Squash challenge

It's that time of year again. The time when squash become a staple of our diet and I need to get creative in the kitchen.

Currently we have 4.41kg of yellow patty pan squash which look like mini flying saucers but taste much better.

On top of that a kind allotment neighbour, Adrian, offered me 3 of his courgettes which had overgrown into marrows when he wasn't looking. (Another 3.06kg)
Definitely time to search out the squash recipes.

The weather has been weird - more like April sunshine and showers. (17/8)
Tomatoes are starting to ripen but I should have staked them, fed them and pinched out side shoots. They are now prolific and resting on the ground.

I also cut down the old raspberry canes but didn't have time to take them to the tip. With winter brassicas in under weed suppressing fabric it's starting to look ready for Xmas.As I said I planted winter brassicas through weed fabric but most have been eaten. How can I help them survive?

I also stripped our stairs of carpet so will use that over a mulch of manure to prepare the soil for planting next year.

Carry on sowing

The squash seedlings (pumpkin and courgettes and BNS) are through and growing madly.  The cavolo nero seedlings are also through but pretty tiny. I need to get them all in the ground before I go on an extended jaunt in France.

We were in France just a week ago too and, they are having as bad a time of the weather as we are. In fact it was the main news item in France - it was apparently 10 degrees colder than last year (which was hardly ideal) and some areas even had snow. We spent the weekend in the Champagne region avoiding showers/ torrential rain.  The cold and the wet will have hit the wine trade hard and I assume other farmers will also be suffering.

The basil seedlings I put out have curled up and died in shock from the cold and I can't be bothered to sow more. I wonder if in 'normal' weather they could have coped outside - I'll try again next year.

There is still time to catch up which is good news for a friend who has just got allocated a plot after 6 years of waiting. the plot is overgrown with weeds and he is tackling it bit by bit.  As his back is breaking under the work of clearing the plot, this is probably not a good time though for him to remember that he likes very few vegetables!

We took advantage of some dry weather to finally clear out the shed which was more than a dumping ground - more of a Bermuda triangle lurking in the garden. I feel much less guilty now and ready to start filling it up again now.

It might as well rain until September

So we are at mid- late May and the temperature is still in the low teens.  Even though I have done the great winter summer clothes swap over, nobody has told the weather gods and I am hankering after thick jumpers and duvet coats.

The cold weather isn't deterring my greatest garden enemies - the slugs and snails are definitely getting into swing of things. Not known to be nature's acrobats, they are reaching new heights in among my roses and eating the flower buds off my flag irises. Apparently there is a new Spanish slug invading but to be honest I'm equal opportunities in my hatred of all slugs (snails at least give you something to hold without covering your hands in slime.)  Salt is very effective to kill them (they shrivel alarmingly fast) but does leave a CSI-like outline around the desiccated corpse.

I took advantage of brief sunny spell last weekend to weed a bit and plant out (most) of the seedlings.  After planting I watered them with some of Bernie's magic water which apparently is used to help plants establish roots and has worked wonders on his crop so far.

In my rush though I forgot to cover the brassicas. I promise myself that I will do it at same time as I plant out beans and sweet peas that I forgot to plant. If I don't then the brassicas will be ripped to shreds by the pigeons and the snails/ slugs will have eaten all the bean seedlings.

I'm cold and considering yet another jumper. Will we never see the sun again?

Getting into the swing of things

So 2013 has produced the coldest March since 1962 and the coldest Easter on record, and March was actually colder than the preceding winter months. We experienced snow on the 4th April so we had plenty of excuses to delay planting and sowing.
Despite this, I did put Maris Peer into the ground around Good Friday. I also popped Charlotte into a potato sack on our house steps. Hopefully the snow didn't ruin things but being close to the house means plants generally are a little sheltered from cold temperatures.
Now, mid April it is finally warming up (with 22 degrees on 14th) but last week coincided with a heavy work load and rains so the pressure to pull a finger out is growing.
I managed to plant a row of Pentland Javelin on the morning of the 15th before work.  It wasn't a full row so I have room for a couple more on the end. I plan to finish off all rows this week - a little at a time I will get there...  As part of the plan I will also finally plant out the pea plants which are taking on triffid proportions.
In my flying visit I noticed that someone has instigated a system for our pony poo pile. - it is now pinned in by a wall of bags with the good stuff all ready for scooping into wheelbarrows. Now where did I put my barrow?
I also noticed that the tidy raspberry lady has cut her raspberries down. This indicates hers are autumn plants. I'm not sure what mine are (though I suspect they are summer) so I might hedge my bets by cutting some nearest the water butt down to experiment.
I went to a Common Growth workshop at weekend up on Telegraph Hill on sowing and growing from seed.  Which, despite the rain, was very inspirational.  Not only do I completely promise to repot my plug plants but I also got a parsley plant, sowed some Red  Turks squash, zinia, and got a yellow tomato seedling.  Lovely.

Looking to the future with an eye on the past

Which sounds like a physical impossibility but I've been in training for my half marathon so am in peak condition...

Looking around the half (well, quarter) dug plot I see signs of emerging shoots everywhere despite the recent cold snap.  Pink noses of rhubarb are poking through the earth and there are signs that the Purple Sprouting Broccoli did not fail completely - the plants that managed to survive the winter and being eaten by birds and other beasts are bravely hinting at the purple joy to come.  The Autumn sown broad beans also seem to be boldly announcing the fact that spring is on its way.

Looking back over last year's entries I see that this time last year we were suffering from overly warm weather whereas now we are at the mercy of the Beast from the East (cold weather that is coming from Siberia) and snow is predicted for tonight and temperatures of around 0 degrees are predicted to last until Wednesday.

As I hunker down under the duvet and avoid the prospect of a long run, it seems the perfect time to review my best intentions and learnings from last year so I can try to avoid the pitfalls this year.

Starting with the old faithfuls, potatoes.  Last year my potatoes were planted on St Patrick's day (20th March). This year St Patrick's day is 10 days early so I might wait to plant them until Easter which is also early this year (30th March).  I still need to dig trenches (which were dug on 27/2 last year) and LABEL the varieties.

Overall jobs I need to do when I venture into the cold:
Mulch and manure
Plant garlic and onions (February is the last month to do this)
Clear up accumulated rubbish
Tie in raspberries
Weeding of perennials weeds

I have also reworked my planting plan to rotate the potatoes, onions and brassicas into new areas. This is tough when space is limited and some crops (eg onions and potatoes take up a pretty big amount of space)

As part of Lent I have toyed with giving up booze (fail fairly spectacularly at least once a week).  An alternative resolution is to use up all the frozen vegetables in the chest freezer by the time Easter comes. This means various bowls of green mush squatting in the fridge inducing guilt in me.  The trusty layers terrrine of vegetables bound together by egg in a loaf tin has been very useful in using up the old vegetables. 

The cauliflower was used up in the form of a cauliflower cheese (weightwatchers recipe but pimped up a bit with extra cheese - oops).

March is around the corner and then things will start really speeding up - with seed sowing and preparations.

Tasks to to in early March:
Sow broad beans - a little deeper than last year
Remember I had some good Jerusalem Artichoke recipes in March last year
Also try out a salsa verde with J Artichokes which tasted amazing at a restaurant we went to in north London - the sharp zing contrasted well with the earthy sweetness of the artichokes.

Deep breaths....

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.

And the rains keep coming

Well where did June go? What a wash out! We have just experienced the wettest June since records began and July hasn't started off much better with warnings of a month's rain falling in a day (which was scheduled for when I went to the open air Hampton Court Flower show but think it's this Sunday judging by what I can see out of the window).

While the water means I save on watering duties (the hosepipe ban was lifted as it seems to be the successful British equivalent of a rain dance) it also is bad news for the allotment. My main two crops seem to be weeds and snails. Not being French or having the inclination to do odd things to clean the snails enough for eating the snails are an unwelcome addition to the plot - eating my strawberries, baby squash and bean plants. Which weren't growing well anyway to be honest even before they were beheaded.

The tomato seedlings are still tiny and the ones I bought in are developing yellow leaves (I assume the nutrients are being washed away). To tackle the snail invasion my colleague has been experimenting with a number of methods - beer (diluted by rain), nematodes (expensive for large area), salt baths (unpleasant in the morning and involves a regular gathering process) and pellets. The jury is still out if there is anything you can really do against this plague of pests.

The weeds, on the other hand, I could have tackled. And I will. As soon as the weather dries out a little (please, please, please). It's important to clear weeds as they are competition for the few plants that are growing.

I could claim that in the spirit of enquiry I have been letting things follow their course but actually I'm just lazy and haven't visited the allotment enough to sort things out as I don't fancy gardening in a flood. All this inattention has taken its toll on the usual star performers. The potatoes were indeed useless - yellowing leaves usually means they are ready with their pot of gold waiting underground but this year the yield was pathetic. I must feed the ground more and try a different planting method. One variety (British Queen) was making much larger (but fewer) potatoes than the salad tubers (Swift) that were on border of getting scab. Avoid next year?

By this time last year I had harvested 12.5kg of potatoes - quite a contrast to the 6.7kg I have sitting in the kitchen. I can only hope a second sowing will have better yields. The potatoes include red and blue (a misguided jubilee idea)  and, until I looked at last year I was worried I had harvested too early especially as Bernie's are still in ground and looking healthy.   Next year...

The broad beans weren't bad (the uncovered ones seemed to have yielded a few more pods to the untrained eye but it's not really experiment conditions and I suspect location (slightly less overshadowed by the grape vines) had more to do with it. A stir fry with bacon and a garlicky houmous type crush was very tasty.

Apart from the star performers, rhubarb, another real success were the raspberries. One cursory visit on a rare dry evening yielded 1kg of the berries - they were so eager to be picked that they were falling off the plants. I haven't even ventured into the centre. The fruit seem to be on old wood. Does that mean summer or autumn fruiting? I guess this is some sort of summer. I'll cut the stems down after fruiting and see if newer stems crop in autumn. With the slightly bruised fruit (a carrier bag is not ideal transport) I made microwave jam. The recipe is on allotment.org.uk and is really easy and reliable (so far).

And it keeps on coming

Finally the rains seem to be on their way out and the weekend was dry enough to visit the allotment and do something useful. I weeded a bit and harvested an elephant garlic early. Not a bad size but very stinky to wander around the supermarket with.

I planted the borlotti beans, butternut squash, White sprouting broccoli and mystery tomatoes. I also bought a black cherry tomato at brockley Market so that is the only named variety I can identify for sure. As the plot seems to be a nursery for snails I hope they all make it.

The rhubarb seems to be calming down a little but I was still able to harvest 880g of rhubarb. I decided to try a new recipe - rhubarb clafoutis from River Cottage Everyday.

Rhubarb Clafoutis
from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Every Day
serves 6 (but that's generous portions each)
550g rhubarb
a pinch of cinnamon
grated zest of 1/2 orange and the juice of the whole fruit
110g sugar
50g plain flour
a pinch of sea salt
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup whole milk
Preheat the oven to 200degrees. Cut the rhubarb into 2-inch lengths and put it into a baking pan with the cinnamon, orange juice, and 2 tablespoons sugar. Toss well, and roast for 20 minutes until just starting to caramelize. Let it cool, and drain it in a sieve.

Turn the oven down to 180 degrees. Butter a 25cm round baking dish or springform. Arrange the rhubarb on the bottom of the dish.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Make a well in the center and add the beaten eggs. Stir the flour into the eggs, and then whisk in the milk a little at a time.
Pour the batter over the rhubarb and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the clafoutis is golden and puffed. Serve warm or cold, with icing sugar to top.

So that's breakfast sorted for Tom all week then.

Bank holiday washout

I would usually would be busy in the garden - maybe tidying it up for a BBQ or planting out the butternut Squash seedlings. However a combination of rain, work and Tom being in Vancouver (marathon #2) meant the bank holiday was a bit of a wash out.

As the rains lashed down, new parents seriously considered renaming their newborn Noah and tools for ship building grew dramatically (I may be lying about some or both of these points).  I did, however, spend my days indoors reading magazines instead of doing anything useful outdoors. 

In these magazines, and the accompanying flyers that drop out of them, I found hopeful adverts for hoses despite a hose pipe ban, offers on BBQ family packs languishing on shelves and I became increasingly aware of a pile, nay box, of seeds lurking with intent in my gardening zone (also know as a dump) in the kitchen but not put to use.

It wasn't all inaction though. I repotted the tomato seedlings - burying stems further down so they grow roots from a greater surface and are more sturdy. Doing it in a hurry meant that some were damaged but that was an easy way to reduce the number of plants (I must remember I don't have a farm). The stowaway snails that must have hitched a ride indoors also helped keep the seedling numbers down. I also repotted the chilies and put the grafted chilli outside in the hope of it finding a passing pollinator in all the rain. Unlikely. But I remain hopeful.

Spring has sprung

The blossom has just opened up on the plum tree in the garden and the blueberries are coming into leaf.

Temperatures are averaging 15 degrees and the weeds (sadly) are springing back to life. (Note to self: hoe between garlic, onions, shallots etc. which are looking a touch jungle like).

Though the saying goes "ne'er cast a clout till May be out" (see the excellent phrases.org.uk to learn more about the phase) implies we shouldn't discard our winter clothes till May (or indeed till Hawthorn (also called May) is in bloom) weeds actually start back into life from 7 degrees so keep a vigilant eye open and a hoe ready.
With the joys of spring growing within me and limited chances to sow seed, I made a mad dash before a flight on the 10th to plant some of the potatoes I have had chitting in the kitchen.  In went the first earlies and a couple of Shetland Blacks.  I had dug 4 trenches and I filled 3 of them (30cm or a foot's length separating them and in the pit not top of the piles and gently firmed up the soil above them) in this order:
- trench nearest plank pile: Sharp's Express PLUS Shetland Black x 2
- middle trench: Swift
- 3rd trench from plank pile: Pentland Javelin

That leaves one more one more trench which I shall save for the rest of the Shetland Black x 4 and the British Queen. Though I also have Ratte chitting madly so they will need a home.  I have 3 patio potato planters which I think I will use for Charlotte and Ratte. The compost is already waiting by the kitchen steps though I plan to stagger the planting of these to see if I can spread the inundation of spuds.

Delicious magazine (April edition) have got 6 lovely sounding recipes for use with Jersey Royals so I might use the last of the stored potatoes for chips, tartiflette and sauteed but paired with Chorizo rather than black pudding.
Jersey Royal chips with Saffron Aioli - 500g potatoes sliced lengthways in quarters, cook in boiling water 3-4 minutes, toss with 2tbsp olive oil, roast 30-40 minutes till crispy + cheat's aioli (thanks to Donal Skehan) 3tbsp mayonnaise, 1tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 chopped garlic clove
Jersey Royals with anchovy gremolata - finely mince 1 garlic clove, zest of 1 lemon, parsley, toss with potatoes, 25g butter, 2 sanchovy fillets finely chopped.
Jersey Royal and fontina frittata
Jersey Royal salad with hot-smoked salmon, dill and mustard creme fraiche - 4 tbsp creme fraiche, 2 tbsp olive oil, squeeze lemon, 1tsp Dijon mustard
Tartiflette
Sauteed Jersey Royals with black pudding and fried egg

According to the books this si the time to be planting jerusalem artichokes so it is also time to harvest the last of them (leaving a few behind int he ground for next year).

I intend to use another recipe from Delicious magazine for Mother's Day: Jerusalem artichoke and potato bake with welsh rarebit topping. Considering that the last 2 plants I dug up yielded 1.9kg I may need to consider making a Jerusalem Artichoke Flan too (from the excellent BBC website).

A week of extremes

At the weekend we had overnight temperatures of -1. As visitors to the gorgeous Brighton we had to scrape frost off the car on our way to a half marathon (ouch!) but were bathed in sunshine as the day warmed up.

London fared slightly better I believe though the nights are still chilly.

We are being lured into a sense of security and optimism about planting later though as Thursday temperatures are predicted to rise to 16 degrees. 

After a relatively dry winter (the second in a row) there are warnings of possible drought measures in the future and families are being urged to start saving water. Apparently, the average rainfall this winter has been lower than the months preceding the severe drought in 1976, which brought a summer of water rationing, damaged crops and wild fires. The worst affected areas are the east of England, the Midlands and the South East.

I recently had some good news - I am to be the reader of the month in April's Garden Answers magazine. Apparently there is a prize associated with it.  I'm seriously hoping it will be a collapsible water butt as they look awesome. And it will help with the upcoming drought.*

*Please note that predictions of drought often precede an unbelievably wet and unimpressive summer (see 2011).

2011 yield review and the best intentions

Laziness, a new job and Winter has meant that I haven't updated in a while but now that Spring feels like it's round the corner, I am stirring like the snails crawling out of the nooks and crannies in the allotment and feel it's time to start writing again.

Where better to start in January but a review of the last year and a blog full of good intentions?

This is what I wrote back in July
Slow start to the year as things got into their swing. Things came early due to warmth but when growing from seed still need a growth cycle so not as successful than established soft fruits. Heat may have been a check and certainly the raspberries need magnesium (Epsom salts) to correct yellowing leaves. They also should have been tied in better. Next year or in the autumn I will create a framework of wires which should resist the weather better than normal string.

Now for the update in January 2012
We had a dreadfully wet summer and that meant the tomatoes got blight and yields were poor. It also didn't help that I didn't tie them in or support them well. Again - must do better next time.

Yellow was the colour of the season and yellow courgettes, patty pans, ornamental squash and yellow beetroot were great fun. The squash stored well and we are still eating it now in stews and bakes. Despite a slow start and early lack of germination the beetroot ended up doing well though they weren't the impressive giants that Bernie managed to grow.

I can't tell you what varieties did well because I forgot to label them, or labelled them in pen that washed off or on sticks that got lost over the season. Again, must do better this year.

Now in the midst of winter, incidentally the warmest winter since the early 80s apparently, we have had just one frost and the chard is still going strong and we are starting to harvest the Jerusalem Artichokes. We also had a potato harvest to make an Irishman proud. Sadly, though we tend to eat bread or pasta more as our chosen carbohydrate and my constant on/ off diet discourages me from even that so we still have mountains of potatoes at home. 

My resolve is to find recipes that are both healthy and that use up potatoes in vast quantities before the next season returns.  In fact the whole chest freezer needs a good clear out as I fear we may even have vegetables from Autumn 2010 lurking in there! 

So that will be my challenge for the next four weeks is to use up all the stored vegetables before Lent starts on the 21st February. Watch this space for recipes using fruits of the freezer...

Oh and I promise to:
- cut down a third of the raspberries to see if they are autumn or summer fruiting
- tie the raspberries in with wire (string just didn't work)
- label things properly
- tie in and support the tomatoes I eventually grow.
- I can't promise not to order too many seeds because that horse has already bolted but I can sow them with caution to avoid a glut

Temporary measures

While the broccoli keeps sprouting away happily I can't plant the extra banana shallots I bought. Thankfully a fellow gardening enthusiast, Maximo, suggested I start them off in pots. A genius idea!

They are all now planted in degradable peat pots along with the tomato seedlings which I planted up to the first set of leaves. Tomatoes can grow extra roots from their stem so transplanting them like this allows them to develop a stronger base.

They are all outside at the moment as the glorious heat is with us for one more day. But I will have to pop them in the cold frame as the weather returns to normal levels tonight.

Potato dilemma

My potatoes I already planted are doing ok. In fact they are up before Bernie's. However I think his system of mounds and trenches means they are planted deeper and so will be more protected from frosts and blight.

It seems odd to think of frosts when the thermometer has consistently hit 20 degrees over the last fortnight but it is important to remember that frost hit as late as early may last year.

I still have two more sets of seed potatoes to plant. The rattes and some free charlottes that came as part of a patio growing set. Not wanting to muddy my lovely new patio I will experiment with the set on the plot and I will plant the rattes using Bernie's method too. I looked this up to make sure I do it right but, oddly, there isn't much information on it in books or online.

I consulted a number of books and websites all with limited success. The best I found was http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html which provided the following great drawing:

There seems to be a difference of opinion on how to do it and both make sense. Plant the seed potatoes at the bottom of the trench and use the mounds to earth up OR to plant the potatoes into the mound to allow them the mound to grow in and when watering allow the water to get to the roots.

As it was I did neither and just found some spare patches by the other potatoes...

Sowing seeds in the sun

Top tip: sow tomatoes indoors now to have plants ready to plant out in May.

We have had just over a week of absolutely wonderful weather. Sadly it will return to clouds and average temperatures for the time of 11 degrees. However it was glorious while it lasted. With temperatures hitting 18 degrees It was sheer bliss to doze in the sun and be busy doing nothing.

Spring is such a dynamic time where you can almost see the plants grow. There is a lilac that I cherish and though initially slow to flower now is invariably in flower for my husband, Tom's birthday. I noticed the buds were plumping up a week ago and within a matter of days the purple buds were on show.

In an attempt at spring cleaning I harvested the last cabbage, cavolo Nero and Brussels sprout tops. With them out I turned the earth and weeded afterwards which should be a good foundation for further crops.

The addition of a mini deep fat fryer has not been the wisest choice but it has introduced delicious Jerusalem artichoke chips to the household. You could also do this more healthily by spraying them with oil and roasting them. I also made bubble and squeak using up the last of the brassicas and sprouting potatoes (sprouting in a not good way as opposed to purple s. broccoli). Yummy served with a duck egg and baked beans.

I overcame my sun-induced laziness and some some seeds - a hopeful act imbued with magical qualities. How can these tiny things spring forward and grow to feed us months from now?

When sowing there are some ground rules that provide a great grounding for the future health of your plants.

Use a light weight fine compost. Some people make up their own concoctions but I have to admit I just used a multi purpose compost.

You are also suppose to clean out old trays but, again I was bad and just emptied out the old soil and that was it.

Then just follow the instructions on your seed packet.

Pop them on a window sill. Turn them occasionally so they don't grow wonky trying to find the light.

Keep them watered but don't drown them (avoid mould). Keeping them covered keeps the moisture in an helps germination.

One important thing I will remember after the mystery tomato debacle is proper labelling and record keeping.

To that end this is what I sowed at the weekend:
Tomato gardeners delight
Mangetout with purple flowers
Cosmos
Kale no cover
Calabrese
Asparagus pea

Update- one week later and the calabrese, kale and cosmos are already poking through the soil.

Amazing.

Autumn in August?

Top tip: Enjoy the daylight before the clocks go back (or forward - I always forget), keep harvesting crops and sow green manures when bare patches start to appear. Enjoy the bright colours of approaching Autumn.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Autumn is already here despite it being still not even mid August.  The days seem shorter and there is a definite chill in the air in the morning. Maybe this is normal and the exceptionally dry and warm summer we have had was the aberration but I had almost forgotten what rain was like. Last Tuesday, the skies decided to remind us with a vengeance. Following the driest weather for 80 years August 12th saw vast amounts of rain - so much so that the Met Office issued severe weather warnings. Looking on the positive side, it means I don't have to spend so long watering. It does, however,  encourage the weeds to spring into life and though you are supposed to keep on top of weeding a) I am not going out in the rain and b) there is no point hoeing weeds if the rain might 'replant' them. So I've stayed indoors and read gardening magazines.

This might be another reason why I think it might be Autumn as, infuriatingly, monthly magazines insist on talking about tasks to do in September despite coming out in early August. I seem to be living in a time warp.  Luckily I also buy Amateur Gardening (the UK's oldest consumer gardening magazine, I believe) and Garden News which are weeklies so they should be more relevant for mid August.  According to them, this week we should:
- Harvest early apples (only take them if they come off easily when twisted)
- Keep picking runner and french beans to keep the plants flowering and cropping
- Lift and sort out potatoes - eat damaged ones first (obvious I would say...)
- Sow salads. Apparently if you sow them in the morning they will germinate better. Worth a go.
- Direct sow spring cabbages now to either crop for winter greens or leave for fully grown plants in spring.
- Remove all but two or three fruits per pumpkin plant to allow them to ripen properly and put the fruits on a tile/ lift them off the ground to stop rotting and encourage ripening.

In this gloom it's good to have a few unusual and colourful produce to make a change from the tidal wave of green (courgettes, salads, cabbage, beans etc) so I was particularly pleased to see that my Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' have produced a great range of coloured stems.  The variety of colour ranging from hot pink to burnt orange is truly psychedelic. Steam the leaves and use like spinach. Cook the stems separately and apparently you can treat them like asparagus spears. A good way to preserve the leaves and stems is to freeze them but rather than have the leaves in a giant block, steam them, squeeze out the water and then pop them into a muffin tin so that you have easy to use portions.

I'm also loving the cute mini-spaceship shaped Patty Pan summer squashes. I'm not sure what to do with them though the online view seems to be to either treat them like courgettes (ARGH - not more courgettes!) or to stuff them. Tempted by the latter, though I am a bit suspicious about stuffing things - it's almost like disguising the filling.  I also spotted among the triffid-like squash patch a developing 'real' pumpkin and a butternut squash so am watching their progress with interest.

PS Charlotte, her darling little daughter Tabitha and I harvested one of the neighbour's giant cauliflowers (he did give me permission). Though impressively huge it was also full of woodlice - less than appealing but I did get rid of them all by the time I posed for this photo!

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The importance of weather

Top tip:
Keep an eye on the weather report but don't rely on it.  Protect plants if frosts are predicted and keep watering in dry weather.

10.03.10

Never have I been so interested in the weather. Something that formerly only governed what I was going to wear, if we could entertain outside and if I could get a tan now was going to affect what I needed to do on the plot. It was going to dictate how easy it was going to be to prepare the ground, if it was the right time to sow, if things needed protection or watering and how quickly they needed harvesting (and how much there would be to harvest). It also meant that I found a positive side to formerly hated weather like rain – it just meant that it was good for the plants and I could delay an in depth watering session.

Every month I will be keeping a record of the weather courtesy of the Met Office so that year on year I will be able to build up a picture of seasonal changes and not be surprised when we get frosts. This year has been very dry and sunny even after the late frosts and cold weather that delayed a lot of planting out and sowing – there are even threats of water bans.

31.03.10
March – a month of two halves, weather wise.
The first two weeks were generally dry and fine, although it was rather cold with some night frosts. The second half saw more changeable weather with rain at times
Mostly fine and dry until mid-month, with some overnight frosts, then becoming more changeable with wind and rain at times. The monthly mean temperatures were close to the 1971-2000 normals across almost all areas. Rainfall was somewhat below average in most places. Sunshine totals were generally somewhat above average. 

30.04.10
April – where were the showers?
The first week was unsettled but after this high pressure over or close to the UK brought plenty of dry and fine weather until the last few days. Daily maximum temperatures were above average and reached 20 °C in places on several days. However, daily minimum temperatures were close to normal with some frosts. Overall, April was a dry month, with less than 50% of the monthly average rainfall recorded in many areas and only about 30% of average in parts of northern England and East Anglia.

Provisionally, it ranks thirteenth driest in a 100-year series, but was not as dry as April 2007. This does not bode well for a hosepipe ban and we can only hope the wet summers of the last two years will insulate us. The dry weather has hit particularly hard in the south where totals were over 150% of normal locally. Provisionally, it ranks fifth sunniest in a series from 1929, similar to April 1990 but not as sunny as April 2007.

31.05.10
May – showing the truth behind the saying never cast a clout before May is out
For all us blasé Southerners May was a bit of a shock – after an extremely cold winter we thought we had seen the last of the cold, especially as April was so nice. Halfway through the month, though, the frosts hit – damaging some vegetable plants and delaying planting out of tender seedlings.

The first half of May saw cool weather, with a mainly northerly or north-easterly airstream. After a showery first few days, there was plenty of fine weather but with some overnight frosts. Temperatures recovered during the second half of the month, with a very warm spell from 20th to 24th. Overall, mean temperatures were normal or slightly below the 1971–2000 normal, by about 1.0 °C in parts of south-east England. May was a dry month in all areas, with less than 50% of the average rainfall recorded in parts of central southern England. Provisionally, it ranks tenth driest in a 100-year series, and is the driest May since 1991. Sunshine totals were up to 10% above normal.