Once A Week

Seems that I'm down to being able to visit the plot once a week at the moment, the weather is just awful and I can't drag a toddler down there in the rain, especially as he's decided that if we're out in the afternoon he no longer needs to fall asleep wherever we are, he just gets grouchy and irritable instead which doesn't help with the hoeing.

The plot is looking ok, still too many weeds but there's enough intended growth that I'm not unhappy with it. I still find it irritating that the bit that was rotovated is now all covered with weeds again, I was hoping to weedkill it yesterday but Frank wasn't there and the shop wasn't open. I managed to hoe and remove all the weeds from the bed intended for my garlic (when I find some to buy) and that was relatively easy, definitely easier than the digging involved to the unrotovated bits, so hopefully it won't get too compacted over the winter and when I'm ready to prepare it for the Square Foot beds it will be less time consuming.

In the greenhouse the peppers are still growing



I'm not sure that I'll actually see many of these grow to full size and change colour as the weather is turning chilly now, especially in the evenings. I will plant them earlier next year and hope that I get to eat some!

I'm still getting a good lot of runner beans, my freezer seems to be chock full of them! This is what I came home with yesterday



A few more courgettes as well, I need to make some courgette loaves for the freezer to clear the fridge of them. We're having Mung Beans with Courgettes as well this week so that should get me up to date with using them! I didn't really want to pick the turnips that small but something has been eating small round holes into them so I pulled the damaged ones and now have to find something to make with them. I see some vegetable and barley soup coming up for the freezer too, must clear out some blackberries and make that jelly and jam so I have more room!

The rhubarb is dying back, I picked one of the three pumpkins last week, there will be another ready next week I think, just a few small green patches on it. The Charlotte potatoes have come up really well and the onions are growing well too, need to hand weed those next week now I can see where they are. The other potatoes I'm not sure what is going on with them. The tops are dying back but the potatoes aren't ready under the ground. I dug the worst row up to see if I could tell what was causing the damage and I can't... I think those few baby potatoes I got will go in the soup! My cabbages are growing well, as are the cauliflowers that are left (I think I have 7) and the Kale is taking over the back of the plot, it's huge. I have never used Kale before so I hope to god we like it! The leeks are also finally having a growth spurt and the tops of the parsnips are starting to die down which apparently means that they're almost ready, yum!

So overall there's still plenty going on and although a lot is coming to an end I will have quite a bit in the ground over winter which is what I wanted. Now I just need to wait for the Organic Catalogue which is due this month and I can dream up and plan what I want to do next year.