Seasonal No-man's Land

Seems it's that time of yet again; time to go through the seed catalogues trying to work out what new veg will be part of this years adventure.  It is a wonderful time of year not quite spring but the worst of winter seems to be behind us. Everywhere is starting to show little shoots of green, even the unknown tree is showing a little bud.  Spring really is my favourite time of year it always seems so optimistic and colour returns.

Talking of colour check out this!

(c) Real Seed Catalogue

It may look like a freaky watermelon but it is in fact a 'Red Flesh' Mild Tricolour radish! The Real Seed Catalogue has them for sale here.  This is one of the best things about growing your own, growing the weird and the wonderful.  There is no way in the world that these would be for sale in a supermarket or if they would they would be about £1.45 for 4 tiny radishes.   Now I get to grow them myself! 

This post is own excitement not an advert for the Real Seed Catalogue.

Whoah!

Where to start?  A cup of tea and cosy chair seem like a good place to start; this is going to be a long catch up post.

Things got a little crazy late last summer, I lost my researcher contract and went back to full time shifts bar working.   It all became a little lazy so unforgivably blogging fell by the wayside.  After doing back to back 12 hour shifts I was in no mood for a day in the garden or all the work that goes into a good blog post. (sorry) The garden kept going and we got some great late havests from everything.  It would take hours to record every little thing that happened and in all honesty I've forgotten the ins and outs of what did and didn't happen so here is an update.  I will try to post some pictures as Friday photos so you can see what I'm actually talking about.

Tomatoes
For some reason we suffered at the hands of a really wet period.  It seemed to rain and rain and keep raining in September.  Needless to say tomatoes can have too much of a good thing; just as they were getting ready to enjoy they suffered from blight.  Al and I went to bed to perfect tomatoes and woke to half dead ones.  I manage to rescue some but not nearly as much as we would have liked.  The reason for growing the Amish paste was the size.  I'm not the biggest tomato fan so the idea was to turn them into other foodstuffs rather than grow something like Gardeners delight and only Al ever get to enjoy them.  Ironically I did manage to make a lot of green tomato chutney that we have never touched since October.

Sprouts: 
After the great blizzard everywhere seemed to suffer in December we were not so optimistic about how well they had survived.  The snow here was so deep at one point even the tops were covered in 3cm.  Turned out they ♥ snow, which we should have guessed for a Christmas veg.  We took them to Kent with us for Christmas Day and shared with with Al's family.

Broad Beans
Not sure what I was expecting to happen with these to be honest however what we did grow were tasty and even managed to freeze quite a few.  We have one last tub to go!

Broccoli 
Note for this year do not buy random plants when you do not know what they are.  We had on tiny harvest of broccoli, the plants seemed to stop doing anything.   Nothing spectacular and nothing that would make me want to try again this year either.   They eventually died in the snow.

Peas
For the second year running the pea harvest was ever so slightly pants.   I get what others mean when they say some things will never grow for them.   I've come to the conclusion we won't be growing them ever again.

Parsnips
I think they died off in snow, the last we saw of them was just before it snowed.

Potatoes
We had a bumper crop of potatoes, so many that we couldn't dig eat them all in time!  What we did eat had a lovely flavour and cooked reasonably well.  The only problem we had was that the local bug life also seemed to like eating them.  Every time we tried to use them at least half had to be chucked into the local compost because they were hollow.  No idea how to stop a bug eating them under the soil this year.

Everything else seemed to do reasonably well and remain on the list for this years growing season.

We also managed to make a better base for the shed.  It's now on gravel and pushed back to the fence.  The idea is that the current plastic thing will be replaced by a normal wooden one in the very near future.  We've also been talking about putting down a slightly bigger patio area near by but that depends on how much money we have and if it's really going to be worth it in the long run.

The only thing left to note is that the great veggie adventure can now be found at www.thegreatveggieadventure.co.uk  it was a Christmas present to myself.

Gardening will resume shortly....

Sorry about the lack of garden blogging.  Things got a bit manic and a few changes took place which equalled less gardening (boooo) but I will be back taking part in the great veggie adventure in spring.   I really miss blogging and there is so much that goes on in the garden.

Just in time for the hungry gap the blog will be having a makeover.   I find that the current back drop is a little too complicated and doesn't really reflect the blog so well.  Same goes for the radvent fun but not gardening.  I also bought a co.uk and want to sort all that out.

See you soon.

Bug Off!

We seem to be having a few bug problems at the moment.  We have been potting in the garden recently rather than spending long afternoons gardening.  The heat of summer and our work patterns have been to blame.  This has lead to a free for all for bugs.  They have taken over the garden!  Black fly have invaded the broad beans, caterpillars have been spotted in our brassicas and green flies invaded the tomatoes.  


I am not so worried about the tomatoes, mostly because I have seen an increased amount of ladybirds.  Nature has taken care of that problem  for us.  What few greenfly are left will be sprayed with dilute washing up liquid.  I can't remember where I discovered this trick but last years were covered one week and fine the next so I know it works!  


The broad beans are slowly taking shape,  I'm waiting for the pods to fatten up before harvesting.  While waiting Al and I noticed that there where a few black looking bugs growing on the plant but dismissed it as nothing to worry about as we had seen a few ants enjoying a feast however during the time we've not been proactive gardeners the black bugs took advantage.  The next time we go down the black fly are everywhere and in some places thick with them.  Even on the bean pods there is a thick black line of bug. 


 For the record I do not like using pesticides.  I think nature has a way of working things out far better than man made chemicals can but the problem seemed to be getting worse.  I was starting to worry about the crop and if I would be able to harvest anything.  As much as I like leaving nature to it there is a limit!   So they have been sprayed with a general bug killer.  It seems to have worked, there appears that they have all died.   The few that remain have been spotted along with a few ants.


It is our first year of growing brassicas so it is the first year of any related problems.  I always thought that the stories about brassicas were a storm in a tea cup.   Now I'm the one freaking out over my brassicas.  I noticed a patch of yellow eggs  which were quickly brushed off.  In an ironic sort of way a catapillar came off too so it was a good job I found it when  I did.   The plan of action here is to brush off any eggs we find and spray with dilute washing up liquid and hope.

Friday Photo: Green Harvest

Ohh it's raining now

I have never cheered or wooped at the weather report before Monday.   After nearly 3 weeks with only so much as a sprinkle of rain (I speak in gardeners terms here)  we finally had a full day of rain forecast and it's kept raining.   Everything looks so green thanks to the rain and the butt is starting to slowly fill once more.   We lost access to the outdoor tap (long story) and I've been left watering everything with an Ikea bag full of milk bottles and watering can, so any rain is welcome.

I wish I had more things to update you about but work has got in the way for gardening.  All Al and I have managed is to pull a few weeds and horsetail out as we water.  Not exciting stuff nor anything to really make a good Friday photo.

Harvest wise we are almost ready to pick some of the peas and courgettes and in the first fruiting year the blackcurrant bush managed to produce about 40g of fruit.  I have no idea what to do with them so they are sitting ready in the freezer.  My grandparents love blackcurrant slices so they might go there :)

Pea, Feta & Mint Salad

Our peas are in the middle of harvest; they have ended up in soup, or freezer and my favourite way SALAD!

I make this a day in advance as it helps the flavour mingle about although it takes no time at all to make or prepare.  I personally do not cook the peas I think nothing is better than the flavour of a home grown pea and cooking them seems to take away flavour rather than add anything.  My favourite part is the combination of the tang and sweetness.  Oh and the fact that everything in the salad comes from the garden (I'm working on making my own feta, honestly!)

Pea, Feta & Mint Salad

50g feta cheese 

1 small red onion 

200g peas 

Handful of mint

1. Crumble up feta cheese into a bowl.  Try not to worry about the size of the crumbles, it just helps the cheese cling to the other ingredient better.

2. Thinly slice the red onion.  The idea is to have thin slivers of onion rather than little diced bits.  Add it to the bowl.

3. Chop up the mint stalk and all. Try to make sure it becomes bruised as it releases the mint flavour.  Add it to the bowl.

4. Mix everything together.  Don't worry about it making it look neat, the nature of the crumbled feta makes it nearly impossible.

5. Enjoy your salad.  Al and I have been munching with wholemeal cous cous and peri peri chicken.