area. We would have to have a greenhouse to produce such a picking. Has the big storm hitting the country affected your area? I am hoping that it doesn't.

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    1. Other than the PSB which seems a little early the rest is as expected for winter, Lisa. The cabbages and cauliflowers are poorer than usual.

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  7. Great seasonal fare. PSB should definitely be consumed with the sprouting stalk! Did you hear James Wong extolling the virtues of broccoli on R4. He did an excellent job of explaining the chemical defence deployed by brassicas (and garlic).

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    1. I didn’t here James Wong, Mal but I know brassicas are supposed the ward off certain issues and garlic is good for protecting against colds - maybe because no-one will come near you🤧

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  8. What lovely PSB, Sue, ours is very late this year so I am very envious of your crop! Interesting potato selection. Ulster Prince performed well last year as an extra early crop under cover, and tasted good too, so I hope it does well for you too

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    1. Fingers crossed for Ulster Prince. Kathy.

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  9. Mmmmm - it will be hard work to get through all that mouth watering purple sprouting broccoli Sue 😂 I must buy shallots soon - thanks for a timely reminder.

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  10. That's looks like some hard digging!!! Mind your back..

    Lots of lovely veggies there though

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    1. It was, Dicky but that’s just the start.

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  11. I think that's a really good harvest!I love the sound of the broccoli soup, totally agree about not wasting the stalks and leaves, I always eat them. Wow....just look at that rhubarb!!!xxx

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    1. It tasted great , Dina, served with a cheesy panini.

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  12. Shame to hear about the leeks, maybe it's the mild Winter. At least you have plenty of PSB though - lovely!

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    1. Fortunately the centres weren’t as hard as expected, Belinda and cooked OK

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  13. We're hoping to pick up some of my dad's rhubarb this year - it was my great grandma's that had been split up and given to my grandad, then split and given to my dad... and now split and given to me! Always reliably successful in Yorkshire weather, so looking forward to the harvest!

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    1. I have an aspidistra plant that is a similar heirloom Dodoqueen

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  14. Busy nursing poorly husband, haven't been up to the veg garden for couple of weeks .I really must go and pick whats left after all the stormy weather .You,ve done really well as always ! :)

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    1. We haven’t been again this week, Debs mainly weather but busy doing other things too.

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