My first trip down to the allotment for a while and quite a surprise with the amount of picking and lifting to do.
Raspberries for breakfast
parsnips, beetroot and Italian radish - all covered in mud!
probably the last beans - some rather tough looking runners and french 'lazy housewife' beans which have grown really quickly.
surprise exotics from the polytunnel - courgettes, a tiny pepper, chilli and baby aubergines
lots of green tomatoes - and a few red
Autumn broccoli - side shoots growing almost as big as the main bit - and some small cauliflowers
Home grown lunch - spinach, tomatoes and radishes from allotment pickings, lettuce, rocket and beet leaves from garden, red cabbage from the cupboard (grown on the allotment and pickled)....and not forgetting lots of mud!
well it wasa surely worth the muddy shoes for this lot,, wow what a haul.
ReplyDeleteNothing could be better than picking your own food, i miss that so much,,the veg from the poly tunnel are amazing also.Is your growing season over now? Are you able to grow things all winter in the poly tunnel or do you take it down.I know the temps vary all over England and I thought maybe you can grow some hardier things over winter, also, can you leave carrots and parsnips in the ground all winter,sorry to be a bother,, curiousity,, thats me!
Growing season isn't over as such, just different things coming ready over winter - hardy cabbage, brussels sprouts, parsnips, turnips, leeks - BUT last winter was really really cold here. People were claiming the temperature dropped to minus 15C at times and certainly the ground was frozen for weeks which is not normal. The previous allotment owner had planted winter cabbage and swedes(turnips) which we expected to survive but didn't. It makes planning this year tricky. We're going to assume it will be cold again - so lifting beetroot, carrots, large parsnips, any swedes that seem worth the effort. Brussels and cabbage have got to take their chances and the same goes for things planted to crop in Spring - cauliflowers, different cabbage, over wintering onions, leeks and broad beans. I don't think we'll be trying to keep anything over winter in the tunnel - it's fastened to the side of the shed so should (fingers crossed) stay up. I've got late lettuce and spinach in the greenhouse at home where I can keep an eye on it and line the glass with fleece and bubble wrap. Usually these would grow all winter but were frosted last year. Nobody knows if the last two winters were freaks or what we can expect now. This year's long-range forecast doesn't look good though.
ReplyDeleteWriting that has made me wonder about planting things that normally would be outdoors, in the polytunnel. Anything in plant pots was frozen last year so I'd have to plant in the ground but I have more space in the allotment tuneel than in the greenhouse at home. Going to have a think....
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