What I did today - 2017

[lolie]

Sowed some more cucumbers in pots as the ones in the raised bed have some kind of leaf spot and I may need to pull them out (just as they're flowering and fruiting, of course).

Emptied the pots containing seeds which haven't germinated and washed them.

[Jay-ell]

Remember that first episode of Red Dwarf? If Lister had my allotment then this week it would have went a bit like this:-

Lister :- Where is everything
Holly :- It’s dead Dave
Lister :- Whats Dead
Holly :- Everything, Everythings dead dave.
Lister :- The Yacon?
Holly :- It’s dead Dave
Lister :- The Jerusalem Artichokes?
Holly :- They’re dead dave
Lister :- What about the Dahlias?
Holly:- They’re all dead Dave
Lister :- The Oca?
Holly :- It’s dead Dave
Lister :- The Tiger Nuts, surely not the Tigernuts?
Holly :- They’re dead Dave, everythings dead.

At first your heart sinks when you see what was bright and green foliage on your last visit looking black, limp and frost bitten.

Then you remember that this has been the day you’ve been waiting for right from the time you planted them. The time that they all die back and you can harvest the bountiful tubers underneath the limp, lifeless top growth and your heart begins to rise again.

Then you remember how much you’ve planted and how much digging, cleaning and storing that means and your heart sinks again – but only a little.

Dug up the Oca – loads of tubers looking a bit like big fat red, pink and white grubs. First lot was roasted in oils and tasked like nice fat chips.

Dug up the first load of Yacon. These were the overflow yacon that didn’t fit into the main Yacon bed. They were planted in a bit of the garden over shaded by a cherry tree which hasn’t been cultivated in years. I think I just made a hole with a crowbar and popped the plant in so I wasn’t expecting much from this half dozen plants. The soil hasn’t improved much in the last few months and was so hard that I broke a fork and a spade handle digging them out. Well these 6 gave me 8.5 kg of Yacon. The container plant in the greenhouse gave me 4.5kg. Another 30 plants to go.

First roots where cleaned and juiced then the juice was boiled down for an hour till it had reduced to a syrup. Last year I tried making it in a slow cooker and it was a failiur, this year with boiling it was a lot better although I think the next batch I’ll reduce it more till it’s almost a treacle brown. Sweet.

Also had some cut into strips and tossed in basamic vinegar, a bit of oil and salt then roasted. Tasted great.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

A surprisingly productive day today, mostly about tidying up before winter really sets in.

I have:

Tidied and swept the patio and paths in the back garden.
Removed the last dead leaves and unripe figs from our fig tree as I’m tired of picking them up.
Cut back hard the red valerian around our shed and applied some weed killer to the weeds down the side of our garage.
Swept the driveway.
Cleared up the yard area in in front of the garage and swept up loads of leaves.

Fruit and veg wise....

Planted my autumn raspberries back in the ground. I had a good clump of 5 strong canes which I divided into three, cut back two and planted out. I’ve kept a few spares and discarded the weaker canes. No fertiliser as I dig in some rotted manure a few weeks ago. I’ll top dress with BF&B and mulch in early spring.

Cut back the dead and leggy foliage on the bare root strawberries I planted a few weeks ago. I can see the start of new growth at the crown so they seemed happy enough.

Planted some more garlic and onions. I had a few cloves left which I’ve stuck in a pot and filled a trough planter with another dozen sets.

Planted some more broad beans. I can see one of the 8 I planted out in my raised beds a week ago just poking through but no signs of the others. So as insurance I’ve sowed another 9 in modules on the kitchen window sill which I can always plant out if the seeds fail. Maybe I’m just being impatient? It had been excessively cold for late autumn in the last week below 10C during the day and nearly freezing at night. Maybe they just need a week of milder temperatures.

Finally, harvested my last chillies and discarded all my annuals.

[Baldy]

Almost finished my strawberry gutter





Darn - seems my pix of the finished(ish) product didn't actually get recorded.

Also got the final cucumber from neighbouring plot's greenhouse.

[Jay-ell]

Been digging stuff up. Again.

Dug up another half dozen Yacon plants giving another 12 1/4 kilos so that's about 25.5 kilos of it to date. Still more plants to go.

Dug up the dahlias - not much on them worth eating but I have gotten 2 reasonable tubers to try.

Harvested some Kale, loose leaf cabbage, chard and Himalayan Honeysuckle berries.

Also pulled up one tiger-nut plant and yeah it has nuts.

Well, sat down to tea with Jerusalem Artichoke soup followed by roast oca, baked dahlia yam, sausages and beetroot jelly.

The dahlia was a disappointment - bland and fibrous. Unless I find a better way of cooking them they'll only be grown for the flowers. They do brighten up a salad. They may be moved to the Zen garden next year when we get it.

The rest were winners so the JAs and Oca will be grown again.

The Tiger Nuts really held on to the muck. Gave them a soak and a scrub. Still seem to hold the muck so if anyone knows how to clean then without having to scrum each individual nut please let me know.

[veggiechicken]

Nothing

[lolie]

Gave the cucumbers, zucchini and beans a spray with neem oil.

Moved most of the seedlings on my windowsill to the blowaway on the verandah.

Edged the back and sprayed weed killer around the edges. I'm half-way through mowing and edging the side and front but I'm going to take a break for a few hours now.

Got the side and front done and mowed the nature strips. That's enough for one day.

[Baldy]

Dropped off some compostable matter, nearly blown off my feet. Retired back to bed to listen to the gales.

[Finley]

Sowed some more cucumbers in pots as the ones in the raised bed have some kind of leaf spot and I may need to pull them out (just as they're flowering and fruiting, of course).

Emptied the pots containing seeds which haven't germinated and washed them.

I keep seeing your posts and thinking wait, what, should I be doing that too?! Then realising you're on a whole different playing field

[lolie]

I keep seeing your posts and thinking wait, what, should I be doing that too?! Then realising you're on a whole different playing field

I actually learn a lot more here than on any local sites. Even within a city, our climate varies a lot and it also varies a great deal from one year to the next.

We're on La Niña watch at the moment, so there's a good chance this summer will be a little different to usual and accommodations will have to be made in the garden. We don't normally have distinct seasons, apart from summer.

This morning I have a female cucumber flower and a female zucchini flower. Unfortunately, no male zucchini flowers have made an appearance yet. I pollinated the cucumber, though, as I haven't seen any bees about.

[Jay-ell]

Had an antisocial day today - we'll, that's Jerusalem Artichokes for you.

Made another batch of Yacon Syrup. About 5 1/2 litres of juice reduced down to 750mls. More concentrated and sweeter than the other day.

Just eating banana and Yacon muffins. Very nice.

[Jay-ell]

Dug up some more Yacon today – the red skinned variety this time. Less harvest from these 6kg for 6 plants, don’t know if it’s because of the variety or because there was over a month between sowing them.

Picked some of the sprouts. Pulling the leaves off them doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference that I can see.

Pulled up a parsnip. Almost. It snapped off about a foot down but is massive enough to be worthwhile. Pulled up some white and purple carrots and some fennel, also pulled up a couple of root chicory that I plan on roasting and making a drink from.

Cut the huckleberry back – absolutely loaded with berries which aren’t going to ripen. Guess that this is one for the polytunnel or greenhouse. I’ll see about saving some of the seeds for next year from the few ripe ones I did get. Also pulled a couple of ripe fruit off the Litchi Tomato which I’ll try and save the seed. The cape gooseberries are just compost fodder now.

Pulled up the tigernut. Not too bad a haul from the 2 dozen nuts planted - I'm well Chuffad. Still figuring out the best way to clean them. Lets see if I can keep enough of them to plant out again next year – hopefully more than I had this year.

So whats left to dig up – just some carrots, a few parsnips, scorzonera, skirret, earth chestnuts and more JAs. After that I’ll be down to curly kale, Austurian tree cabbage and leeks and a couple of chicory and some chard, black kale, bit of rocket, sprouts, swedes, broccoli, cauli, jersey kale, walking onions, garlic, jersey kale, oerprie, perennial kale, welsh onions Spanish Tree Cabbage and broad beans (hopefully) - the plots going to be empty.

[veggiechicken]

So whats left to dig up – just some carrots, a few parsnips, scorzonera, skirret, earth chestnuts and more JAs. After that I’ll be down to curly kale, Austurian tree cabbage and leeks and a couple of chicory and some chard, black kale, bit of rocket, sprouts, swedes, broccoli, cauli, jersey kale, walking onions, garlic, jersey kale, oerprie, perennial kale, welsh onions Spanish Tree Cabbage and broad beans (hopefully) - the plots going to be empty.

So good you said it twice
Seriously, that's an impressive list of wierd and wonderful things Which would you recommend to a novice nutter In other words, what is good to eat, not too much hassle to grow and earns its keep, please.

[Jay-ell]

So good you said it twice
Seriously, that's an impressive list of wierd and wonderful things Which would you recommend to a novice nutter In other words, what is good to eat, not too much hassle to grow and earns its keep, please.

It's growing in several places.

Welsh Onions and Walking onions are always handy as you just trim off the greens and they grow back and multiply.

Oerprie is a type of leek that can be eaten as a leek or grown for the broodballs (official name - the bulbs at the bottom).

Scorzonera is good - you can eat the shoots in the spring, the roots in the autumn, propagate it by putting the top of the plant/offshoots back in the ground and just leaving them and, if the root snaps off as you harvest it, it'll grow back and you can eat it again next year. Tastes good as well.

Skirret is like a sweet parsnip with loads of roots, but fiddly to clean. Just chuck offsets or some of the roots back into the soil and it'll grow back.

The perennial brassicas keep on growing and produce loads of leaf.

Oca produces loads of tubers with a potato like flavour - just stuck em into the ground and let them go to it. It's related to wood sorrel and the leaves have a citrus flavour.

The earth Chestnut (Bunium bulbocastanum) I haven't tried yet as it's still green. A member of the carrot family all I've done with it is weed around it now and then.

Next year I'm trying tuberous rooted nasturtiums and American Ground Nuts.

[lolie]

Potted on my capsicums. I'm still not sure which plants I'll keep but they were drying out too fast in the small pots so for now they've all got bigger homes.

First tomato flower has made an appearance, so I also fixed up the stakes on the Burnley Gem plants.

Pollinated another baby cucumber. Still waiting for a male zucchini flower to make an appearance so I can pollinate the female (normally I get a ton of male flowers first).

Sage seeds finally arrived so I sowed a couple of pots of those.