I got to the plot this morning to discover that something (my bet is pigeons) have been attacking my cabbages. It's my fault for uncovering them a couple of weeks ago, the outer leaves have all been striped giving them frilly edges. As there were only six left I picked them all.
By the time I'd lost the nibbled outer leaves the cabbages were a lot smaller, I should think we could eat three in one meal!
Walking by the communal compost heap I spied the familiar pink buds you get on sprouting rhubarb. On closer inspection it seemed someone had thrown away a lot of their old rhubarb roots, I didn't want it to go to waste so I got a wheel barrow and took it around to my plot.
I planted four big pieces of rhubarb in line with the two I had left from last year, I'm not sure I'll harvest anything from this year although they are already beginning to grow leaves. When I was digging the soil my spade hit something solid so I cleared the earth to see what it was. There was a great big iron bar in the ground, it took me about half an hour to dig it out, I wonder what it had been used for?
Not much new to report in the winter weather. Too wet to dig and too early to plant. The broad beans are looking happy in the chill weather. The site shop was open with a sign outside reminding you to collect your potato order, when I went in asked it turned out they hadn't yet arrived which is just as well because they don't need planting for another couple of months. I bought some new broad beans to plant later in February.
The garlic is shooting up, you can see the smaller later planted row in the background. Something had bitten off one of the garlic shoots and seemingly spat it out again, I do hope it doesn't try any further shoots.
not much of a meal but the daffodils are beginning to poke through as well. I picked a couple more cabbages and I still have parsnips from last week as well as more in the ground.
Today was the deadline for paying rent on plots at Fulham Palace Meadows so it was busier than a usual Sunday morning. Having just got back from India yesterday I had been wondering if I would make it on time, there was a £10 increase in price if you miss the first deadline. As it was there was no need to worry and £25 secures another year of plot 68, what a bargain!
This was also my first post Christmas and New Year visit so I bought down all the gardening presents I received. Above you can see my fancy new boots, they're very comfortable and warm, almost too good to get muddy.
My new secateurs were also put to work. First i cut down the holyhock growing by the shed door and then I harvested a couple of my savoy cabbages. The cabbages aren't huge but do seem quite firm and ready to eat. I did also pick a few more parsnips which are still doing really well.
A little disaster was awaiting me inside the shed, the last couple of kobochas had been sitting on the shelves and were fine when I last saw them but in just a couple of weeks they had turned into a mouldy squashy mess which I had to throw onto the compost, such a pity as the last few had had a superb flavour. Lesson for next year, eat your squash before Christmas.
