Tidying up for winter, goodbye Cookie

Regarding my previous post, I had a tray of various brassicas from August;  these I just planted out despite mostly being rejected for the first transplant as way too small.  They're not much bigger now!  But I have space at the allotment so I thought I might as well.  I also planted out this year's sowing of wallflowers, which had been waiting patiently in their pots since late spring;  I planted a few in the kitchen garden border and in my tiny front garden, near the newly planted daffodil bulbs.  Was that actually the last planting of 2026?  It better be...

It meant I could finally move the big table off my patio, back on to the lawn, and tidy it up a bit.  That big table has been holding seed trays since March, taking up half my patio.  Now I've swept up, brought the houseplants back indoors from their summer vacation, and even weeded a little around the edges.  The beds themselves need a good tidy, but at least the patio looks much nicer.

Lots of chilis at the front, aubergines at the back, October 2026

Still harvesting too many vegetables!  At the weekend we filled our sacks with more tomatoes, cucumbers, leeks, big black radishes (for cooking), fennel, Brussels sprouts and a cauliflower.  I think the toms and cucs might have had it now;  they both still have some fruits but may not be able to grow/ripen now.  Maybe the toms.  However, there are still a lot of the rest--and more:  still have a bit of cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, komatsuna, parsnips, beets, chilis.

Speaking of chilis, the husband took it on himself to make a batch of chili sauce with the toms, chilis, garlic and onions we grew.  I'd already made a recipe called Easy Hot Sauce from another website;  I think maybe I didn't use enough chilis as it isn't very hot.  More like a mild spiced vinegar.  Hopefully the husband's has more of a kick;  his recipe is from Joy of Cooking, substituting chilis for red bell peppers.

Little aubergine:  most didn't get much bigger than this, October 2026

In sad news, our ten year old Pekin bantam Cookie died last week.  She was an excellent broody hen and mother to many chicks, as well as being our favorite chicken all around.  She's been with us so long;  we'll really miss her. 

The last planting of 2026

It's continued to be mild and dry for the most part, and at the allotment my cucumbers and tomatoes continue producing, albeit more slowly.  I've started harvesting early leeks, fennel and winter radishes;  the last two only went down at the end of July/start of August.  They're all bulbing up nicely regardless.  It probably helped that this large bed received a huge amount of well composted horse manure in spring:  I grew Charlotte potatoes here earlier this year.  Incidentally, though probably unrelated, it's the only vegetable bed not mulched with wood chips this year (we mulched the potatoes with straw/manure from the stables on site, some of which still remains on the bed).

The whole family turned out to the allotment on Sunday to plant the garlic bed;  I'd been forking this bed gradually after clearing away the courgettes aka zucs and squashes--it was full of bindweed and couch grass runners.  We raked off the wood chips, forked it over again, planted the (newly bought) garlic cloves in rows and recovered with the original wood chip mulch.  I'll try to get a couple more wheelbarrow loads of chips to top it up too.  I know we didn't get all the roots, but if I can keep it well mulched, any remaining weeds and grass should come out a lot easier when we harvest the garlic next May/June.

The son and I planted a sack of daffodil bulbs in our tiny neglected front garden this weekend;  he made some trenches in the grass around the edges of the lawn next to the driveway and street, then we just put down the bulbs, packed fairly close together.  Then we tried to put the original clumps of grass back as they were.  This is the third year running we've put down new daffodil bulbs at home, but I haven't put them in the front for years and years (and those seem to have all disappeared now).  Obviously daffodils aren't edible, but they make me so happy in the spring, especially when everything else is miserable.

My kitchen garden is much less orderly than my allotment:  it's a tangle of weeds with some random small patches of veg, such as a couple of immature cabbages next to the twenty or so pickling cucumber vines, with a kohlrabi or two hiding amongst several tall lettuces gone to seed, next to another fifteen or so strawberry plants, next to...etc.  Everything is still producing just a little bit so I'm not quite ready to clear away--though it really needs it!  So untidy.

Flipping the switch for summer; planting everything out, losing cucumbers again

After a somewhat cool spring, we've suddenly flipped the switch for summer.  Last Monday I got completely drenched (and even hailed on) on my bike ride home from work and this Monday I was slathered in sunscreen at the beach.  Throughout spring we've had some dry spells and some rainy spells;  while I welcome some heat, I hope we still get some rain this summer and not a hosepipe ban.

I've got my zucs planted out at the allotment, as well as all my tomatoes (both cherry and plum, in containers).  The tomatoes have a good straw mulch to keep moisture in; whereas the zucs are planted in a new sheet mulch, and they won't have direct root contact with the soil yet--I'm watering both of them twice a day in this heat.  The rest of the plants, whether on top of sheet mulch or not, have been growing long enough not to need such copious watering (potatoes, peas, beets, broad beans, cabbages, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, garlic).  Except the overwintered onions, also in containers.  Containers need lots of water, no matter the weather.  

I've had somewhat sparse germination of squashes and cucs, and not only that, a lot of cuc losses.  They have been sprouting, wilting, and then shriveling up.  I might not get any cucumbers this year, but I will try one more batch of seed, despite it being a bit late.  This has happened to me in the past, though usually with older plants just starting to produce fruit.  I'm not sure if it's the potting compost (though everything else has been fine in it), the seed (saved my own from last year's fruits), or a cucumber specific disease.   It looks like the squashes are ok, just not a lot of them.  I'll try starting one more batch of these too.

I've grown some flowers from seed both this and last year:  columbine, lupin, verbena, wallflowers, strawflowers, marigolds.  I have some that self seed every year in my garden too:  poppies, honesty, borage, foxgloves, calendula.  There are a lot of ornamentals in my garden:  many shrubs, some bulbs, as well as some herbaceous perennials.  Spring is particularly pretty out back, but it's also lovely now in early summer.  I used to pick myself homegrown bouquets every week;  I got out of the habit around the time I got my allotment, but I really should pick some again even if only once in a while.

Finally, last week I collected my largest plastic plant pots to transplant my chilis and eggplants.  While I've sometimes succeeded with chilis (though not reliably), I've never got beyond two leaves on eggplants.  Until this year:  most of my little plants have at least four leaves!  Will they carry on?  I half filled the pots with partly composted chicken manure that I dug from the chicken yard, then topped up with commercial potting compost to plant into.  Now 10 eggplant pots are on my patio, in the sunniest most sheltered spot, and all possibly looking to grow a fifth leaf;  they are grouped with 12 pots of chilis, with similar leaf count.

Busy: planting, weeding, tidying, top dressing, harvesting

Two thirds of my allotment with purple sprouting broccoli at the centre foreground;  the other third contains the chicken yard, raspberries and artichokes (not shown), April 2026

Photos!  But don't expect this trend to continue.  

A lot going on right now, both in my personal life and in my garden and allotment.  So busy.  I make my food producing engine a top priority though.  Not only is it important to me to have as much homegrown food as possible, I also enjoy the whole process.  It's my beloved hobby.  This time of year I'm in the garden as much as possible, and at the allotment every day.  I'm still planting out my transplants, bed by bed.

Tiny quince tree in the garden, May 2026

I spent the last two weekends with a pair of leather gloves, pulling out all the nettles from the edges of my garden;  I also did as much of the encroaching brambles as I could (these are harder to pull out but cutting them only encourages growth).  The whole garden looks much tidier now.  Most of it is given to perennials and ornamentals, with good habitat for birds and other creatures;  a certain amount of disorder is therefore encouraged, but I want to be able to enjoy the full extent of it too, without getting stung or prickled.

Another job:  digging chicken manure out of the now vacant yard--chickens currently having their summer vacation at the allotment--and spreading it all around.  It's gone at the base of every fruit tree and rose bush, around some of the garden beds, and anywhere else that looks needy.  There's a whole year's worth of manure there:  plenty to share.  The son and I emptied the coop too, then dusted it thoroughly with diatomaceous earth, to protect against mites.  After mowing the lawn, he put the grass clippings in the coop and nest boxes to dry out into straw;  it will be dry and ready for chickens to move back in after their summer break.

It's never flowered before;  will we get our first quince? May 2026

The purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment is just about finished and I'm pulling up the plants one by one, stripping the leaves to eat like kale;  I've frozen a lot too.  I've also begun regularly picking the first new season lettuce (this is in the kitchen garden), as well as new chives, parsley and garlic.  Though the maincrop garlic isn't ready yet, I've found some volunteers that got missed last year and am cooking them whole: very pungent.  I'm still hopeful for some spring cabbages soon, growing bigger;  and one spring cauliflower--the rest already matured, back in autumn and winter.  Oh, and there is still one squash left from last autumn, alone on its mat in my living room:  time to cut it open.

Cold coming

I'm waiting on a frost before attempting any parsnips from the small bed in my kitchen garden;  I sowed them interspersed with carrots which have been a bit small.  Will my parsnips be any bigger?  I may find out this week as it's forecast to freeze soon.  Although I've had some good parsnips in the past, they've not been very reliable for me;  maybe I need to sow them in bulk rather than just a few small rows.  I think interplanting/sowing with another crop (like carrots) is probably the best way in my garden, in case the parsnips do fail.

Because of the forecast, I also went and picked the very last (mostly green) cherry tomatoes at the front of my allotment:  that's it for fresh toms this year, though I have bags and bags in the freezer.  While I was at it, I picked every achocha bigger than a marble.  These don't survive a frost either, though they self seed readily every year so obviously the seeds don't mind it.  I haven't planted these on purpose for years, and I've never even planted them at the allotment!  They must have got there from seeds in the scraps for the compost.

I've read that leeks are better after a frost, which may be true;  I usually don't pick them until late winter/early spring.  This is the first time I've begun picking in autumn and to be honest, I can't tell a difference.  Maybe I'll be able to decide this coming week, if it does frost.  I still have around twenty more of the early leeks before I start on the later season ones--I would guess I'll probably get to those in about a month from now.  

One more job after a frost:  lift my dahlia tubers for winter, something I promised myself I would do this time.  Last year I had three plants and one didn't make it over winter;  I don't want to lose the other two.  I may try to lift my runner bean tubers too, something I've never tried.  I'm not committed to runner beans and don't care to take the trouble to grow them from seed next year (they've not been very prolific), but keeping existing plants is a reasonable amount of work I'm prepared to do.

---

Small note about the Vegetable Challenge:  the husband (in charge of shopping) came home with some mushrooms from the store.  He defended his decision (they aren't vegetables, they're fungi!), and though perhaps doesn't break the letter of the Challenge I have noted it here.  The Challenge is still on:  no vegetables have been bought.  But I have requested than no fungi are bought from now on either.

Cabbages, lettuces, leeks and flowers

Last week was a kimchi week, with about 10 cabbages all ready at once;  the variety is Dutchman (an F1) which I bought last year in the £1 sale, and I grew them at both the allotment and home.  They are a lovely, quick growing sweetheart type--most of them no more than 3# in weight (a few smaller, one actually much bigger).  I've made somewhere in the vicinity of 10 L of kimchi.  I'm not out of cabbage yet, and I'm also not quite out of big jars--but I've got no room in the fridge and the kitchen counter is also pretty full.  I eat kimchi pretty much every day with my eggs and bacon at breakfast, and sometimes with lunch or dinner too;  I'm not worried about having too much as it will keep for several months or longer--but I may need to rethink my food storage space.

I've now picked most of the lettuces and cabbages (to the left), June 2025

Actually I was going to sow even more cabbage seed last week in the hopes of a second harvest but it turns out I don't have any more.  I have four small Savoy seedlings which I've planted them in the gaps in the bed above where the lettuces and cabbages have gone;  however one has seemingly expired from the heat/dry and the other three don't look very promising either--it was old seed and not many sprouted.  I will turn instead to pak choi, which I definitely have seed for;  however, it too doesn't like hot dry conditions so I will probably wait at least another week to sow (it did finally rain again on Sunday but we're forecast another heatwave this week).

I finally got to the end of the first batch of butterhead lettuces, but have planted out another batch, seen below with leeks.  It's actually kind of amazing how fast it has grown;  I protected it with those wire trays at first but the lettuces outgrew them and the birds started pecking the leaves poking out;  I've now put up some bird netting and canes and it is looking a lot less tattered.  There is still some curly oakleaf lettuce about--and I've just pricked out the newest batch of these into a tray, for hopefully planting out at the end of the month.

These Lyon leeks have grown since this picture, as have the lettuces (under the wire, front left), June 2025

When I planted out the leeks, their tray had some unexpected calendula in it so I just planted them all out together.  This bed borders my patio and also has some wallflowers at the front of it, to flower next spring;  I grew a few other flowers from seed this spring, including:  zinnia and French marigold, lupin, echinacea, verbena, aquilegia and perennial sweet pea.  Most of these have already been planted out in the wider garden but I wanted the wallflowers close to the house so we could still enjoy them from the kitchen (when it's too miserable to go out);  the rest of my new flowers bloom in later spring/summer.

Cherries and also not cherries

(The Vegetable Challenge has restarted!  More details next week!) 

It turns out I've not been getting many Kordia cherries or Czar plums off my trees for the past several years because of a pair of pigeons.  They were witnessed in the spring, methodically stripping both buds and young leaves from my trees, meaning hardly any fruits formed at all.  These are wood pigeons (we don't currently have any feral pigeons around);  one of the neighbors has been known to shoot them with an air rifle in his own garden--but in this case I would have been quite happy to shoot them myself!  They're too big for netting:  I don't know if I can protect my trees in the future.

Hiding the few cherries that survived the pigeons, June 2025

Only a few Kordia cherries, but at least they're perfect underneath their cloth napkin, June 2025

On the other hand, my little Morello cherry tree produced a good amount of cherries this year, maybe because the branches are much smaller/thinner (wood pigeons are pretty big birds) and the tree itself is very close to the house.  I fully netted it a little while ago and have been picking red cherries and freezing them this past week.

Already picked a freezer bag of Morello cherries, June 2025

I can only assume the pigeons treated my small Stella cherry tree the same way they did the Kordia as it also has very little fruit.  Its top has died back and it's suffering from aphids in a bad way;  I don't know if it'll survive.  My plum tree, just around the corner (seen a little bit in the top right corner), had a couple years of bad aphids which I think the local sparrows eventually sorted it out;  this tree isn't visible from the house (unlike almost all of my other fruit trees) so I don't know if the birds are helping it this year or not.  While every ladybug and/or larva I find goes onto this tree, other than that, my policy is to not intervene.  I focus on setting up healthy conditions for my little garden ecosystem, a la permaculture;  it's up to the ecosystem to sort out its own details.  If I lose this tree, I can console myself with the thought that it only cost me £4 or £5, and I do have another healthy tree.

Sad Stella cherry tree, June 2025

As an aside:  there are a lot of wild cherry trees at our local country park just a few streets away;  some are pretty sour but others are quite nice.  Just much too small to preserve in any way:  good for eating and spitting out the pits.  At least we've been able to eat cherries this year, one way or another.

Empty, refill, repeat

 Although it's stayed fairly warm and dry, we got a big rainfall last week that filled up my barrels.  I try to water my pots and planters at home with rainwater when possible;  on this rainy island it's usually no problem.  We have somewhat variable weather so I'm never sure if it'll be a hot dry summer or a cool wet summer--I try to plant for both scenarios, and since I grow almost exclusively from seed it's thankfully not too expensive an experiment.  I still don't know what kind of summer we're looking at but it's been a warm dry spring so far--unlike last year.

Due to my ongoing lack of pots (I have 250+) I only just started my squash seeds at the weekend, which looks to be an unlucky miss;  had I gambled on starting them earlier I probably could get away with planting them out early too.  Never mind, I've got my tomatoes out early instead (most of them anyway).  My squashes should have enough time to grow even if transplanted out in June;   if it was too cold, I'd have to delay planting them out till June (as I do some years).

The majority of snap peas are planted out and growing well at the allotment, though I have four or five dozen pots not yet sprouted;  while they've been in their pots for several weeks, I'm still getting three or four a day poking up so I don't quite feel like giving up on them.  I've managed to start a packet of 50 runner bean seeds as I've been emptying out the snap pea pots;  these I haven't grown for a few years as the son didn't care much for them when he was small--maybe at 15 he'll feel better about them.  The husband and I love them and I can't remember if the daughter has tried them before (age 5).

Also got a tray of pickling cucumbers now emerging;  I'm risking them in my little cold frame on the patio next to my back door to make more room on my kitchen windowsill, overflowing with trays stacked on top of each other;  the just-emerging sweetcorn has gone out with it.  The rest of the week is forecast warm and sunny but if anything changes I can rescue them back inside.  

For a couple weeks the windowsill was empty, as I'd moved all the tomatoes to the cold frame, but I'm in the second wave of seed sowing now, for both indoor and outdoor seeds.  Obviously my outdoor seeds are outdoors;  my patio table and other surfaces are still completely covered and in some places stacked several trays high.  Some things have been planted out in the past week:  Welsh onions and some zinnias at home, cherry tomatoes and of course snap peas at the allotment.  But as soon as I empty, I refill with something new!

So busy!

This past week the son and I have done a lot of work at the allotment;  the husband and daughter have made occasional appearances too.  Son and I have transplanted out kohlrabi into a newly sheet mulched bed with fine compost on the top layer (usually I don't have enough compost for the top of a sheet mulch, but there is a pile of it next to the stables on site).  We have also begun planting out the snap pea seedlings, limited by the number of plastic rings I put around them to help acclimatize new transplants--they stay around the plants for a week or two, depending on how fast they grow;  the onions might not lose theirs until harvest.

At home I got out 15 cabbage plants, interplanted with several dozen lettuce plants;  I covered these over with bird netting but something has still been nibbling them.  I'm pretty sure it's a bird, as they were being nibbled while in trays on the patio table too (now also netted).  A couple days later I adjusted the net so it is flush the ground (in all but one or two small gaps)--I'll see if this protects it.  I still have another 10 cabbages to plant out, but I may grow them on a little and try them at the allotment.

Then at the weekend we prepared another bed at the allotment for beet seeds;  it had been sheet mulched a couple months before but was already starting to regrow couch grass--it won't die!  Despite calling myself a no-dig gardener, we dug over this bed and raked out all the couch grass runners we could.  The husband and daughter sowed four good rows of beets (while I planted out a few more peas).  No doubt it'll be overrun with grass again by the time the beets are ready.

Later on that day I took the pots I'd emptied in the morning and refilled them to sow with cucumbers and courgettes--I'd already filled the previously emptied pots with sweetcorn and pickling cucumbers a few days before.  I also pricked out some leeks into trays (I've got three trays so far and not done yet) and the last few plum tomatoes into individual pots--these and the cherry tomatoes are all now in the cold frame next to my back door to harden off for next month.  What's more, I broadcast seeds onto a few larger pots for pricking out when they sprout later:  marigolds, spring onions, asparagus.  

So busy!  Spring is when all the hard work needs doing, as I reminded the son;  once it's done we won't do it until next spring.  For my part, I'm looking forward to a year of vegetables.

Flowers in spring 2025

First daffodil of the garden, Feb 2025

It's not just veg and fruit in the garden at home, it's flowers too.  Spring is the most prolific time for flowers in my garden;  as of this post, I've got a pink almond tree, an orange berberis (just starting), the yellow native gorse, lots of daffodils, several hyacinths of different shades--these and the daffs we planted last year as my birthday present.  Also a couple of very early dandelions--thought the chickens ate all those (I actually don't mind having them as the chickens love them so much)!

The bees love our native gorse, February 2025

We had a couple of long hard frosts over winter so I'm not too hopeful about my dahlias returning;  I'll see if I can replace them this spring.  I know it's possible to dig up the tubers and store them over winter but this seems like a lot of work...though obviously cheaper(!) so I should really do it if I get any more.  It looks like the frost killed off my chives and thyme too, which I am both surprised and sad about;  luckily I was given a packet of chive seeds by a friend (and now have some growing) but no luck for the thyme.

Finished now, February 2025

I gave my two small blueberry bushes a prune in the hopes of stimulating growth:  last year we got about a dozen berries which I'm sure you'll agree is rather insufficient.  I took about ten of the small sticks and stuck them back into the pots as cuttings.  I don't have any rooting hormone, just hope.

It looks like all my fruit trees and bushes are budding up and the plum tree is also just about to pop.  Last year we got almost no plums to speak of;  despite it being a good sized tree we've never had many plums off it.  I suspect it was too cold for pollination last year though that's not usually the case.  The only two trees I'm not sure about are the two apple trees--they seem to have fallen into a biennial pattern of fruiting.  Last year was an apple year, and as Sparta only had a modest harvest (unlike Laxton Fortune) maybe it'll fruit again this year?  I can only hope;  they flower later than the rest so I can't tell just yet.

Eggs, flowers, frost, squash and kimchi

 

Dahlias blown over the veg patch, September 2024

I'm rather shocked that we're still getting three or even four eggs a day from our faithful hens.  Two of the eight are no longer laying, and two more are four and five years old respectively (but still laying once or twice a week).  At this time of year, as the days are much shorter, I'm actually surprised to get any eggs at all.  All the hens are at their small yard in the allotment;  Girl Duck and Boy Duck are currently at home, free ranging on and off (off when the grass gets too poo-y).  No duck eggs for at least a month;  she doesn't have a dedicated nest so I don't always find them but I don't think she's laying this time of year anyway.

My big sunflower finally blew over, but as it wasn't uprooted, I just went out and tied it up to the tree it was growing next to (a medium-sized pyracanthus).  Hopefully its seeds have enough time to mature for next year's plants.  My beautiful red dahlia also got too top heavy and fell over, but again I was able to prop it up;  it's up to my shoulder:  pretty tall.  Its pink and white neighbor is just as tall but still standing unassisted thankfully.  All three of these are still flowering beautifully in my veg patch at home. 

There was a touch of frost at our local country park at the weekend, though it didn't touch the garden and the allotment looks all right too.  I went out for my run at 7.15 in the morning and while I didn't see any frost on any cars or lawns I passed, I did see it on an open section of grass at the park.  To be on the safe side, when I saw the forecast, the son and I went and picked all the squashes from the allotment the day before.  I took my chances with the remaining beans and tomatoes.

Speaking of squashes, I lent my biggest one to my work (a school) and we're having a "guess the weight" contest.  My squash is famous!  And huge!  Seriously, I won't publish the actual weight until the contest is over (later this week) but I will say that it is at least twice the size of my biggest one last year--and I thought that one was a giant.  In total there are eight squashes this year, plus two small immature ones that might not be worth eating (picked them anyway).  The big one is coming back home with me after the contest, for lots of pumpkin pie.

What else?  More kimchi of course!  Of the twenty or so pak choi from my first sowing, I was able to make a liter of kimchi at the weekend, now fermenting for a few days on my counter.  I still have a 1.8L jar of kohlrabi kkakdugi and half of a 3.3L jar of kohlrabi dongchimi in my fridge.  So not lacking in kimchi just yet--though I do go through it pretty quickly.  I have a small tub of the leftover kimchi paste in my fridge at the moment and am considering giving beet greens/stems the kimchi treatment with it, I mean why not?

Fruit and sunflowers

 

One precious plum, September 2024

We have had very few plums on our Czar tree this year, and most of them are out of reach.  Maybe 20 or 30 on the tree at the very most.  The daughter has had what few we could pick.

The Kumoi pear also had a grand total of one fruit, which we picked two weeks ago.  It was crisp, juicy and sweet;  a truly delightful pear, somewhat like a European pear but also not.  If a European pear is crisp, it's usually not juicy or sweet--the texture is what I love about Kumoi.

Sparta apples in their glory, September 2024

Last week I picked the Sparta tree clean, harvest shown in its entirety above.  Not a lot, but at least all are excellent size (unlike my Laxton Fortune).  It's meant to be a red apple, but most of these matured in part-shade so only a couple are fully red;  though as you can see it's really dark, almost purple.  Like the Kumoi pear, Sparta is crisp, juicy and sweet.  A very good eating apple.

And to complete the set, in my weighing bowl in the above photo is also a glimpse of a Brown Turkey fig.  So far I think I've picked three off my tree.  Now mid-September, while still a lot of green fruits of various sizes, that may be it. 

Self seeded sunflower at the back of zucchini and netted pak choi and radishes, September 2024

And look at my huge sunflower!  I usually get a handful of these sprouting up every year in this spot, where they drop the seed the previous autumn.  I had two others, both no more than waist height, both now finished.  This one is probably twice my height or more and showing no signs of stopping.  I'm hoping for lots of seeds for next year's show.

And now on to planting

Only one Kumoi pear on the whole tree, May 2024

As far as seeds go, I'm on the final stretch.  Everything that needs to be sown before summer has at least one tray sown so far, even bottom-of-the-queue corn.  Why was corn last to be prioritized?  Everything else either takes up less room and/or gives a bigger harvest:  corn takes up a lot of space for very little edible return--we love it as a luxury, not a necessity.

And so now I'm on to a transplanting frenzy.  Every day for more than a week I've been taking up trays and pots to the allotment to get things in there: mainly peas (nearly done now) but also beets and I've moved on to the tomatoes too.  There is still a lot of space to plant at the allotment but because of intense slug pressure, I really can't take up a lot of things.  For instance, I tried four extra lettuce seedlings when planting them out at home;  they went into a newly filled container, with a thick layer of eggshells surrounding them and a bit of chicken wire over the top--these lasted one day.  

Because of the ongoing pot shortage, most of my warm weather crops--squash, zuc, climbing beans, corn, pickling cucumbers--got sown later than I would have liked.  Some of these aren't even sprouting yet--to think I actually transplanted most of them out in May last year.  However, they should still succeed with a later June transplant, which I sometimes have to do anyway if mid/late May is still chilly or very rainy (though it's not this year(.

The view from the back door, May 2024

At home I'm about halfway through planting my kitchen garden beds.  I do have a fairly big garden and could convert quite a bit more of it to beds--and perhaps I will do so in the future--but we like having a mixed garden with trees, ornamentals and a bit of lawn.  I have mostly brassicas here at the moment but also this weekend I transplanted some parsley and marigold seedlings, pricked out from a large pot I'd broadcast them into.  I'm also preparing a newly sheet mulched bed (mainly covered with last winter's contents of the chicken house) for salad cucumbers.

The lettuces, cauliflowers and direct sown cabbages seemed to have been badly damaged by those pesky wood pigeons so I erected a piece of insect mesh over them; while it won't completely exclude cabbage butterflies, it should keep out pigeons, ducks and chickens.  It looks like those rotten pigeons completely nipped off all the little cabbage seedlings so I transplanted out some purple sprouting broccoli instead and will later transplant some more cabbage further along that bed.  Luckily I had already broadcast another pinch of cabbage seed into a large pot (now sprouting up) just in case the direct sown ones didn't succeed.

Lovely flowers, cold weather

Now spring is really going, there are new flowers out daily it seems.  Suddenly all of my fruit trees and shrubs are in bloom or, in the case of the almond, already finished.  And my eclectic collection of ornamentals are also having a good show too, including the flowering currant, flowering quince and gorse, pictured.  I've got bulbs flowering, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, trees, even a vine.  What a lovely time of year.

Pinks and yellows and greens, March 2024

But it's still not consistently warm--yesterday for instance we didn't make it to 10C, which in my book is pretty cold for spring.  Not a bad temp for winter mind you, but not the kind of weather for encouraging my little vegetable seedlings to grow.

We call it the burning bush, March 2024

Over the weekend we had one cold day and one warm day, so I did what I could while I could;  I transplanted some kohl rabi seedlings from pots to ground in the kitchen garden and extended the insect mesh to protect them from pigeons and ducks (the first several rows have the other end of the mesh, put in place last week).  I also planted out a few more late-emerging broad beans at the allotment, and used the newly emptied trays and pots to start some more snap pea seeds;  the first tray of these from about two weeks ago are now just sprouting up.  I also sowed a few more packets of older seed into large pots en masse, hoping at least some will sprout;  these I will prick out individually.  As I did with a pot of lettuce seedlings at the weekend.  

And as a fun aside, we are down to five squashes from 2023's harvest of 21.  Plus about a 2 pound wedge from the sixth squash still in the fridge, hoping to finish within the next day.  Those squashes take a lot of eating, but to have them hanging out in the living room for six months and still be just as good as when we picked them really is something.

Update, March 2023

The weather has been up and down over the past few weeks, with a few really nice days, and some cold wet weather, including snow.  On the whole, mostly not great weather for gardening, though I've managed a few snatches here and there.  

I'm slowly building a woven bamboo fence for the duck yard, replacing their disintegrating chicken wire.  I'm using narrow diameter canes I pruned from the bamboo bush earlier this spring, woven and tied together.  I collected a bunch of holey black socks from the son and cut them into small, stretchy strips to use as ties.  It's only a light fence and though decorative probably would not keep chickens in;  ducks are easier to contain as they don't really jump.  I've got the middle section of the fence in place, but it needs to extend a bit further on each side to keep ducks in.  (The three ducks are still in the much smaller chicken yard, under the avian flu housing order.)

The chickens have tractored most of the veg beds at home, and are now onto mowing the lawn in their tractor.  It's nice to see the beds all tidy and ready to sow, and it only entailed moving the tractor a few feet every day--what hard working birds.

I put down a few more rows of carrot seed in the kitchen garden, and the son helped me put down another batch of snap peas at the allotment.  The first batches of peas and broad beans are sprouting up, at last.  I've left the insect mesh on top of them until they're a couple inches up--next week hopefully.  If we get some warmer weather, they might come up a little faster.

I've begun harvesting my small patch of purple sprouting broccoli, have collected a couple of eggs (the first of the year), and am still picking curly kale and the odd leek.  The spring cabbages probably won't be ready until May or June, but they are finally starting to grow after overwintering in the kitchen garden.  Fruit trees and shrubs are starting to put out buds and the plum tree is actually blooming.  

Hopefully the weather will start cooperating;  I have lots more to do this spring.

How I use my herbs

The herb garden, June 2022

Thyme:  goes in stew and gravy, anything with tomato sauce such as pizza, meatballs, etc.  I usually pick a small handful of stems and tie a chive strand around it to make a bouquet garni--it's fished out before serving.

Chives: I like it in the occasional omelet, makes a nice addition to salads and/or salad dressing, or I'll pick a large handful and chop into thirds and treat it as a vegetable in a stir fry.

Rosemary and marjoram: mainly used in a bouquet garni with thyme when making tomato sauces.

Mint: I try to collect a large amount to make mint vinegar, an excellent condiment for lamb and a nice addition to salad dressings.  Any leaves left are dried for tea (good for an upset stomach or for calming before bed).

Chamomile: leaves and flowers dried for tea.

Lavender and rose: flowers/petals dried for winter fragrance.  I have been experimenting with soap-making, and these may be incorporated into a batch one day too.

Dill: large stems and fronds are steeped into vinegar for use in autumn vegetable pickling, seeds are collected and dried for the same (and some saved for next year's sowing).

Coriander/cilantro: my first year successfully growing it (slugs normally demolish it); we have been enjoying leaves in salads and as a garnish;  I hope to save seed for sowing and cooking.

Nasturtium: occasional flowers as a salad garnish (spicy!), leaves used fresh in stews and sometimes dried for winter use.

Basil: (another one the slugs love) I use it fresh on pizza, in salads and salad dressing, in omelets, and I try to freeze batches of pesto for winter use.

Growing on in the kitchen garden

Compare these photos from last month's post.

The transplants are growing but the seeded rows aren't quite, June 2022

Kohl rabi growing furiously, June 2022

I took these photos at the beginning of the month and the plants are even bigger now;  the spaces between the rows are no longer visible in the kohl rabi and I have since taken off the cabbage netting--it was to deter a pesky wood pigeon who was nipping off leaves.  I think the same bird was nibbling my swede seedlings;  I planted out my (small) second batch of corn seedlings in the gaps in their rows and threw a mesh over to protect them from disappearing again--and the swede seedlings are looking much healthier now too. 

In other gaps in various rows I've transplanted some lettuce seedlings, including where it looks like some of the herb varieties I put down were just too old to germinate;  only dill and coriander have come up.  The carrots are also pretty sparse even though it was new seed, but surprisingly I have a few parsnips coming up (I've never managed to grow them before).  There are only a couple fennel too, unfortunately.  

I may use the fennel row as a holding bed for my winter brassicas, to allow them to grow on a bit more before transplanting to their final places at the allotment;  I need them to be as big as possible to survive the slugs and bugs there and they don't mind being transplanted--right now they're still in a tray.

The tomatoes are all putting out their first trusses of flowers and have all had sideshoots pinched and have grown enough to need a second tie to their support poles.  The green kuri and yellow crookneck squashes however are still somewhat small, though have grown a little since transplant (unlike their counterparts at the allotment which seem to have mostly disappeared).

The husband put down some marigolds and geraniums (bought on the cheap), and cranesbill (transplanted from the front garden) around the perimeter of the beds;  I put down some California poppies and a few dahlias too.  I've been hoeing and hand weeding the multitude of poppies that self seed prolifically, along with most of the nasturtiums though a few of these have been allowed at the very edge of one bed, to climb up a small support I wove out of laurel trimmings.

Flowers from seed

I haven't grown many annual flowers over the past few years, having concentrated on vegetables for the most part.  I do have many perennial flowers, some which were legacy plants from previous owners and some I chose and planted myself.  I love flowers and enjoy picking my own bouquets from the garden (always an acceptable host gift too, I find).  One of my garden objectives is to grow a beautiful space.  Now, without taking on more than I can reasonably handle, I want to add more flowers this year.

To that end I'm going over my seed stash and trying to sow as many flower seeds as I have left, before they get too old.  Many are already too old!  But I have some coming up and some were sealed in foil packets so I still hold out hope for them.  Some of these seeds I have grown in the past, and some were free seed packets which I never tried.  I don't care what they are, so long as they flower.

I want this year to be more beautiful.  I want lots of flowers.  Lots of vegetables too, but lots of flowers with them.

Spring equinox at last

It's felt like a long winter--maybe because I was working too much and getting up too early!  But finally it feels like spring with longer days and soon to be shorter nights.  The daffodils are in full swing, my almond tree is flowering and new plants are coming up at the allotment.

I haven't done a lot of work at home in the garden to be honest.  This past weekend I did some pruning of ornamental shrubs and trimmed down two bundles of pea sticks for (you guessed it) the allotment.  I've been harvesting either chard or cabbage greens most days here at home, and some new chive shoots too, and getting seed trays started both indoors and out.  But actual garden work?  Not a lot.

However I'm still digging out the chicken yard at the allotment most mornings.  I think I'm at about 3/4 now, and have been sheet mulching with it on the lower beds--trying to cover up the grass again.  I'll probably sow some seeds direct, and maybe transplant some seedlings a little later on.  I need to sheet mulch a bit at home too, where the creeping buttercup has taken over one of the beds in the veg patch;  I can't be bothered to make the effort of digging it out.

I haven't fully decided what to grow here at home this year.  Last year was roots, though the chard sort of took over.  Maybe I'll do roots again, after clearing away the chard.

Elderflower wine, 2021

Just harvested, June 2021

The elders are flowering, including those in my garden.  I have several small ones, all seeded by birds and frankly unwelcome;  I call them weed trees.  However, I also lack the time and motivation to cut them all down (again) and so I will make use of the flowers instead.  And I will probably make use of the berries later too, whether as chicken feed or home brew.  And then maybe in winter I or the husband will get around to chopping them down (again).

To make elderflower wine I picked about 32 flowerheads and gently rubbed the flowers off the stems into a container;  my recipe calls for 500 mL of flowers to 4 L water, and I'd decided to make 8 L--despite not quite having 1 L of flowers.  I also have run out of wine making yeast, so just used regular bread yeast.  I'm sure it'll be fine.  

The brew (including flowers, water, sugar, yeast, lemon juice and a mug of strong tea) is fermenting nicely in my stock pot, there to remain for two weeks before straining into demijohns to continue for another few months before we start drinking--it's best cracked into straight away, and makes a light, refreshing drink.

On a side note, we checked 2020's elderberry/blackberry wine just two weeks ago, to see if it was ready for bottling, but it's still showing signs of fermentation.  Hope to start drinking that by autumn.

And for your viewing pleasure, a gratuitous photo of Cookie and the Peep, who are both now the same height;  Peep is just about 3 weeks old.  We're hoping she's a girl, and will continue referring to her as such (right up to the time we eat him).

Cookie and Peep, June 2021