Monday, 24 November 2008

massive

Its huge, one of 4 i dug up for a roast yesterday. Its about 4 times the size of a normal parsnip, the roasted ones were great and i think i have another 20 in the plot so good for a couple of months yet.

Saturday, 22 November 2008

The top part of the plot with the green manure growing well, the bean trench extended and the spinach beet, carrots and chard dug up and thrown in. I know it looks odd that i did not extend the trench to the row end, but to be honest that would be far to many beans planted than we would ever eat or give away, the length of the trench currently is probably a bit ambitious anyway.

The bottom of the plot with all weeding done. Again the manure is growing, all be it thinner than at the top. Parsnips remain the only crop growing.

The center where i have pulled over the tarpaulin again although the area underneath would not take more than half a day to weed, i am just not sure when i will get to do it. Plus under cover it will dry a bit so that i can pull back and weed without the ground being to boggy.The weed area left i'll also cover and attack when possible.

The chillies hanging to dry turning red, if you look at the slideshow you'll see them at different stages of colours.

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Slideshow!

I've added a slideshow on the right here which show a lot more photo's i've taken of the plot, garden and crops. also playing around with general look, what do you think?

Monday, 3 November 2008

Okay

so this update has been even longer in coming, but certainly less time than waiting for summer this year!
I felt its was time to show some photos and explain whats been happening. Summery of this year - another rained out season. No sun means little grows and only the late autumn sun meant we finally had some corgettes, but it was not enough for the other squashes to prosper, all failed.
Most other things were dissapointing also, sweetcorn grew no higher than my knee, carrots very poor and small, climbing french beans rubbish - all these things i presume are down to the poor weather and probably the poor nutritional quality of my soil which i am now addressing.
The above photo is the end of the plot mostly dug over apart from the parsnips which actually seem to have done well, judging by the first pull. The strip in the middle is the failed carrots with weeds in between awaiting removal, and the top right corner is some green manure i've sown, mustard seed.
The plank in the middle is actually alongside a strip of horse manure spread over the surface.The covered part in the middle is still yet to be completely cleared mainly due to time, with the clocks going back its now impossible to get anything done in the evening, but i suppose that another winter under cover cannot do any harm and i'll target that area with green manure in the spring.
I started a bean trench where the peas were this year and will extend it when i remove the spinach beet, another of the few successes this year.
The top part has also been seeded with mustard, and i am going to remove the water butt and other stuff from the wall edge to put down some covering to stop the weeds coming under the wall, generally couch grass and mares tail. I need to plan where to put the water buts and build a compost bin at some time, as well as considering where to put the permanent fruit beds (raspberry and blackberry) that i want to plant next year.