Pride of place has to go to the brassica patch. Brussels, kale and PSB still to come. Far left is a short row of mooli that I keep forgetting to check for root development.
The old potato patch looks like a building site, but there are garlic bulbs planted at this end and two short rows of potatoes left under the fabric.
At the far end are parsnips for this winter and 10 bags of farm yard manure to beef up the fertility for next year.
The contents of the fruit cage looks suitably dormant. I am currently half way through pruning . The net has been removed to avoid the danger of snow damage.
My customary "view from the end" looks a bit bleak but the leeks in the foreground should come on in the spring. The net hides the end of this year's carrots and next year's spring cabbages. To the right of the net are the last of the celery and celeriac. Both were high on expectation and a little short on delivery. ( The white piping is just awaiting deployment as protection for plants)
Just for completion, here is the pumpkin patch, currently fallow. There are beets, root and leaf, under the net, and some spring onions. Beyond are strawberry plants and a wannabe asparagus patch.
Here's the traditional Good Friday bake. Who would have thought that it might have been at risk with the run on flour of late. Looking back over the years the last time there was a problem was in 2016 when our cooker broke.
Another Good Friday tradition is planting potatoes. Three out or 4 nets have been planted already so I am ahead of the game. I am holding off on the last one as I have crops still to harvest (leeks and chard). You have to think well ahead to avoid these conflicts. In another area the carrot patch has followed on from the brassicas. Kale and Purple Sprouting Broccoli are being cropped and uprooted all in one operation so that the ground can be prepared for the new crop. Note to self: It helps if these late croppers are all grown at one end of the brassica patch.
Local: If I was going to XXX I wouldn't start here...
I read that the vegetable seed companies are inundated with new orders, especially since the garden centres have shut their doors. So the question arises: What to grow?
First of all consider what space you have available. A windowsill, balcony, patio, garden or allotment? Microgreens, herbs, cucumber, chilli, tomato all suit the first whereas artichokes and asparagus would only suit the bigger sites. Patios are no longer limiting as "crops in pots" has become fashionable in the last decade - even potatoes.
Then there is the season - the reason for the poor joke above. Well the news is surprisingly good for the northern hemisphere. In the UK it is too late for garlic and other autumn planted crops (like rhubarb and raspberries) but still very early in the growing season for just about everything else! Broad beans spring to mind because they can be sown in autumn but also in early spring. It's not too late. In fact April is about the busiest month for sowing in the vegetable gardening calendar. As a rule, what you can't sow in April you can sow in May!
The key consideration for sowing/planting outdoors is the last night of frost. Here in Edinburgh mid May is the usual reference point, but further south you can expect an earlier date. That is not to promise that nature won't come up with a nasty surprise (Edinburgh has exceptionally had frost in June!). Generally plants are 'hardy', 'half hardy' or 'tender' to frost. Peas are half hardy whereas courgettes are tender. That's why you can sow peas outside before the last frost date but you need to protect courgettes and only plant them out after the danger is gone. For tender crops it is worth keeping an ear/eye out for the weather forecast in the days/weeks after planting out sensitive seedlings. Frost warnings feature larger as the year goes as even some weather forecasters are gardeners too.
So you have identified your growing space and are ready to sow. What's best to try? Something fast, something tasty?
'Fast' in gardening terms is relative. You cannot expect to beat 7 days for mustard and cress or other microgreens indoors. Proper salad leaves boast that they are ready in as little as 25 or 30 days. By contrast parsnips are notoriously 'in the ground' for 12 months. Although ready to be dug up in the autumn, there is a reason why they are associated with Christmas. Chillies and tomatoes take all summer to get cropping in Scotland, but then the challenge of getting a return at all is half the fun! In between these extremes most vegetable crops deliver in 40 to 90 days.
Tasty: Tastes differ but one rule is that schoolchildren don't like radishes (a shame as they are one of the fastest crops). Peas and beans, carrots and cabbages are all popular, but each has its own growing challenge. Some unfamiliar crops can turn out to be favourites. When the school garden produced a bumper crop of purple sprouting broccoli some children wouldn't even try it, but others did and enjoyed the novelty. Swiss chard is not common in the shops but really popular in many 'grow your own' households. Bulb fennel is not difficult to grow but divides opinion depending on where you sit on the aniseed tolerance scale. The brassica family (cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts) is a must for most adults but a no no for many youngsters.
So, time to come off the fence. My top 5 starter vegetable recommendations are:
Mustard and Cress - Quick old fashioned reliable 'microgreens'
Carrots - 6 inches of soil needed for the homegrown taste money won't buy.
Peas - Straight from the pod - unforgettable - or 'peashoots' if you are in a hurry.
Swiss Chard - All the benefits of spinach but easier and with the bonus of buttery ribs.
Beetroot - Red or Gold, so sweet. Worth the wait.
Growing veg isn't as easy as it appears to be on telly, but it is remarkably rewarding in the first year and devilishly addictive once you have taken on the challenge of improving on last year.
Now here is a tune that seemed laughable not so long ago:
Purple Sprouting Broccoli "Rudolph" is making an appearance. (Not sure how appropriately named that one is being neither red nor ready in time for Christmas, but it is at the head of the pack as far as I am concerned)
This was particularly pleasing as I was feeling a bit bad about digging up the last of our carrots. It should herald a good few weeks of harvesting as I am also growing a later cropping PSB !
This is one of four plants in the school garden. I am surprised that it doing so well. Last autumn an overenthusiastic child mistook it for a weed and uprooted it. It was quite adolescent at about 18 inches high but I decided to retrieve it from the compost heap and plant it again: brassicas are transplanted when very young so why not give it a try. All the same I am gobsmacked that this has done best of all out of four specimens.
Some other overwinterers are also thriving in the balmy conditions
Winter Purslane
Land Cress
There is some less voluminous lambs lettuce in there too.
And bouncing back, after looking very bedraggled over the winter months
At long last the purple sprouting broccoli has started cropping. This one plant is in advance of the other three, probably because it is the tallest plant and the only one the pigeons were able to attacked through the net. The next in line has just the one central crown (which I removed today)
Together with the rhubarb and the last of the carrots (not pictured) it felt good to be heading home with a significant harvest today.
The rhubarb has come on tremendously in three weeks:
These forced rhubarb stalks are the first produce of the season, whereas these Broccoli Sprouts are the last crop from last year's sowing. That's what I call bridging the hungry gap.
The rhubard is about 2 ft long, the broccoli 4 inches.
The leeks are still going strong too.
For some reason I've been a bit remiss about sowing things this year, but all my potatoes are planted. For the record that's
Duke of York (Red)
Charlotte
Rooster
Pink Fir Apple
