Parsnips!

We found the parsnips! There were only three, but what with the weeds that's all I was expecting. Not bad specimens if I do say so myself, except the one that hit a pebble and looks more like an octopus....


We pulled the leeks too, as you can see; another small harvest but a harvest nonetheless.

That's two out of eleven beds dug now, and the strawberries weeded. Last year we let the runners go wild, and ended up with starwberry plants all over the paths, so I've carefully transplanted them back into the bed where they belong. I'm planning to let them grow through holes in black plastic this year, as the weeds swamped them so badly last year - hopefully I'll have time to do this next time I go to the plot.

My fruit trees have finally arrived from J Parkers (tiny they are!) along with onion sets, shallots, garlic and some spectacular orange lily bulbs, and some echinacea plants and gladioli bulbs that came as a free gift. Hardly makes up for the appallingly late delivery though; it's practically too late to plant shallots and garlic now! I'll give them a go anyway, but I'm not happy, and my potatoes haven't arrived yet either! Stuff this mail-order lark - next time I'm going in person to a real old-fashioned shop for my garlic, onions and spuds.

Anyway, here they are:

I haven't quite decided yet whether I'm going to plant them out or put them in pots, but I'll have to think of something soon; they're covered in little green buds and raring to go!

The Spring has Sprung

I saw my first bumblebee this weekend! It suddenly felt a lot more like spring, despite the drizzle. I tried to take a picture but he was rather an energetic little fellow...

We've spent several hours on the plot, weeding the strawberries and digging the potato patch over. This meant harvesting the last of the turnips, and admitting defeat on our rather abortive swede crop.

That one on the left is the biggest by far (most were barely an inch long) and it's still not really big enough to use, even if a slug hadn't burrowed right through the middle of it... Ah well; I did sow them rather late, and never thinned them, so it's my own fault. In the background you can see some of our turnips - also rather small, though there were quite a few good sized ones too. I'd never tried turnips until I grew these, but we've been enjoying them with our roast dinners. And they made excellent ground cover over winter; no weeds and barely any digging needed in that patch!

We have decided to cancel raspberry-planting plans, as there is some doubt as to whether we'll still be living here by the time we get a crop next year. I'm looking on the bright side; that's £20 saved, a few things knocked off my to-do list, and twice as much space available for planting squashes and melons from my lovely 'Melon Sweet Medley' mixed pack!
But on the same subject, I'm now not sure what to do with the fruit trees I've ordered. They're tiny 'minarette' trees, suitable for planting out or keeping in pots. I'd much prefer to plant them out, but if I do will I have to leave them behind if we move? I'm guessing the rootball will be pretty small, so I'm hoping I could take them with us, but I'm just not sure. Advice welcome...

What's with Broad Beans?

I would have loved to have sown my broad beans on the plot last November (the earliest it recommends on the packet and in all the magazines), but I didn't have time or space, so I thought I'd get them off to an early start this year instead. I let them germinate indoors for speed then planned to harden them off and put them in the greenhouse until I was ready to plant them out. Surely if they can stand December and January, they can stand February too? But they just won't harden. The leaves are going black with cold, even in the greenhouse during the day! I don't get it. Other UK bloggers are saying their beans are growing happily outdoors, and these are Aquadulce Claudia - supposedly one of the hardiest.

I've finally scrapped them - the stems started blackening too - and a new sowing has been made. This time I'll keep them outdoors from the start, and then if they germinate but don't like the cold it'll be their fault, not mine!

Today I have sown some more flowers and herbs too; a tray of bluebells, some sorrel and feverfew, tagetes, pansies and violas (what's the difference??). I never really liked pansies much, but I love the idea of edible flowers and I have a soft spot for orange flowers, so these (from Suttons - their picture) were too good to resist!


While I was at it I got some wild ones too, which are perennial and will brighten up the herb garden some more.

R.I.P...

What's the worst thing you have found in a compost heap? I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of turning up a pocket of fermenting kitchen scraps, or finding that dead frog we threw on there in the summer again. But I wasn't expecting this:

Rats they may be, and no I don't want them living in my compost heap, but we couldn't really help but feel bad for them, all tiny and helpless and shivering and squeaking... What to do? Bury them alive in the compost? Try to push the nest back together and hope they'd be ok? I doubt mum would be back after we'd interfered so much. Drop everything and leave, and hope mum came back to take them somewhere safe? In the end we moved the whole nest down to a dark corner at the other end of the plot - out of sight, out of mind - to await whatever fate nature has in store. Poor little things! It was all very traumatising. (Ok, it would have been far worse to find some creature skewered on the end of my fork - eeeew - but let's not think about that!)

So that's it now; all the compost is turned and suddenly much more compact in the bins, so there's room for another year's weeds. And I sieved a few bucketfuls of good stuff to earth up the asparagus bed too, which is long overdue. It looks so good now covered in new black compost - I can't wait for the shoots to start appearing! I chucked in some manure as well. We missed the site's bulk order, so I've bought some concentrated stuff from a garden centre instead. 'Use handfuls, not bucketfuls', it says, and you can just add it when planting too, rather than having to wait for it to rot down for ages. Sounds good to me.

All that remains on January's to-do list is making a ladybird house, but since that's more of an overwinter thing I'm not in any hurry; next job now is to prepare to plant potatoes and onions (if they ever arrive that is - I'm going to have to start chasing orders soon!).

Herbs

This week I have received these lovely seedlings by mail order from Victoriana Nursery.


They are Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Chamomile and Lovage, for the herb garden, and were going so cheap it made much more sense than to buy seed like I usually do. I also got some clover seed (for beneficial ground cover in areas that would otherwise have to remain either bare soil or couch grass) and some good old native bluebell seed (might scatter some down the shady end of the home garden too).

Actually, the herb garden plans are starting to get a little out of hand. The list now is as follows: lemon balm, marjoram, chamomile, lovage, calendula, sage, sorrel, feverfew, rosemary, mint, thyme, chives, garlic chives, creeping thyme (non-culinary), curly parsley, flat-leaved parsley, tansy, yarrow, lemongrass (in a pot, as it'll have to come in for winter), echinacea, horseradish, borage, monarda (bee balm), marigolds, nasturtiums, coriander and basil! Phew! There'll never be room for all those in the patch I was planning and I know they're gonna end up overflowing into other areas... I think I'll concentrate on the perennial ones; the annuals will end up dotted around the plot as companion plants for various veg anyway (basil with the toms, borage with the beans, coriander with the lettuces, etc.)

Most of these herbs are now sprouting on my windowsills and in the greenhouse, along with my broad beans, lettuces and spinach. Most of the flowers are still showing no signs - perhaps it truly was too early for them - but never mind, there's time yet!