Bountiful days

The shallots have been harvested and are lingering in a box on the cellar top. Not bad for a £1 net of sets from Poundland. Will try them again. I've planted out onion seeds in the vacant space. Not sure how they'll do at this stage of the year, but I thought I had better use up an unopened packet before it became out of date. No idea what sort of onions they are, it didn't say on the packet.

The remainder of my Desiree potatoes have also been dug up and there was a decent haul there. So too am I having a good crop of runner beans and courgettes. Perhaps we should hold a harvest festival service.

Some spinach beet and more onions have gone where the potatoes were. I could have used green manure on this bit, but it seemed a bit early to put this bit of soil out to grass. I wanted the space to remain productive and get its nutrients that way. I've also set some spinach beet off in the conservatory, ready to plant out later.

Waiting in the wings are the french beans, kohlrabi and broccoli. They seem to be coming on and should be ready soon.

But the tomatoes are the big if. Precisely two have ripened so far (the sungold ones). There's plenty of green ones, but they are remaining stubbornly green.

I'm looking now for inventive ways of using runners beans and courgettes. One thing that worked well today was something called Greek runner beans, taken from the marvellous allrecipes.co.uk website. Pretty tasty dish.

Taking stock after a week's absence

Our daughter did well in looking after the vegetables while we were on holiday, even to the extent of tying up one of the courgettes when it started leaning dangerously in its pot on the doorstep.

A few more tomatoes have appeared on the plants in the conservatory, but they are still some way off ripening. I wonder if they will.

Jobs done this morning before the rain came on were to dig up lettuce which had bolted and lift a few dodgy looking potato plants. This is the first time I have tried Desiree spuds and I was upset to see some of the plants seeming to be ailing, with leaves going very yellow and spottled.

Three of the plants seemed to be in such a bad way that I had to dig them up to see what was happening. I was very surprised to get a healthy haul of this red-skinned maincrop potato, having thought that it would not be ready for harvesting until September/October. Scouting around to see other people's experiences with this variety, I was reassured to read this comment posted by one satisfied customer on the website for Marshalls seeds:

Very good cropper even in dry conditions, with no need for extra watering. Suffers some scab, slug damage and also the dreaded blight, but well worth growing for delicious, heavy mash. Desirees are often ready for harvest by the end of July in my garden and they store very well right through winter.

Hurrah for that.

And also hurrah for the beans, which have come on during my absence and which I began picking today. A bit of a tangle in the wigwam, but I believe I got all those which were lurking in there.

Trouble with potatoes

My early potatoes which may or may not be called Javelin (given to me by Kate) have been causing me a bit of bother.

Looking at them the other day, I noticed that the leaves on two of the plants were yellowing and had black spots. I don't think my photo gives a true likeness of it, but the nearest I could come to it in the book was mosaic virus.

There was only one thing to do - dig them up as fast as possible and don't let the debris anywhere near the compost. That deed duly done, I was surprised to find that the two plants wielded nine extremely healthy looking potatoes.

They are in the kitchen, ready to accompany a suitable meal. Result (subject to taste)!

I can see clearly now

The markers Dorothy made me are in place. I can't get things mixed up now. A really useful Father's Day present.

On another note, Kate tells us she's eaten the first of her early potatoes - and jolly nice they were too. She gave me some of the same batch to plant, but I would say mine are nowhere near ready. Maybe another couple of weeks, I would estimate. Must be something to do with living 14 miles to the west of her (I hope).

Now then, me old china

A pleasant 90 minutes in the garden and conservatory this morning before it got too hot for me through the glass. I can't take too much heat.

Among the jobs I did was earthing up the potatoes, both earlies and mains, and transplanting a courgette plant from its pot into the garden. Not for the first time, I fell to musing about the sudden appearance of old china in the ground.

It's not as if I was digging deep. It was just there on top. Why? Why?

Izzy wizzy, let’s get busy

The garden has remained untouched after a bad back and tiring flu-type illness laid me low in health and spirit. Mind you, there was also snow for perhaps a week or more.

One gardening website - I forget which - reckons one should rule out January altogether for any outdoor work. But Susan, my weather oracle, believes it won't get bad again. She bases that on her gut feeling and seeing two huge flocks of geese flying in a north-west direction the other day while she was out walking the dog in the woods.

Whatever the outcome, there is a definite feeling of spring in the air and I have even got some produce to get started.

I mentioned the possibility of shallots in a blog posting last year and have finally got round to buying some from Poundland. They'll be going in the ground soon on a spot near the compost bin where crops have not really done well. Maybe this will finally be the year when something takes there.

Good friend Kate has given me some onions and first early potatoes called Rocket. She got hers from Wilkinsons, another fine store patronised by those on a tight budget.

You don't have to spend a fortune on seeds and bulbs, but I don't suppose a purist would approve.

Well, we tried some

We've started buying potatoes again after using up the modest stocks of Lady Balfour spuds which I grew this year in the garden.

Our eye was caught the other day by Albert Bartlett Purple Majesty potatoes. That's right, purple. A novelty we could not resist and so we duly trotted off to home from Sainsbury's with a bag.

It was our suspicion that this potato was genetically modified. But not so, says Perthshire-based Albert Bartlett, who reveal it was developed at Colorado State University from a traditional variety. The benefits? According to the growers, the purple potato is healthier than the standard variety of white potato because it contains up to 10 times the level of antioxidants.

All very well, but the proof of the pudding is always in the eating. They didn't taste bad, but we decided the producers have got a mountain to climb because of the colour. First impression on opening up the bag was that they looked like beetroot (no bad thing), but on cooking the outcome is that they take on the appearance of a grey sludge. It didn't look good.

An interesting experiment, but I'm afraid we won't be buying again.

A bountiful harvest

Absolutely wonderful weather over the last few days in our part of Yorkshire and I have dug up the remainder of my Lady Balfour potatoes. Half were lifted a fortnight or so ago and I left the rest in the ground mainly because of the storage issue. A mountain of spuds has come from the 20 tubers I planted earlier this year, far more than the measly crop of last year. I am really pleased.

I think that next year I shall return to two types of potatoes, say an early and a maincrop, just for variety and to ensure a better flow of produce. At the moment I am quite taken with Bonnie Dundee, simply because of the name's association with my Scottish roots, but we will see. As always, it will be enjoyable looking through the catalogues.

A question arises as to the bare soil left after the harvest. Too late to plant anything now and in any case I will need to improve the soil structure, I guess. Time for green manure. I have two types, phacelia and a rye and I think I will go with the latter, simply because I've tried phacelia before and fancy something different.

Now, what for tea...?

Chit chat

Met my mate Kevin in the shop this morning and went round the corner with him to look at the allotment he has with his wife Judith. I was envious of what they had growing, but I suppose it's only a reflection of their hard work and application. Puts my puny efforts to shame.

We got to talking about chitting potatoes, both of us agreeing that the jury is still out on whether it is a useful thing to do or not. Generally, the advice if you do chit is that it should be done in a place which is frost free and has light. Kevin told me he does his in the dark in the cellar, partly because that's the best place for him to put them. But he added that it's simply an extension of the chitting process when you do eventually bury the spuds in the ground, so what's wrong with starting them off in the dark? It sounded logical to me when he said it.

Enthused by what I had seen, I took a short stroll to the garden centre this afternoon to buy some more chicken poo, but there was none to be had. Good job too as I realised on the way there that my back was in a bit of a fragile state, although only in a minor way. Hauling a big tub back on foot wouldn't have done me any good. Talking of chickens, I have a bottle of Old Speckled Hen beer at home and will console myself with that.

Passed a lama in the field on my way to the garden centre. I had known the animal was there, but had never seen it close up. Not what you expect to see around our way.

I am born again

My Lady Balfour potatoes have been delivered from Thompson & Morgan and I have put them in an egg box to start the process of chitting. Experts may say I've started late in the day, but they do say everything has been put back at least four weeks because of the poor weather we have had.

Mentioning to friends about the potatoes, I realised no labelling had come with them (other than general instructions for growing potatoes) and that I could not remember whether they were maincrop or what. Turns out they are early maincrop, named after the Soil Association founder. They are claimed to have impressive blight resistance and to give huge yields, even in poorer soils.

Doing a couple of hours of overdue digging this morning, I was reminded of how poor the soil is in my garden and how very many stones there are. Hardly surprising really as our neighbourhood was once noted for its quarries and stone mines. I was surprised today to find three or four pieces of broken glass turning up as I dug the earth over. Where did they come from?

I was pleased that the Lady Balfour spuds are produced in Perth, not far from where my mother came from. Let's hope they live up to expectations.

The spuds are coming, honest

A stunning blue sky today gives the impression that spring must be here. Snowdrops are bursting to life on the field where the owners sprayed poison and then tried to persuade the council that their housing plan would help to encourage wildlife. Whatever was in that poison was good - the snowdrops are the only ones I have seen so far this year. Is irony the right word here?

Yet frosts persist and the ground is still very hard in many places. Digging and planting will have to wait awhile, but I must start chitting the bloody potatoes. Spurred on by an offer of free postage this weekend from Thompson & Morgan, I have ordered 20 tubers of Lady Balfour potatoes. The claim that they give huge yields, even in poorer soils, clinched it for me. 

We shall see if I can do better than last year with my spuds. 

I'm stalled

We're in the first few days of March now and still no progress in the garden. Come on, be honest, no activity at all.

I'm feeling less guilty after reading that the delightful people at Blagger.co.uk have only just started chitting their potatoes. If they can get so far behind, so can I. But I have made a mental resolution to get down to Wilko's fast and buy some spuds. Probably be a main crop this year.

Kate sent me some onion sets today. Will get them in when the ground is less sodden (another excuse).

Snow joke

Somewhere underneath that snow is a black dog. Aged 12, but acting like a big kid.

As I write, it has been snowing again a couple of times this morning after last night's fall and the forecast is that it doesn't look too good over the next couple of days. Given that, it's a surprise to be reminded by John Harrison in his allotment email newsletter that now's the time to start thinking about your seed potatoes and start chitting them.

Nothing was further from my mind, but I suppose I ought to start thinking about his advice. I need to decide what to grow and where to grow it. Finding a frost free place with some light for chitting is going to take some doing, I have to say. 

John Harrison relates his father-in-law's story about competitions where you had to grow as many potatoes from one seed potato as you could. The competitors would chit them and then carefully cut out each sprout and grow them on in pots. Then they would strike cuttings from the foliage and grow those on. 

Apparently a hundredweight (112 lbs or 51Kg) was often achieved! 

A trip out

A visit to the Royal Horticultural Society gardens at Harlow Carr, near Harrogate, brings both inspiration and envy. Harlow Carr is a lovely site and it was beautiful weather when we went, one of the few days when it hasn't rained recently.

I'd not been before, so a two-for-one voucher in the Yorkshire Post provides an opportunity to see the site and well worth it too. The leisure industry seems to have run away with its pricing in recent years and we only seem to visit anywhere these days if it's free or discounted price.

Although the emphasis on Harlow Carr is probably more on flowers, there were some vegetable patches too and I particularly liked the mid-Victorian garden and the kitchen garden. An array of different coloured lettuces was particularly impressive.

One thing I noticed was that their vegetables were more closely planted than recommended in the books I have read. It didn't seem to harm them and I will probably not be so generous about space in future.

I have one vacant patch at the moment, having dug up the last of the potato plants this morning. The spuds have been very tasty, but not as numerous as I had hoped. It is also a mystery to me that the plants never flowered.

My friend Kate urges me to try spinach beet in the vacated space and I did buy some of these seeds while at Harlow Carr. Steve says that whatever I do I should never leave ground empty! Put another crop in, he says, suggesting some extra runners, French beans, salads or a green manure. I'll think on about this.

Spudulike

Here they are - eight of what I hope will become a bumper crop of Arran Pilot potatoes. I boiled them and we ate them with a spinach, red pepper and onion tart I conjured up, the spinach coming from the garden. A salad which included some lettuce from the garden accompanied. Simple but effective.

Actually, I'm still not sure what's going on with the spuds. They have yet to flower and the eight potatoes I harvested for tea were from three plants I lifted to see what their state was. A grand total of eight spuds didn't seem a big haul to me so will leave the remaining plants for a bit until something happens or curiosity gets the better of me.

It's been another day of showers, which I suppose saves me the trouble of watering the garden but also prevents me getting outside much. Even so, I managed an hour this morning before the rain came on really heavily. Weeding and pottering about was very satisfying, I found.

While thinking of a headline for this posting, I thought of the Spudulike chain and had to go and look up the spelling. I'm now the proud possessor the fact that the firm was once owned by the British School of Motoring. Business and the decisions it arrives at baffles me.

I remain optimistic

Managed an inspection and a quick session with the hoe in the garden between showers today.

Really excited that little red buds have appeared on two of the runner beans. But, as I suspected, Susan has confirmed my fears that one of the others has become a victim of the slugs and died off.

Still no sign of flowers on the potatoes, a fortnight after they appeared on the ones I gave my friend Kate. They do appear to be growing, all the same, so there's hope yet.

Brave new world

Beetroot is a food I have never really rated, right from being a young lad. I think I was put off by the colouring of the pickled variety we used to have and the fact that it ran all over the plate. Recently, however, I have come to change my view and have quite liked it on the few occasions I have given it a try.

With that in mind, I have decided to try out the beetroot seeds supplied by the BBC Dig In programme. This morning I planted one line outside in the patch next to the lettuce and spinach and the remainder in two big pots in the conservatory. Borscht here I come.

While having a general tidy around, I ditched the mushroom growing kit that Dorothy gave me for Christmas. I followed the instructions to the letter, but the crop has been most disappointing. Only about five mushrooms in all, I think. Not sure at the moment if I will get another.

Talking of disappointments, I noticed this morning that one of my potato plants has snapped off overnight. The rest seem all right, however. The spare seed potatoes I gave to my friend Kate have begun flowering, she tells me, so mine must be imminent.

Kate has given us some parsley, half of which has gone in the ground outside and other half in pots inside. They look very nice.

A sluggish day

Sheltering indoors from the rain this morning, I muse over that old saying ne'er cast a clout...etc. We shouldn't really be surprised about English weather, but would do well to remember these adages. Wisdom in a sentence.

I also fell to thinking about slugs and nematodes. My mate Steve has filled me in on them and says they tried them once, some years ago. The result? "The slugs and snails were unaffected and we were poorer."

He goes on to give me the information that nematodes include the threadworms that infest cats and dogs and I tell him that I definitely won't be using them because of our pets. Ah, not so simple, says Steve.

The phylum Nematoda is vast. The intestinal parasites found in vertebrates are passed on via eggs in the host's faeces, and then ingested by another host. Some of the nematode species are very host specific, but others will infest a wide range of hosts. The slug killer only zaps the slimy bastards, with no effect on vertebrates. Some nematodes are plain weird: one species lives only in the felt beermats that were used in German bierkellars.

His technique is to clout slugs with a hammer. His wife Marianne says that's too brutal: she stands on them. End result is the same.

My plans for tomorrow include earthing up of the spuds now they have reached the suggested height of about 8in. The internet is a great invention and includes an incredibly handy video on the Videojug website.

I marvel at how I'm quite happy to look at it, yet would shun any TV programme called How To Earth Up Potatoes. Some 17,000 people have viewed it. Mind you, there have been 779,360 hits for their video on how to get out of the car without showing your knickers.

I suppose I ought to say that I resisted the temptation.

Present state of affairs

I needn't have been concerned about the garden drying up while we were away on our short road trip - it's been wet for days here in Yorkshire now. Not a lot of gardening has been done in the last three or four days.

Current state is: Potatoes coming on OK, ditto onions, garlic and chives. Lettuce and salad leaves appear to have failed to germinate. Rhubarb which looked as though something had sat on it now perking up somewhat. Runner beans and Cherokee Trail of Tears in the conservatory now ready to go out, I reckon. Must think about transferring tomatoes to growbags.

And - which bloody cat left its poo on the ground where the lettuce and salad leaves are supposed to be?

A squatter arrives

We have discovered an interloper in our shed - a bird's nest in the far top corner. Neither of us can tell whether it is currently in use, but our feeling is that it is old. Quite how long it has been there, we don't know, but neither of us had noticed it before this week. We haven't gone that close to it because of stuff in the way, but have decided to leave it well alone and let the birds get on with it.

Looking out of the window this morning, I saw one of our collared doves strolling over the ground where the lettuce and salad leaves are supposed to be, having the occasional peck on the ground. Should I have been mad? I don't know, but somehow I can't bring myself to do anything but shrug my shoulders. That's nature, I guess.


Surveying the land on the first day of May, I am pleased to see the plants bursting into life after days of sunshine and rain. The onions and chives are coming on apace, chives beginning to flower, and the potatoes are showing through nicely. Not so sure about the lettuce and salad leaves, though. Perhaps that pesky bird has done for them.

Yesterday I finally got round to planting out the raspberry canes and building a wigwam in preparation for the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans. Seemed an apt arrangement for them.

I have started off some basil seeds in the conservatory.