Picking this week - 22nd April 2020

We're not really into the swing of spring crops but things are coming along nicely.

In the greenhouse I've trays of  rocket and mizuna  growing well and supplying me with fresh salad leaves

From the allotment there are radishes and the end of winters leeks.










And both garden and allotment have rhubarb ready to pull.

Home grown lunch

It's that time of year when growing-your-own really starts to reap rewards,even if sometimes you end up with odd combinations. So here I am eating home grown salad of red oakleaf lettuce, rocket, fresh peas and strawberries. OK I had to buy the feta :)

July in the garden - veg and fruit

 Gardening seems to be all about fruit picking at the moment - lots of redcurrants, blackcurrants and raspberries (even if they are hiding behind the feverfew)












The vegetable beds are dominated by this - a solitary brussel sprout that never got moved to the allotment

One side of the path has beans and sweet peas trying to climb up a wigwam

the other has mangetout peas

rocket

 At the foot of these wigwams are small salad veg - lettuce, spinach, rocket etc - and another 'left-behind' - a savoy cabbage

savoy cabbage

this seed bed should have been FULL of small winter cabbages and leeks but this is all that survived attacks by slugs and snails

 In the greenhouse tomatoes and grapes are filling but nothing ripening yet

 

Picked this week - 27th April 2014

This is the big bag of goodies I brought home from the allotment last week.I'm really pleased the cauliflower made something in the end - I've been waiting for it since Autumn!














The rhubarb is clearly visible sticking out the top of the bag but hidden underneath were





a (late) winter cabbage

over-wintered beetroot - including a strange yellow one.

the normal stash of spinach

and some scruffy radishes

From the garden and greenhouse at home, there's an increasing number of salad leaves - more spinach (!), red and green lettuce, american land cress and rocket.

Picked this Week - 6th April 2014

First rhubarb of the year!! Very welcome as the stocks of last year's apples are getting really low. I still seem to have a freezer full of blackberries though - rhubarb and blackberry pie maybe?




 Lots of salad veg picked this week - chives, rocket and baby red lettuce from the garden, radish and spinach from the allotment

 Some over-wintered allotment beetroot

running-to-seed cabbage picked as 'spring greens'

and lots of small broccoli spears

April veg

 It's a busy time of year right now (though sometimes with gardening ALL times of year can feel busy!)

I've been getting the veg beds sorted out with leeks and spring onions set and winter salad leaves pricked out (look very carefully, they're in the area between the two seed packets)

The other side of the path has some ready-to-bolt winter cabbage, with chives on the left and garlic to the right.

Another area, around last year's rocket, has radish and more rocket set.














At the back of the garden, the rhubarb is doing well











and the fruit trees are showing early signs of flowers to come

apples...











red currants











and the peach tree already in flower




window sills are full of cucumbers, squashes, courgettes

 tomatoes, aubergines and peppers 

and there are trays and trays of early veg waiting to be moved into the allotment - these are tiny beetroot plants

Picked this week - 30th March 2014

A trip to the allotment early in the week saw me bringing home spinach and brussels sprouts tops - both of which ended up in salads - and more snippets of broccoli.

There's been lots in the way of salad leaves to pull from the garden and greenhouse - american land cress, rocket and self set lamb's lettuce outside and baby red lettuce inside - and chives,lemon balm and oregano for salad dressings.

Picked this week 16th February 2014

This is it!

I haven't been down to the allotment this week although Hubby and the dog went digging. I'd been hoping for more dry days but the weather had other ideas.

So, nothing picked from there and just the merest handful of spinach, rocket and land cress leaves, two tiny spring onions and the first shoots of chives from home.

February in the garden - veg

I don't have so many veg in the garden these days - most of it is grown down at the allotment but there are still some bits and pieces, mainly salad crops which at this time of year means spinach....


rocket....









and american land cress

As the veg patch is now supposed to be as decorative as useful, there are a few cabbages and kale around to keep the garden looking 'used' over winter instead of bare.

   

and of course it's the time of year to have summer's crops starting life in the greenhouse - cabbages

a couple of lettuce (the rest eaten by slugs and snails)










and broad beans under the holly which should keep the mice at bay.