I’ve had quite a busy weekend in the garden doing a couple of hours of weeding at the shared plot which had got a bit overgrown. There’s still carrots and beetroot going strong up there with cabbages, parnsips and brussels coming on nicely. And I finally got round to planting my onion sets today, a bit later than usual, but it’s been such a mild Autumn I’m sure they’ll be fine. This year I’m growing two varieties Troy F1 and Electric, a red onion that I’ve never grown before. There’s 50 of each and they fit in a space roughly 6 foot square planting 5″ apart in rows spaced at 10″ so I can get the hoe around them in the spring.
There’s not much left in the home plot now, a few parsnips and some brussel sprouts in the small bed. There’s also cabbages, kale and leeks with onions, shallots, marrows, squash, pumpkins and potatoes in store.
I’m looking forward to some purple sprouting broccoli in spring as there’s three strong plants around four foot high that should survive the winter.
Finally I cut down the Dahlias and, rather than lifting them as I did last year, I’ve covered the tubers in some spent potato compost which I’m hoping will insulate them enough to get them through the winter. And the girls had a great time digging in the mounds of soil.
It’s been a great year on the veg plot with plenty of successes and a few failures thrown in. More about the highs and lows of 2011 next time. Hope you’re all having a good weekend.
14 comments
Comments feed for this article
November 20, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Sue
We’ve planted Electric too – are you going to continue growing vegetables in the garden now you have your plot?
November 20, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Damo
Hi Sue, yes I’ll grow the veg that I like to keep a close eye on in the garden and the rest up the allotment. In the first few years I’ve been growing a bit of everything so now I have room to grow a lot more of what we like to eat and get a decent succession of plantings to keep the veg going throughout the year. Well that’s the theory anyway!
November 20, 2011 at 9:03 pm
Mark Willis
I think I’m going to have to harvest the first of my PSB very soon – about 3 months early! It’s already showing one or two yellow flowers. Another aberration caused by the unnaturally mild Autumn.
November 21, 2011 at 7:19 am
Damo
That is early Mark I better check mine, it’s a late variety so I hope it doesn’t produce too soon as it fills the gap around April time very nicely.
November 20, 2011 at 11:24 pm
My Urban Gardens
Your gardens look great! Thanks for sharing?
November 21, 2011 at 7:19 am
Damo
Thanks very much!
November 21, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Jo
I hope your dahlias survive the winter, so many were lost in last year’s bad winter. I’m harvesting psb already, it’s so early owing to the mild autumn.
November 22, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Damo
Fingers crossed Jo, that is early for PSB a freakishly mild Autumn.
November 21, 2011 at 2:50 pm
wellywoman
That all looks really neat and tidy. Wish I could say the same for my garden. We haven’t had any frost yet so I’ve left my plants it seemed a shame to get rid of plants that were still flowering but it’s been very wet here in Wales so everything is looking soggy and bedraggled. You must be excited to have a plot?
November 22, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Damo
Very excited just waiting to see which plot and what state it’s in. It was a shame we had a couple of light frosts here earlier in the month which caught the Dahlias as they would still be going strong now.
November 21, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Rich
I think your obsession with a tidy plot is even more anal than mine. LOL!!
November 22, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Damo
You haven’t seen the rest of the garden though!
November 22, 2011 at 2:48 pm
The Idiot Gardener
That all look unnaturally neat and tidy. Mine currently looks like an abandoned wilderness!
November 22, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Damo
Nothing wrong with that IG I’m as surprised as anyone that it looks so organised!