First entry of 2012

Went to the plot in the afternoon after work to do a little digging and let the chickens out. Plots looking really good, well ahead with all the digging and am about to start construction of the new greenhouse. Over wintering Garlic, onions and broad beans are all doing well. Still eating onions, potatoes and (frozen) broad beans from last year. Leaks, spinach, red cabbage, jerusalem artichokes and herbs still growing... Will add some up to date photos.

Tomato

Picked the first tomato of the year from the greenhouse in the garden.

Sowing the seeds

Tim and me had a good few hours at the plot today. We planted shallots, broad beans, peas and scottish potatoes.

Harvest Festival

It was late but we finally got round to having our harvest festival.
We had a beetroot salad for starters followed by braised red cabbage, mashed potato, jerusalem artichokes and onions, and sausages. Everything except the sausages, lettuce and tomatoes was from the plot which was pretty good going.
Next year we hope to have even more variety. Could happen..

Bonfire night

Here are a couple of pics from the bonfire we had tonight. In the first Mark keeps a watchful eye on his Nissan Micra, and on the second Tim feeds the fire with dead weeds.

Die weeds

Sprayed an area of the plot this evening with some excellent completely degradable weed killer. For use February to September only.

Onions and Garlic

Tim and me had a very pleasant time at the plot this afternoon. First we cycled out along the Cam to the garden centre in Horningsea to buy some garlic (Wight Cristo £1.59 for 2 bulbs) and red onions (Electric - £1.50 for 2 rows worth). We also visited Fen Ditton's One Stop for some milk; an essential part of the coffee break.

Once at the plot, we dug over an area that had been used for potatoes last year. Digging was easy; the earth was soft and there weren't too many weeds. The weather was overcast and it rained occasionally but the temperature was perfect.

After planting the garlic and onions we cut off the Jerusalem artichokes as they are starting to die. We left 6 inches of stalk sticking up so we can dig up the artichokes later. We've got a very good crop this year.

We also piled up some earth round the leeks. A bit late but it should still help.

Dan