- allotment
- allotment supper
- asparagus
- bees
- borage
- chard
- compost
- courgettes
- golden gooseberry jelly
- golden sweet mange tout
- gooseberries
- gooseberry jam
- greenhouse
- hanging basket
- lemon apple cucumber
- lemon verbena
- no-dig allotment
- onions
- purple basil
- quince
- radishes
- rose de roscoff onions
- shed
- snowdrops
- strawberries
- sweetcorn
- sweet peas
- tomatoes
- yellow raspberries
- zinnias
the green fuse
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age.
Dylan Thomas
hungry gap harvest
No dig parsnips – surprisingly straight and large, considering the dense clay soil…
Asparagus, leeks and sprouting kale as well as PSB
View from the greenhouse – seedlings coming along including asparagus kale, red & gold beetroot, various lettuce varieties and coriander. Broad beans and onions planted out in the beds beyond – and carrots, radishes and dwarf peas just germinating.
biodynamic preparation 500
As the full moon approaches, yesterday seemed a good time to apply this year’s horn manure preparation; stirring diligently for an hour, creating vortices to ‘enliven’ the rainwater. Sprinkling it over the soil with fragrant branches of bay was suitably magical, droplets sparkling in the afternoon sunshine. Perhaps fortunately, there were no witnesses to this arcane process …
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Posted in Allotment, biodynamics
Tagged horn manure, preparation 500
Comments Off on biodynamic preparation 500
leaping into action
Making best use of this extra leap year day, and catching up after so many days (weeks?) of rain, there was a flurry of activity at the huerto. Greenhouse glass cleaned inside and out; such a difference to the light. Quince tree heavily pruned in the hope of eradicating the rust and poor cropping of the past 2 years. Seeds sown. Pansies planted out into the hanging basket adjacent to the bee hotel. And even a reasonable harvest, including some rose de Roscoff onions I had forgotten about, stored in the shed but still edible. Also flower sprouts, kale shoots, leeks and parsley. AND it didn’t rain. At all. Sunshine even!
Posted in Allotment
Comments Off on leaping into action
a hungry visitor
Just look what I found in the greenhouse!
And then this…
A hungry ratty I suspect, judging by the size of the hole and the teeth marks! I took the precaution of moving the other squash (Crown Prince) to a high up shelf but left this one for our gourmand visitor.
a winter gratin
Amid the wintry desolation I was happily surprised yesterday to find this array of vegetables, L to R: cabbage, chioggia & golden beetroot, parsnip, kholrabi and celeriac.
And thanks to my great big Global cleaver, together with the cavalier approach to peeling that it enables, was able quite quickly to transform the muddy roots into a tasty gratin.
red and ready
The ancient wheelbarrow had become nearly impossible to use as the tyre had somehow accumulated heavy debris inside which was making it very difficult to manoeuvre, impossible to reverse and characterised by a disconcertinly loud clunking noise! By adroit use of an angle grinder and ingenuity, I now have a posh new wheel which bounces it along beautifully! It almost makes a pleasure of humping large volumes of compost around.
One side of the plot is now ready for its winter compost mulch … garlic is planted and brassicas netted against pigeons.
Posted in Allotment, wheelbarrow
1 Comment
tomato themed lunch
Feeling rather pleased with my first focaccia with Sungold tomatoes, even though it was a right old fiddle to make! It was delicious alongside tomato soup, all ingredients freshly picked today – a good way to use up rather a lot of produce quickly.
blue dream of sky
“I thank you god for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.” – e.e. cummings
abundance
Munchkin pumpkins and Crown Prince squash.
Note my very first aubergine! I’m rather pleased to have grown it successfully 🙂
Posted in Allotment
2 Comments
up and over
Onion harvest has started; Rose de Roscoff and shallots are now drying while in the background Mammoth onions are living up to their name and continue to grow. I’m rather proud of the Rossa di Tropea, grown from seed and now getting quite big – a long way from Calabria, but they don’t know that!
Thai basil and lemon verbena combine to make a heavenly & welcoming scent by the entrance arch where yellow beans and little climbing pumpkins ‘Munchkin’ are now taking over from the declining sweet peas.
And the squshes are going bonkers!
Posted in Allotment
Tagged lemon verbena, pumpkin Munchkin, rose de roscoff onions, Rossa di Tropea onions, thai basil
2 Comments
Huerto 
You must be logged in to post a comment.