Rain stopped play

A wet Saturday afternoon, a paid a short visit to plot 68. The rhubarb is going great guns, even the old root has sprouted now so it looks like crumble will be coming my way in a little while.

Those daffodils are getting ever closer to flowering which means spring can't be too far away now.

Not a peep out of the second beans yet, did I plant them when it was too cold? but as you can see the other beans and garlic are doing just fine.

It's the calm before the storm, the potatoes are sitting dormant and the soil is still to cold and wet but in a months time we should have much more in the ground for the new season. This time last year I was just beginning to clear the plot which took a lot of time and effort, this year all I need is a quick dig over and then I'm ready to plant.

End of year one

I took home the last of the Parsnips today and still have a couple of small cabbages left but that's it for my first years harvest, just as well I don't have to survive on it. Nothing much new happens at this time of year, the rhubarb is doing really well and the early broad beans are perking up but there's nothing new to plant.

The winter seems to have gone on for ages because of that early freezing spell in November/December but in fact it's been milder during the early part of this year than last. The birds were all singing today after the rain stopped and although it's February I feel spring isn't too far away. There is some winter damage to the plot, I've lost a globe artichoke (there are still five others) and my rosemary plant is looking a bit dead.

I can see new buds forming on the raspberries and flowers are beginning to appear on those daffodils, well in advance of last year.

Potato season

Time to collect your spuds. I bought some Charlotte and some Desiree potatoes for this season. Still a little early to plant them but I've put them out in the greenhouse standing up in a seed tray so they will sprout.

The new rhubarb plants are by far out performing the original ones on the plot, of which I can see only one nubby pink bud. Stalks are beginning to develop as you can see from the picture above, perhaps I'll get a crumble or two from them this year.

The mild weather has done the daffodils no end of good, they're standing about 10cm tall at the moment.

Beans 2

A mild and windy day, my fears of the shed having been blown away were unfounded, it creaks a bit but was standing firm. It was so warm and spring like that I decided to put in a second row of broad beans, they fitted in snugly between the first row and the garlic.

The new rhubarb seems to taken well to it's new home and is busy pushing through leaves, it's a marvel to see the bright pink buds and red leaves when there's hardly anything else growing on the plot.
I also spent a little time sorting out the strawberries, replanting some of the runners and moving a few of the plants so they will be easier to cover later in the year when the fruit appears.

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb

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?

Green shoots

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.

New Year

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.