Monday, January 17, 2011
New Year, New Dig
Yes I have neglected the blog because I have neglected the garden! Christmas and New Year whirled by in freezing temperatures and even snow. But the weather has become more clement so this weekend it was down to have a look. The cold frames have really suffered, I will have to do some major DIY on them before the new seedlings can get started in spring. But I am sure they can be fixed.
There is a bit of chickweed but mostly the plot is just looking sad and forlorn. So I did a bit of work, planting the rest of the garlic, 3 nice rows this year, about 30-40 heads if they all work. At least one of the cloves planted in December has started sprouting, I hope the others will follow with the longer days.
I dug a little to prepare for the shallots, but on the whole, avoid digging so as not to disturb the very cold and wet earth. There will be a lot of DIY to do, paths are overgrown, my tile path needs relaying and some of the borders are a mess, but a good afternoon's yakka and it should be right.
The rhubarb is showing its head already! That's the spirit! My baby artichoke has survived the very cold spell we had, soon I will move it to its new location behind the raspberries. This year I will split and divide the rhubarb and the artichoke. I also need to cut the raspberry canes.
There was some picking to be done! Fresh baby rocket leaves, loads of shoots of calabrese broccoli! (although i think that will be the last now) and almost a kilo of Brussel Sprouts! We ate a big handful with the broccoli with Sunday lunch, they were delicious, I will freeze the others to use later on. Unfortunately they were a bit mixed up, so I don't know if I planted Samba or the other variety that starts with an M whose name I have forgotten!
Anyway the indoor season should kick off this week, with: onions from seed, an experiment for this year. I also need to go through the seeds, chuck out the rubbish and make a list for the purchases that I will do beginning of February. The idle time is over, have to move with the season and start getting ready for spring, just like the plants!
Happy New Year too, somewhat belatedly.
There is a bit of chickweed but mostly the plot is just looking sad and forlorn. So I did a bit of work, planting the rest of the garlic, 3 nice rows this year, about 30-40 heads if they all work. At least one of the cloves planted in December has started sprouting, I hope the others will follow with the longer days.
I dug a little to prepare for the shallots, but on the whole, avoid digging so as not to disturb the very cold and wet earth. There will be a lot of DIY to do, paths are overgrown, my tile path needs relaying and some of the borders are a mess, but a good afternoon's yakka and it should be right.
The rhubarb is showing its head already! That's the spirit! My baby artichoke has survived the very cold spell we had, soon I will move it to its new location behind the raspberries. This year I will split and divide the rhubarb and the artichoke. I also need to cut the raspberry canes.
There was some picking to be done! Fresh baby rocket leaves, loads of shoots of calabrese broccoli! (although i think that will be the last now) and almost a kilo of Brussel Sprouts! We ate a big handful with the broccoli with Sunday lunch, they were delicious, I will freeze the others to use later on. Unfortunately they were a bit mixed up, so I don't know if I planted Samba or the other variety that starts with an M whose name I have forgotten!
Anyway the indoor season should kick off this week, with: onions from seed, an experiment for this year. I also need to go through the seeds, chuck out the rubbish and make a list for the purchases that I will do beginning of February. The idle time is over, have to move with the season and start getting ready for spring, just like the plants!
Happy New Year too, somewhat belatedly.
Labels: broccoli, cold, roquette, sprouts, winter
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