Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Fruits of my labour


Well all my promises of keeping this blog up to date through the summer are obviously broken. But that's not to say I haven't been dulleg on my actual gardening.

I have been keeping very much on top of things and eating a phenomenal amount of delicious treats. Great excitement has been had with successes I am sure are only possible due to the twilight zone style foreign weather we have had. The ongoing good weather (until exactly today it seems) has definitely given all of my fruiting plants a much better chance than they have had in previous years.

All of what I was waiting to ripen on my last entry, I have now been eating. The strawberries have been absolutely huge, and I am now collecting baby plants from the runners so that I should have a whole army of strawberries next year.

I have been conducting little experiments with various plants, as well as trying multiple varieties of my favourites such as Chilis and Tomatoes. Without fail all of the chili varieties I tried (12 I think it is) have succeeded. They are fruiting like crazy and it is absolutely delightful to be able to decide which sort of chili to use for which particular dish I am cooking, my diet is nearly always spicy. I have luckily found several foster parents willing to look after the plants whilst I am in China as I eagerly want to overwinter all of them.

Some of the failures this year due to the weather have included certain types of spinach and all my pak choi - normally I grow surplus amounts of these but the hot weather has led to bolting in almost every batch I have sown as I mentioned before. Strangely enough though my beetroot as yet to bolt - something I usually struggle with. They are sat happily in their pots like golfballs at the moment and I shall soon uplift them for a good roast.

I am still impatiently waiting on my baby corn to fruit. The plants are huge and I know the chances of success are slim, but they are in my plastic greenhouse and I am determined to succeed. The first ever cucumber plants I have are producing baby cucumbers now and I am hoping for a couple of weeks more good weather to ensure they make it. I have never tried these before and would love to do well on the first ever attempt.

My daughter has spent a great deal of time with me in the garden and I can get her to try anything and more or less get her to eat her 5 fruit and veg per day straight from the ground. However the moment I put it on a plate indoors, she turns her nose up at it so its good to know how to get her eating her greens.

More detailed posts are in my head, but for now, here is a seriously lengthy image overload.

This month I have been eating:

  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Rhubarb
  • Spring Onions
  • Spinach
  • Lollo Rosso
  • Cornsalad
  • Basil
  • Purple basil
  • Corriander
  • Cammomile
  • Nastursium
  • Baby carrots
  • Salad leaves
  • Cos lettuce
  • Courgettes
  • Sunburst squash
  • Balmoral squash
  • Aubergine
  • Chilis
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Rosemary
  • Sage
  • Thyme
  • French beans
  • Peas
  • Mange tout