A clean freshly dug and newly seeded bed.
Monday 1 October 2007
Week 40 - Bed PC6
We have given up on this bed for a while now. There looks to be stuff to harvest, but anything that we have has not tasted great, or has tough.
The kale is small compared to other plants of the same variety in the other plots.
The Brussels Sprouts are beginning to form at the base of the leaf stems.
We harvested the last of the beetroot (the pink ringed variety) but they did not taste good.
The perpetual spinach plant suddenly seems to be doing well.
There are some patches of mealy bugs on the brassicas, which we brushed off.
Week 40 - Bed PC5
The growth in this bed has really grown to a halt. A few plants struggle on, but nothing is doing well. We continue to pull up the plants that go to seed, but this bed needs much more attention. We have basically given up on it for the year.
We pulled up one of the beetroot to see how it tasted raw and it was disgusting, inedible really. This is what happens to many vegetable that or are stunted because they do not get what they need from the soil.
Week 40 - Bed PC4
Despite the lack of growth, there is a great mix of leaf shapes and textures in this bed.
Week 40 - Bed PC3
The leeks seem to have recovered quickly from being transplanted, and if we get some decent weather they will continue to grow right through to winter.
Week 40 - Bed PC2
We finally dug this bed, well most of it, burying the sod but we did not dig through the compacted rock pan about 30cm down due to lack of time. This will have to be broken up if the bed is going to be productive in the future.
Week 40 - Bed PC1
The two nights of early frost that we had last week have put an end to any further growth in this bed, which is a shame because another month's growth would have allowed some of the fruit to mature.
A few small Ebisu pumpkins have grown, and they do not seem to have been affected by the frost. We will wait a few weeks to see if they mature at all.
The darker patch on largest of the Uchiki Squash shows that it has been damaged by the frost. Even if the fruit had matured it will not keep at all with frost damage and will likely start to rot. We will pick it in a few weeks to see what happens.
Week 40 - Bed DD8
Two weeks after sowing, most of the seedlings have sprouted.
Most of the rows will need to be thinned, including these lettuce seedlings.
The distinctive brassica leaves on the mizuna seedlings.
These Pak Choi seeds were sown a bit too thickly at one end of the bed, and will need to be thoroughly thinned.
The long leaves of the spinach seedlings are easy to distinguish from everything else in the bed.
The rainbow chard seedlings are already showing the different colours, with yellow and white to the left and red to the right. We will have to be careful when thinning to leave a number of each colour.
Week 40 - Bed DD7
The two nights of frost that we had last week do not appear to have affected this bed ...
... but when we took a closer look, many of the pods have been affected.
While the leaves of the peas plants are generally unaffected by frost the fleshy pods are easily damaged, shown here as mottled darker patches.
The white clover is starting to sprout, and hopefully they were not affected by the frost. Mature clover plants can survive frost over a mild winter, but the young seedlings are more tender.
Week 40 - Bed DD6
The Rhubarb chard continue to bolt, the red cabbage struggles along and the Brussels sprouts are growing well.
The small buds at the leaf joint are starting to form, and will eventually grow into Brussels Sprouts for the winter.
The top two plants are doing well, but the other two are not nearly as big.
None of the red cabbage look like they have grown big enough to produce any reasonable crop.
The Swiss Chard continues to grow and is in need of harvesting.
Week 40 - Bed DD5
The plants are getting visibly larger by the week!
A few chicory plants remain at the end of the bed. It does not seem that anyone is interested in harvesting them.
Each of the Thousand Headed Kale plants is about 80-90cm in diameter, and over 120cm tall.
The Red Sear Sprouting Broccoli plants continue to be eaten by caterpillars, and we keep killing them - they really should be visited more than once a week). We removed one of the weaker plants (bottom left) a few weeks ago as it was being overshadowed by the huge kale plants, and another one (top right) is quite stunted. The other two plants are doing reasonably well despite being continually eaten.
Two of the four Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants are doing well,and the other two are smaller and more infected by caterpillars.
The Pentland Brig plants are virtually unaffected by the caterpillars, and all four plants are doing well.
Week 40 - Bed DD4
Two weeks after sowing, some of the beetroot have started to sprout under the fleece ...
... and so have some of the carrots.
Week 40 - Bed DD3
It is difficult to pass the borage plant as it sprawls out over the paths.
Honey bees have started to come to the borage, there must be a hive somewhere in the area.
The leeks above were transplanted 14 weeks ago and although they were originally sown into the seedbed at the same time as the ones below they are considerably bigger. This Lancia Leek is a very early variety that can be harvested from January to October, though we did sow it later than suggested.
These leeks were transplanted 7 weeks ago and are meant to be harvested any time form October to January.
Week 40 - Bed DD2
The two night of frost last week really put an abrupt and early end to this bed.
All of the growth of the courgette plant has been killed back, and although the plant might be able to produce some regrowth, there is not enough time left to produce any fruit.
The first of the runner beans are ready to be picked ...
... but most of the leaves and flowers are dead.
We dug up the courgette plant, and will likely remove the runner beans next week and prepare the bed for planting an overwintering crop.
Week 40 - Bed DD1
The two nights of frost that we got last week have put an end to the growth of everything in this bed.
The ears of sweetcorn look good ...
... but are quite small ...
... and none of the kernels have had a chance to grow, even if they were pollinated.
The courgette plants have been badly hit by frost, but most of the fruit is still edible.
The larger outer leaves have been affected by the frost the most, with some of the inner leaves escaping damage. There is a chance that the plant could regrow and continue to produce fruit ...
... but we decided to pull up all of the plants in this bed to make room for some overwintering garlic and onions.
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