And that was the polytunnel

The night before last was very windy but I'm not sure we realized quite how windy until we saw this.

Garden (and food) update

The garden has started producing food in quantity. Yesterday we had our first Charlotte potatoes which were as always delicious and slug free which is very gratifying. We also had broad beans which are currently producing lots, though it always seems so much more before you pod them. And lastly there was ruby chard and spinach wilted in yoghurt.

Meanwhile, the polytunnel has bolting lettuces galore - a bit warm in there now I think, and lots of healthy looking tomatoes with lots of flowers. However I discovered late last week that it is a trifle sterile in there so there aren't nearly as many tomatoes forming as I'd like to see. Now we're opening both doors during the day and I went round with a brush doing a bit of artificial fertilisation as well. Hopefully this will improve the crop.

Outside the courgettes are coming along and are flowering. So it shouldn't be too long before we're eating them. There are few things as magnificent as a large and healthy courgette plant.

What's going on in the garden

You're right. That's quite a few courgette plants but we are sharing with the neighbours. And there's a squash too at the top (Marina di Chioggia).

Meanwhile our broad bean harvest hasn't started yet but the small beans are starting to develop so tomorrow I pinch out the tops for supper.




The polytunnel is going really well. We're self-sufficient in salad. And the mangetout are starting. The tomatoes look very healthy and have lots of flowers. I just need to find the time to plant out some of the chillies and aubergines.

I LOVE my polytunnel

It is all looking lovely in there. Well, it is since I weeded it for the last couple of days. The mangetout are growing well and the second sowing have emerged. Lettuce are taking shape and we ate some rocket in our salad yesterday. I even have coriander growing in there which I've never managed to get past the "cress state" before now. And lastly, today I planted a line of 16 tomatoes which look happy and healthy for now.

So far the slugs, snails and mice have been much less of a problem though something definitely ate the tiny basil seedlings I planted out a week ago. The lettuce in particular look obscenely healthy. And early. I'm sure we weren't eating salad this early last year. In fact I'm positive as I checked back on last year's blog and it was June before anything substantial was eaten.

Anyway, below are some pictures.

Around the garden

Our first radishes have appeared. The girls still don't like them but T and I do, and they get points for coming to fruition so fast. Meanwhile, my bed of broad beans is coming on nicely, given that I was woefully late getting them in. So it won't be an early harvest but it should be a good one.


Otherwise there is not that much happening that is photogenic - parsnip and beetroot seedlings, the first inklings of some peas and shoots of Jerusalem artichokes. Oh and three of the least exciting asparagus spears you have ever seen (really not worth photographing) but then this is only a year since they went in. I rather gave up on them when the chickens started using the bed as a dustbath, so anything is impressive.

Rhubarb

I planted rhubarb last year and it's come up beautifully. Here are the first few stalks I picked.



I made a fool with it and there are no pictures because we ate it all up. Very simple recipe:

Cut up rhubarb into inch long pieces and put into a ceramic baking dish, sprinkle with adequate sugar (you'll have to guess this bit but it's probably best to start with less and sweeten later if needed), and orange juice. Cover dish with foil and pop into medium oven (180 degrees C) for about 25 minutes. Do check as I forgot and the rhubarb was mushier than I might have wanted it.

Whip double cream - ratio of about 2/3 cream to rhubarb but it's your choice. Fold rhubarb into fool. Chill and eat. Lots.

News from the Polytunnel

I haven't spent a lot of time in the polytunnel lately, it being the Easter holidays and the kids thinking that there were better things to do. I have popped in to water, open vents and gasp at the number of weeds which have emerged. Viz from this to this:





Today however was the first day back at school and my first day back in the polytunnel. So now it looks like this:



So far it is going quite well. The lettuce are coming up, the mangetout have too, and the fennel. Also coriander and rocket. The basil was a no-show entirely which makes me wonder about the seeds, and the peas didn't germinate either.

Today we also found a molehill, an ants nest (despatched by kettle), and lots and lots of odd looking black flies. Lazy not very bright long and odd looking black flies. Not keen on them but I'm not really sure what we can do about them. Any idea what they are? or if they're friend or foe? They look like this:

Tomatoes - will I never learn?

Last year, I ended up planting out 21 tomato plants
which Earthwoman suggested was enough to rival Bertolli's. Sadly this wasn't the case after the sunless wet summer we had.

Undaunted, I am trying again. So today, this



turned into this



and this



and this.



That is a total of 85 tomato seedlings, over 20 each of Gardener's Delight, Marmande and San Marzano and a paltry 8 of Brandywine.

What can I say? I am an over-enthusiastic seed-sower.

Activity in the polytunnel

There was flurry of activity in the polytunnel last week and we now have seeds in the earth. On the grounds that we don't really know what we're doing and everything is an experiment, so far I've planted basil, lots and lots of lettuce of different types, peas and mangetout, and fennel. There's also some calabrese in modules and two trays of stock and lobelia for the girls. I popped in yesterday and there were some green shoots showing but I'm not clear if they are weeds or crops. We shall see.

Meanwhile I have far too many tomato seedlings on the window sill and a couple of aubergines have emerged. No sign of the peppers I planted at the same time. I'm not sure how long it should take them to germinate so I'll give them a bit longer until I count them a dead loss. We're planning to put lots of tomatoes in the ground in the tunnel, and I hope to put some outside too. Someone on the radio said that now we've lost the Indian cricket tournament because of our unpredictable weather, we're bound to have a scorching spring and summer. Here's hoping.

It's up!

First shoots

It's that time of year when you're not sure if the window sills covered in pots of bare earth are a sign of the bounteous summer to come or of utter barrenness and dead seeds. But no, after much impatience on my part, something which will probably never change, I noticed these (cue really really bad pictures):




Tomatoes are emerging and so is the sweet marjoram. Still no sign of the aubergines, peppers or basil but I shall maintain an appearance of calm. When they say talking to plants helps, does this include berating seeds for slowness?

This year, a more relaxed approach to gardening

Last year, I had schedules down to the day of what I was to plant when and where. I think this was partly because I'd never tackled anything like growing veg before and partly because I needed to focus my mind on anything but my grief.

This year, my usual relaxed last minute downright lazy approach to life has resurfaced. And as a result I'm rather behind things when it comes to sowing my seeds. How did it get to be March this quickly? I've only just sown my tomato seeds (four types: Brandywine, Marmande, San Marzano and Gardener's Delight), some peppers (two sweet and one hottish because I'm a wimp), some basil, the aubergines (yup, trying again despite abject failure last year) and some sweet marjoram. This weekend we're putting up the polytunnel, weather allowing, which should mean that the salads and some peas and maybe some calabrese also get sown.

I suspect however that gardening is one of those things where you can be deeply organised (like last year) and it'll all go horribly wrong because of the weather or something (like last year and the no sun lots of rain summer we had). And I'm hoping that that also means that a flying by the seat of her pants approach can also work on occasion - viz this year. We shall see.

A lovely day for gardening

And luckily Tom was in the mood. So while I pottered about planting parsnip, radish, celeriac and beetroot seeds, Tom did the real work and cleared the ground for the polytunnel. From this



to this



in one day. Which means next week I can finish clearing around the edges and we call install the polytunnel at the weekend. The digging was not fun as this is (or hopefully was) a nettle patch. Foolhardy I know to put it in a nettle bed, but the soil is good and the location is good in every other way.

Hit and run gardening

We installed poultry netting over all my veg beds back in late January, and the good news is that the chickens can't get in. Except that is when I am trying to plant. My garlic planting went a bit awry as I tried to fend off some enthusiastic assistance from Gladys, and the rest of them weren't far behind. They were queuing to get in. Not the most relaxing time I've had in the garden. I almost climbed onto the bed to get away from the eager birds. But at least I have got the garlic and shallots in. And I've finally put out my potatoes to chit - Charlotte, Desiree and Pentland Crown. Not as many as last year but the ground is in a better state so I'm hoping for more from each plant.

UPDATE: Gladys is still trying to find a way back into the shallot/garlic bed. That chicken is really stubborn.

We don't have a climate

We have weather. Totally unpredictable (well nearly and not more than 3-4 days at a time with any accuracy). To give an example: my veg patch on January 26th and yesterday.




Which is why I still haven't planted any garlic or broad beans. And of course it's different again today because the snow is thawing although apparently we are due more before the weekend. Makes planning ahead hard work.

Snow

If you fancy a laugh at the useless British, the BBC website has a film of lots of people failing to drive in a couple of inches of snow. As usual Britain has ground to a halt.

Over here in the west, we've had much less snow, though it is still falling. The heating is therefore back on in the evenings and I'm not spending much time outside. This is a shame as great plans are afoot here. The neighbours and I have decided to get a polytunnel. They're buying and hosting it and I'm going to work it mostly as they both have proper paid jobs to go to, rather than the pottering about that I claim keeps me busy. This week's job is to start clearing the site which is currently covered in branches and then nettles and weeds. The tunnel won't be huge (15ft x 6ft 6) and to start with we are going to focus on tomatoes, aubergines, herbs, salads. Having bought the new Polytunnel Handbook, I now know there's much much more you can do with it. One of the pictures has a hammock in it! (Although obviously the aim of a hammock is not to do much).

Meanwhile I have done nothing in the garden since we put up the anti-chicken netting. I have however put plans in place and apparently February is a really busy month. And apparently it is also now February. Last year I had a to do list by the day almost. Positively anal in its detail. This year I appear to be taking a rather more laid back approach and looking out of the window right now at the copious falling snow, I am tempted to continue like this for a bit longer. Plus there is baking and laundry to do which is for once a much more attractive prospect.

Back to the garden

It is an age since I spent any significant time in the garden. But now is the time to head back in there and start planning and preparing for what will hopefully be a better summer and a bumper harvest. The first job was accomplished by Tom - defence against the chickens. Having seen what they can do to a bed of seedlings, it was clear we needed to take action before anything was planted. So Tom spent Saturday and Sunday fixing poultry netting over the beds. This will hopefully also keep the rabbits out. I think the beds look rather good don't they.


And there are two of these small netting cloches to protect the proto-asparagus bed and the rhubarb.

I am hopeful that we're not too late with them as the chickens were at one point using the asparagus bed as a dustbath.

Compost problems

I encouraged my neighbours to start composting and feel a bit responsible as they've been having problems with things not rotting down as they should. So a couple of days ago, I spent an hour or so emptying out one bin and turning it over.

What I found when I got the bin off was this.



A very dense bottom layer and lots of dry matter on the top which mostly came from the chicken house.



I took the top layer off and then dug through the bottom layer which it turned out had lots of sludgey green lawn cuttings.

They were thick and gloopy and stank. The good news was that the bin had lots of worms and that most of the matter had rotted down to some extent but the grass cuttings were clearly a problem.

Now I've put everything back in, in alternate broken up layers of wet rotted stuff and dry brown matter. Hopefully this will sort it out. It's certainly shown me that you can't stuff your bin full of grass and expect good compost.

Almost the last harvest of 2008

I really didn't expect this. I've been looking at my parsnips with a feeling of foreboding - convinced they would turn out to be as small as the beetroots and hardly worth the incredibly long while. But no. Today I dug up one row and look at these. I've even added a ruler for scale. Look how long they are! So I think more parsnips next year. I was in two minds as they take forever to grow but this is definitely worth the wait.



They will be eaten tonight with lamb chops, sprouts and baked potatoes. I think I'm going to mash them with cream and garlic. If you haven't tried this, and like parsnips, then do. I think I found the recipe years ago in a magazine or something. It was from Joyce Molyneux of The Carved Angel in Dartmouth originally. You put the garlic still in their skin in with the parsnips when you boil them and then mash it all together and add cream and lots of pepper.

The garden

I haven't spent much time here lately. Partly it's November, partly the weather, partly Tom was away and my hands were full of other stuff. But I probably should be thinking about it.

Some random thoughts. Am I actually going to get any garlic in yet? How much digging of new beds am I going to do? Is it too late to pop broad beans in. Should I get those new fruit bushes? And lastly, are we really going to go halves on a polytunnel with the neighbours?

Perhaps this week I will get on with something.