Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Update #5

Hey guys, It would seem as though I have abandoned the cause. But no. It's been very slow on the site these pass few weeks however we still have a few crops still growing. The broad beans have been planted out as well as onions and the purple sprouting broccoli. The sweet peppers have finally come to a halt and we just picked the last of the crop. There are now cabbage in the spot where the peppers use to be. Chillies have done well, but have now exhausted their production ability. We managed to get one butternut squash this year and two squash festivals. The tomatoes went mental this season. We had so much more than we could handle. Spring onions, herbs, grapes and carrots were also on the list of crops we harvested recently. We got a good crop of grapes and made grape juice which went down very well.

A few of the veg form the Autumn harvest

Autumn stated and there was a limit to what we could plant. We planted out spinach, broad beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, garlics and onions. Most of the crops we planted are under the polytunnel, for obvious reasons, its been cold and the forecast is that it's going to get colder still. It's been a harsh few weeks. We've had two months worth of rain in the past week, and it's been cold.
Brod Beans Standing up to the cold

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Cabbages

Salad Leaves


Out in the open there is not much going on, we are experimenting with potatoes. We planted a small area with potatoes to see how they do over the winter months. The spinach are not looking to impressive, they have been in the ground for about two months now but just looking at them you won't be able to tell.
Align CentreSad Looking Spinach


We've got some beet root in as well and they seem to be holding up well. All in all the weather as not been kind to the vegetable world. The only plants that seems to be striving in the recent conditions are the rockets. They have more than doubled in size since the last post and shows no sign of letting up.
We have mixed in a bit of horse manure into the plots and covered them in an attempt to keep the foxes from turning them into their own private toilets. So far it has worked. Just want to shear with you with a picture of the nursery where we are growing some red sunflower, strawberries and garlics
Nursery Area in the Polytunnel

We are also trying out leaf molding, apparently it takes at least a year before we can see the results.
Leaf Mold in progress

I now leave you with images of the site in the run up to winter. Not for the faint hearted!!!
Frozen to death - Squash

Barren Land?/Fox Protection