At the allotment this weekend, the whole family helped plant out the garlic bed. The son and I had sheet mulched gradually over the week, and he and the husband added a bit more mulch on top to make it nice and deep (well composted horse manure and straw from the on site stables). We then planted about 120 big cloves and covered them over, criss-crossing some artichoke trimmings over the top in the hopes of detering any curious birds--not that they eat them, but they sometimes pull them out if they can see the tops poking up.
The chickens and ducks are back at home because of a rat infestation at the allotment; since they've gone, there have been dead rats all over the place. Good riddance. We've observed that the rats won't eat poison if there is chicken food on offer. So no chickens=no chicken food=no rats. I had to harvest my Glass Gem corn because some of it had been nibbled; I probably lost about a quarter or more of the cobs but the corn patch at home is untouched, thankfully. Hope we can at least last till spring before any rats move in here (and the poultry can then go to the allotment again).
I thought I'd finally got the last of the cucumbers, but it looks like I still might get one more small batch. Will I grow this pickling variety again? Yes, but I need about twice as many jars! I also finally got the last of the green tomatoes, but couldn't salvage them all from the blight. I pickled the last few.
Still growing, not ready: some leeks, kale, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and cabbages.
Still growing, ready or nearly so: beets, green and purple beans, spring onions, squashes (and cucumbers!).
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