December update

The end of the year is nearly here and I decided to inspect the damage caused by my neglect on the plot.

I was pleased to see that overall it was not too bad but in no way is the tidiness as good as Bernie’s which is dug and covered already. On my plot, a few hopeful weeds are clinging on and I need to tidy up generally. The manure I spread around the raspberries seems to be keeping weeds down but still needs hand weeding to get on top of any sneaky dandelions.

My own compost bins should be almost ready (she writes hopefully) and spreading that around once I've turned the soil should help nourish the earth and keep weeds down (unless it activates weed seeds that have been lurking in the compost). I can't see the likelihood of getting any help with that back breaking job.

I noticed we also had a massive pony poo delivery - I must nab a bit to mulch with. It should have rotted down by planting time. Not sure if I'll have time before Xmas though to transport it to the plot...

Mental note on general fertilisers: if you have rotted down root perennial weeds like bindweed and dandelions for fertiliser, don't forget and try to wash your hand in it at a later date. It is revoltingly stinky and it takes a lot of soap and hand gel to shift the lingering stench.

Looking around other plots, it looks like others seem to have put chard seedlings in. Too late for me. At least I have 3 PSB seedlings/ plants established. Admittedly this is a bad return on the 20 or so plug plants I started with but the way I see it these are strongest by natural selection.

I should have covered PSB as they have suffered pigeon damage. Maybe I’ll do it now (or after xmas) so they have time to recover in spring.

While it looks like rosemary is the only useable thing in the plot actually the Jerusalem artichoke is ready. I will leave in the ground until I’m able to use it as they go wrinkly quickly. Never the prettiest of veg, wrinkles don't enhance things.

I decided to try out a Jamie Oliver recipe:
2 handfuls of large Jerusalem artichokes or new potatoes
1 radicchio or treviso, outer leaves discarded (I left this out as I don’t like the bitterness)
3 little gem lettuces, leaves washed, dried and stalks removed
a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley or chervil, leaves picked and finely sliced
extra virgin olive oil
8 rashers thickly sliced smoked streaky bacon or pancetta
1 small red onion, peeled and finely sliced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Scrub the Jerusalem artichokes and boil them in salted water until tender. Once cool, cut them in half and set aside. Wash and dry salad leaves in a salad spinner.
Cut your bacon into slices and fry it. Add the sliced onion and the Jerusalem artichokes. Fry on a medium heat until the bacon is golden and crisp, the onion is sticky and soft and the Jerusalem artichokes have sucked up all the flavours and turned crispy.
Divide half the contents between four plates, then add 5 tablespoons of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the pan, with a little pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything together so the flavours improve and then pour immediately over the salad leaves waiting in the bowl. Toss lightly and quickly.

Incidentally the rosemary sprigs made pretty festive flourishes for the Christmas table

In other cooking news, I made Trucklements relish with shop bought beetroot and horseradish (bought in chapel market). Not quite in the grow your own spirit but delicious. You can find the recipe here

Review of the year

Well this year is pretty much acknowledged to have been a dreadful year. Bad weather affected most growers and combined with a heavy work schedule and a slightly slap dash confidence in my abilities, 2012 was my annus vebetablus horribilis.

It wasn't all doom and gloom:

• The fruit did well and raspberries and rhubarb were great
• My (bought) butternut squash plant worked well and yielded 5.5 squash (even if I did then let them go a touch mouldy)
• This was the first year I had success with Alliums and the yield was good as they were given an autumn head start
• Mixed success with broad beans - I wonder if I should leave them in longer as I have a harvest around May but then I read about their season being later in summer in cooking magazines so wonder if they are a result of successional sowing rather than a second flush from autumn sown plants.  My experiment for next year I suspect.

On the whole though, my plot under-performed with usual favourites failing me:

• Potato yields were tiny in comparison to previous years
• Tomatoes hardly even had enough fruit and even they didn't turn red before being feasted on by slugs
• Salad leaves never really got started (slugs again) - the only exception was rocket which is pretty much a weed
• Strawberries are probably in need of a move to refresh themselves
• Jerusalem artichokes, like potatoes, had a small harvest. Considering that they are near perennials I don't think moving them will help (and the place they are in is good as they don't over-shadow other plants) but I do think I need to water them more (both more often and just more water)

I did measure harvests (sort of) but the depressingly small amounts may have meant that I gave up in disgust this year.

Great expectations

OK, I admit it, I have been really lazy/ busy/ practical (delete as appropriate) and haven't been on the plot as often as I would like.  I mainly blame travel, bad weather and the fact there is precious little there to look at. I certainly don't blame myself (well, maybe a little bit).

When I find them (in an 'obvious' bag in the kitchen), I will plant autumn onion sets even though they are a little late and I should have done that in November. They will follow on from the Butternut Squash and go in the area cleared in front of the Jerusalem artichokes.  I bought them at the RHS show (which also had some funky late night drinks run by the Midnight Apothecary) along with garlic (Solent White variety and elephant) I reused some of mine from this year too.

I have also planned the location of my potatoes for next year which was pretty tough. I needed to avoid where they been before which narrows things down.  Especially as I put 2 lots in this year in different places and they take up a fair amount of space. The issue is I'll want to plant them around St Patrick's day (17 March) and the purple sprouting broccoli will be in full flow and the onions won't be out till June.

Luckily, looking at the plot recently, only a few seedlings of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli (PSB) have survived. This will create potato space and save us from eating PSB ad infinitum in spring. a bonus of failed seedlings I guess - silver lining etc.

Other things to consider now:

• Keep weeding
• Protect young brassicas from late cabbage White butterflies and pigeons love a brassica seedling. I clearly didn't do this enough as mine have struggled to fight off the attacks.  At this stage in the year it's probably more the birds than the butterflies that will be the problem (even the latest of late cabbasge whites must surely have gone 'home' by now)
• Cut back and divide mint if looking woody
• Start digging and cover with tarpaulin or sow green manure - think I'll leave that till spring.

My Butternut Squash (BNS) has been flourishing and we ended up with 5.5 squashes from one plant (5 normal plus one tiddler). unfortunately the bad weather and my impatience made me bring them into the house before they had cured. They developed mouldy patches alarmingly quickly so I have had to improvise BNS based recipes and stews to avoid some of my rare successful harvests this year going to waste.

For reference next year this is how you cure BNS without them going mouldy (hopefully):
1. Place butternut squash on a dry surface with good air circulation. Some gardeners may keep them outside provided the temperatures are at least above 50 degrees F (10 degrees C), but inside works just as well.
2. Wait. Butternut squash will take about 10 to 12 days to cure in 50 to 55 degree F temperatures. You can tell when the squash is cured if the skin is hard and not easily bruised. Properly cured butternut squash can last for several months.