Successfully Overwintered?

I’ve been really pleased with the crops I overwintered this year. With the warm Spring anything that was already up and running when the temperatures started to warm up has really shot on.

Take the broad beans for example, there’s loads of flowers on them already.

The Radar Onion sets I planted back in early November are doing well. I’m sure they’re starting to ‘bulb-up’ already.

And the pansies that I sowed last Spring made it through to give some welcome colour this Spring.

Considering all of them were under a foot of snow for most of December they’re doing pretty well. I think it’s worth taking the risk with the hardier crops. And what an April we’ve had, barely any rain here in Salisbury which has meant glorious weather, BBQs, too many cocktails yesterday for our Royal Wedding garden party but who’se complaining! The only downside is the extra watering, very unusual for April, but I’m now only giving each brassica plant a good soaking once a week which is all they need and this is keeping the watering time down to a minimum. The nights are still cool though and with my Dahlia tubers out and up through the soil already that’s a bit of a risk that I’ll have to keep an eye on for another few weeks in case a late frost strikes.

So what crops have you overwintered successfully this year? Enjoy the rest of your long Bank Holiday weekend (sorry any Scottish readers!).

One of these days I gotta get myself organizized

One of my favourite Travis Bickle quotes from one of my all-time favourite films, although not everyones cup of tea I’m sure. It rang true over the last few days with the stress and my own dis-organisation ahead of our Summer Show.

The show would not have been possible without the organisation by the Committee, Stewards and Judges. With over 300 exhibits I am told it took a good hour and a half to make all the decisions.

Our local MP, John Glen, kindly presented the prizes. Now I must admit John I switched off when you started talking about David Cameron’s Big Society, but I appreciate you giving up your Saturday to present the prizes for our Society. You don’t need to waste your words on us John, your Salisbury seat is as safe as houses (even in these toxic debt times!).

Then there’s the clean-up, the garden looks like a storm has been through, discarded veg trimmings all over the place. So that’s the first job, a good tidy.

And lastly to look ahead, as summer draws to a close, what do I need to sow to guarantee a continuation of crops? What will overwinter? Two years ago with a relatively mild winter my onions, garlic and shallots did well and got a good head start but would they have survived last winter if I’d have done the same? So many decisions to make.

Finally I’ve started to dig up the main crop spuds. The Desiree look good.

This is your last chance to enter my free Land’s End Gift Voucher and Seed giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on the post, just click here. I’ll be drawing the gift voucher winners and despatching the seeds this weekend.