White Christmas

As you can see the snow was still covering the plot when I went there this morning. I was rather surprised as it's all melted on my side of Fulham now apart from the odd snowmen. I had to visit the plot to pick some parsnips for Christmas dinner, I didn't come down in last weeks weather and have been too busy at work to get there before now.

The top inch or so of the soil was frozen but it wasn't too difficult to dig out my neeps. There's a good pile of them there because I'm not too sure when I'll come down again. I've still got about a quarter of a row to dig up.

The broad beans have struggled through the snow, I hope they'll be okay. In the shed one of the kobochas had gone soft so I threw it away, there are still another four left to eat. We had one the other day and they taste really good now, the texture is better and they're very sweet. The garlic shoots made a good straight line poking through the frozen soil but the artichokes aren't as happy with the cold weather. I'm now soaking the parsnips to get the soil off of them in time for dinner.

Muddy parsnips

Dug up some more parsnips, probably still have about two dozen left. They've grown really well and been no trouble, I'll definitely try them again next year. Not much else happening, it's turned slightly milder but we're told the cold weather will be back next week.

The broad beans haven't been hindered by the snow and are growing in a perfect zig-zag line. Garlic too seems okay with the frosty temperature a row of green shoots mark where I planted it.

Still some snow

Despite rain and a slight rise in temperature there was still a bit of snow on the plot when I visited it in the weak midday sun light. I didn't do much work, took down the bean poles and spread some manure on an empty bed, It was too cold for any bigger jobs. I took home the last of the potatoes and a couple more kobocha. The garlic and broad beans seem unmoved by the weather and the cabbages look alright too.

Frozen vegetables

The frost didn't lift all day but at least we haven't yet had snow. Here's a frosty cabbage, the centres are still quite small so I'm leaving them, I'm not sure when they'll be ready to pick.

There was a delivery of manure from the horse stables steaming away by the gate so I filled three sack full and put them in the old tool box for next season.

Six in there altogether, which is just about full. I also got another barrow load and spread it over the rhubarb and around the artichokes.

I dug up some parsnips, these two were so close they had grown around each other which will make for interesting peeling.

Despite the cold my daffodils have started to sprout, I hope they don't grow too quickly because it looks like there's more icy weather to come.

Sun and smoke

A quick visit to the plot the low autumn sun was shining through the bonfire smoke giving a suitable effect for Guy Fawkes weekend. Although the sun was shining the air was still cold, I could see my breath at 3pm when I started to work.

The cold has finished off the French beans completely, the pods I had left hoping to gather beans from for next year were now rotten. The weather hadn't stopped the broad beans I planted from germinating, I have a nearly perfect zig zag row of them, I could only see where one was missing and perhaps it'll come trough soon. I do hope they aren't growing too quickly and will survive whatever weather we get until spring.

Both the garden centre garlic and the cloves I got from the allotment shop had began to sprout as well. I had another bulb from the allotment shop so I split that up and planted it too. I had a bag of fifty seed onions to plant, I marked out a row and dibbed holes for them 5" apart as recommended, then when I counted the holes I realised I had sixty four to fill. I guess I'd plant the onions in pairs as far as I could go because the soil on the far side of the plot isn't as good anyway, in the end I had planted all sixty four and there were still a half dozen left which I put in the gaps between the leeks.

I decided to pick a few herbs and gather some potatoes before I went home. I noticed that the foliage on the parsnips has begun to die back and curiosity got the better of me so I tried to pick one. I pulled on the foliage but it all came off in my hand, so I dug away a bit of the soil and then realised this parsnip was bigger than I thought. I got the trowel and began to dig it out, once I could get a firm hold of it I gave a big pull and this monster appeared. It's a bit gnarly and will need peeling before I eat it but i was really impressed with the size, there must be about another twenty of these to harvest.

First frost

We had a heavy frost during the week which finished off the nasturtiums, they looked like a bowl of old spaghetti left left out in the rain. I pulled them up and put them on the compost heap, a lot of seeds fell off the plants which I didn't bother to collect so hopefully I'll have some self sown some plants next year.

The cabbages didn't seem to mind the cold weather and were also enjoying the low sun this morning, they looked quite beautiful with the light shining through their leaves.

I picked some of the bean pods left and and collected their beans ready to plant next year. I planted some garlic and dug over and weeded other parts of the plot especially the herb bed at the top.

Another plant that seems to enjoy the change of season are the artichokes, they've really grown in the past few weeks, I would have thought that they'd prefer a warmer climate.

The rhubarb is dying back so I've given it a good fork full of manure to feed it through the winter.

Bean race

A beautiful day so after a good swim and watching the Japanese Grand Prix I decided to make a fleeting visit to the plot. I dug over the old potato patch and had nearly reached the end of the row and was just congratulating myself on not finding any more spuds when three came up in one spade full! Two of them were a bit damaged but the other one is now safe in the shed. I then decided to plant out some broad beans, this year they were my first crop after putting them in back in February but according to the books you can also put them in in the autumn, so here goes nothing! I'll put another row in in February next year and it'll be interesting to compare how well the both crop and when they are ready.

The rocket i threw out of the greenhouse and lettuce when they seemed to have dried up and died are now thriving beside the shed where I left them, surprisingly fresh and lush ready to be eaten, I guess the first frost will see them off.

The nasturtiums are so pretty, the flowers are lot more yellow than they were earlier in the year and the foliage has a blue tint to it. I'll have to grow a few more flowers on the plot next year.

A time to dig

Goodbye courgettes, goodbye tomatoes, goodbye stringy old lettuce and wormy turnips. I've cleared out all the old things that were either over or had out stayed their welcome and then had a good dig. It's good to clear the ground and I can soon start putting in some new things or at least plan for next year. I rather like digging, there's something satisfying in turning the earth, I saw a lot of worms which is good and also a few strange grubs that I think might turn into beetles. My back aches a bit now.

The hollyhock and nasturtiums keep the shed company now all the vegetables are gone. The hollyhock is going to seed, someone asked me if they could take a seed pod off of it, I of course said yes but warned that they self seed everywhere, I'm always pulling them up  even the small plants have roots perhaps three time their own height. The nasturtiums don't seem to know that autumn is well on it's way, they looking better than ever, that's just two plants by the shed.

The smoke of many bonfires was drifting across the allotments with a sweet smoky smell of various old plants being incinerated, the sun was behind high cloud but my camera seems to have picked it up as a purple glow in the trees.

Weeding

I choose what was supposed to be the drier day of the weekend to start tidying the plot. Before I had even finished pulling up the kobocha plants it started to rain, and continued on and off with drizzle for the next couple of hours while I was working. There were three more kabocha to pick of the vines and then I found another small one as pulled them up, I've had fourteen in total.

I also picked the very last of the courgettes, the biggest being no more than about 4 inches long. The plants are still flowering but the courgettes have stopped getting any bigger, these ones have been around for a few weeks and I decided to pick them because if left any longer they may start to rot.

Weeding is very boring but it was satisfying to clear the top of the plot, the drizzle made the soil claggy, it weighed down my boots as I worked.  I pulled up the row of fennel, it didn't seem like I was going to get any bulbs to eat and the stems were begining to fall over under their own weight. I forgot to take a picture when I'd finished so this one was only about half way through. 

With the fennel removed you can see the artichoke plants in a row just behind the rhubarb. Next I'll have to pull up the remaining courgette plants and get ready for some new planting.

Big potaters

I dug up the rest of my potatoes today including this whopper about 15cm long. The Desiree have been really good after all that frost scare in May and I'll plant more next season and forget about the earlies which were much less impressive. The Desiree are quite solid but make a lovely mash with the addition of milk and butter.
Everything seems to have slowed down. I didn't pick any courgettes today there were about six that I could have harvested but they are still really small, 3" - 4". I hope if I leave them another week they might get a bit bigger.
There were another dozen or so tomatoes to pick and a hand full of french beans, apart from them I took a few onions and potatoes home.

A bit of sunshine although the wind is cold. Now I've cleared the spuds I'm ready to plant some early broad beans for next year, I might clear the fennel out of the way too because although it looks pretty I don't think I'll get any bulbs to eat.

Has bean

The french beans have put on a little extra spurt of growth with new flowers and beans ripening. The lower parts to the plants seem well spent now with the leaves either turning yellow or having already fallen off. I only picked a hand full but it looks like there are more to come depending on the weather. Courgette production has now stopped, only picked about eight tiddlers this week, they were forming last week but don't seem to develop any further, I guess it got too cold for them.

A clear path where the potatoes once grew, the weedy bit on the right is where the last of my desiree are hidden, it's good to tidy up a bit and I'll be able to plant broad beans here in the next couple of weeks ready for next year.

My cabbages are starting to form heads I think, I love the wrinkly leaves on a savoy cabbage I do hope they grow as it's taken a lot of time and care to get them to this stage and they only cost 78 pence in the supermarket! Something that hasn't worked that well is the fennel, I thought it was doing really well but although it's grown about five feet tall and flowered it doesn't seem to be forming bulbs that could be eaten, I'm also told it has really deep roots and is very difficult to get rid of it once it has settled in.

The rhubarb plants are looking much better now, I hope they're storing up some energy to produce long pink stalks for me in the new year, I'm looking forward to that crumble!

A little help ...

The robin did his best to help me today with the big clear up, two weeks since my last visit and I hardly recognised the place. In Norse mythology the robin is supposed to be a familiar of Thor and it's appearance was connected with the arrival of thunder storms, luckily it stayed sunny and warm in Fulham because I had lots to do. It was difficult to know where to start really, some weeds were three feet tall and some plants had completely overgrown others, it was a mess.

First I picked about forty five courgettes and fifteen marrows, more than I could carry back home with me.  It's a bit difficult to tell from this picture but the front row courgette plants were now growing up against the shed, they had to go. It's quite difficult to pull the plants up because they're very prickly and the scratches seem to irritate my skin.

It made quite a pile of compost, more than I could fit in the the compost bin so I left it by the box as you can see. Having cleared the plants this was when the robin rushed in to help me by picking out any insects I had left behind, i think he was quite curious about having his picture taken.

I think the end result was worth it though, now I have a clear space to start growing things for next year as well. On the edge of the dark cleared soil you can just make out some the leeks which were totally over shadowed by the courgette plants, whose spiky stems have shredded the young leeks, I wonder if they will recover?

My other abundance is of tomatoes, this is much more welcome. I picked about fifty of the small plum type, they are very sweet although a lot of them have split, did it rain a lot while I was away? Not so much luck with the beef tomatoes, they just don't seem to ripen. I picked some more onions too, so it's robin ratatouille for dinner tonight!

Desiree

Look at my pink potatoes! All these came from a tiny patch so I should think I'm going to have many more to dig up. These are my main crop Desiree potatoes, apparently the variety has only existed since 1962 and originates in the Netherlands. Their pink colour looks good against the still a bit damp dark black earth.

The screen on my camera seems to be on the blink (just what I ned before going away) so most of these pictures really were point and shoot. I picked quite a few of the small plum tomatoes but the big beefy ones are still green. After all the rain we've had a lot of the tomatoes have split as well, they don't look too good I think I'll stick to smaller ones next year.

Six kobochas in the shed and there's another one at home, I'll soon be able to start eating them and there are yet more ripening in the pumpkin patch. The marrow is still in the shed, it seems quite happy there but I don't know what I'm going to do with it? I picked another thirty or so courgettes today, I hadn't been to the plot since last Saturday because of all the rain and predictably some of the courgettes were pretty big already. I do hope Nicole manages to pick a few while I'm away.

This is the flower head on the fennel, the plants are about 1metre high, they seem to have enjoyed the rain and having the earth piled around their bases, I'm not sure if I was supposed to let them flower or not, but it's too late now!

The nasturtiums have gone crazy in the last week, they're bushes now rather than little plants. I rather like the flowers in a salad but they are very peppery.

Rain stopped play

Most pictures in my blog have been taken with my phone which is now officially broken. I forgot to take my camera with me when I visited the plot last Saturday so above is old picture I took. When we have photography competitions at work (whatever the subject) someone always sends in a picture of a bee inside a flower, I don't know why? This bee is inside a kobocha flower, I've now picked about half a dozen kobochas and there are probably hale a dozen more yet to swell. Even the 'barren' plant on the end has now got a fruit on it.

I didn't have time to update the blog at the weekend, I would have gone down there again this evening but it's raining, I hope for better weather tomorrow. At least it gives my time for a new post. I picked thirty more courgettes last Saturday so Sunday's lunch was largely courgette based! I thought they were supposed to slow down by now. I was going to give some of them away after lunch but my guest 'forgot' to remind me so I still have a fridge full of them. I have now been able to pick a dozen or so tomatoes and there might be more that are ready although we haven't had much sun, Paul ate the beef tomato that has been in the fruit bowl for the last week or so, he said it was good.

I also built up the earth around the fennel, the picture is from the other week before I did it. I maybe a little late but I only just read that building up the earth keeps the bulb white and give the fennel superior flavour. The bulbs are ready to pick when they're four inches wide, the one above is probably about three inches wide but is one of the wider ones that I have, lets hope they fatten up and the colour fades. The name Marathon in ancient greek means place of fennel as it was supposed to have grown on the battle site. The capital of Madeira, Funchal is also named for the wild fennel that grew there.

What a whopper

My prize winner! I came third in the Fulham palace meadows heaviest marrow competition 2010 with this beast above that weighs 4.26Kg, not only did I get a certificate but also £2 prize money. I was very close to the second prize marrow which was a sort of double marrow but we were both way off the winning vegetable which came in at over 20Kg and needed a wheel barrow to be transported.

You can see the double marrow to the left near the gigantic cabbage, the knobbly thing top right is the winning marrow. The girl who had the winning marrow also had winners in most of the other categories.

Here are my cabbages, I decided to free them from the green net tunnels because they were getting a bit too big. To stop the birds eating the leaves I've pulled the big net over some canes for protection. The plants are all a bit leggy and haven't started to ball up into cabbages yet.

The tomatoes are showing the first blush of ripening, in fact there was a plum tomato that had already turned red so I ate it. They have a wonderful flavour quite unlike the ones in the shops.

One of the beef tomatoes came away from the plant so I'm going to try and ripen it indoors.

Since last week I've picked all the carrots, a few were quite large but most are tiny and there only be one meals worth of them, not my best crop, not sure I'll bother with them next year. i've also picked the last of the french beans another couple of tubs of them, more than I was expecting.