Earlier in the week I gave you a bit of a citrus update. Here is a bit of an audit of where other things are up to in the patch.
1. Snow peas
Still picking a handful that is enough for two every second day and the flowers keep coming.
2. Rocket
The rocket forest is starting to flower but there is still plenty to pick.
3. Fennel
The bulbs are thickening, but I will have a gap in my fennel supply. I have seeds in the ground but they aren't up yet.
4. Broccoli, cabbage, cauli
I have my second crop of brassicas in and they are doing very well. It is the first time that I have had such young brassicas at this time of the year and it is a great time of year to make them low maintenance. There are no cabbage moths, no grubs to squash and so their leaves are looking very nice - no tatty holes from grub munching. In future years I will try to get two winter crops of brassicas in.
5. Celery
They are so green! They have been enjoying the rainy weather we have had recently.When they get on a bit I will start using them quite young in Chinese dishes stir-fried with beef strips.
6. Spring onions
The last of the spring onions in the ground are starting to form their flowers.
6. Seed raising
This is the first time I have raised spring onions from seed and I will do it again. They are very very easy. I love how they suspend their seed on the top on the new green sprout.
The heirloom lettuce are coming on but they are very slow and in the ground the beetroot have just emerged...can you see them?
So that's the round up. What's happening in your patch?
1. Snow peas
Still picking a handful that is enough for two every second day and the flowers keep coming.
2. Rocket
The rocket forest is starting to flower but there is still plenty to pick.
3. Fennel
The bulbs are thickening, but I will have a gap in my fennel supply. I have seeds in the ground but they aren't up yet.
4. Broccoli, cabbage, cauli
I have my second crop of brassicas in and they are doing very well. It is the first time that I have had such young brassicas at this time of the year and it is a great time of year to make them low maintenance. There are no cabbage moths, no grubs to squash and so their leaves are looking very nice - no tatty holes from grub munching. In future years I will try to get two winter crops of brassicas in.
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| A new cauliflower |
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| A new savoy cabbage |
5. Celery
They are so green! They have been enjoying the rainy weather we have had recently.When they get on a bit I will start using them quite young in Chinese dishes stir-fried with beef strips.
6. Spring onions
The last of the spring onions in the ground are starting to form their flowers.
6. Seed raising
This is the first time I have raised spring onions from seed and I will do it again. They are very very easy. I love how they suspend their seed on the top on the new green sprout.
The heirloom lettuce are coming on but they are very slow and in the ground the beetroot have just emerged...can you see them?
So that's the round up. What's happening in your patch?
I have some punnets of spring onion that look a lot like that. I'm very impressed with that fennel - I have yet to grow it - I only discovered it in a culinary sense relatively recently. How long does it take?
ReplyDeleteI love fennel. I can't honestly say without thinking about it how long they take, but I guess I put these seed in in March? They do grow more slowly in winter than summer (obviously). The seeds are very easy to raise directly in the bed.
DeleteI could pick these now if I wanted but I will let them go a little longer.
I wish I had snow peas, but the chooks ate them - cheeky girls! I've never grown fennel, but yours looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI saw a white cabbage moth fluttering about my cabbages yesterday, so be wary...
Oh thanks for the warning! Naughty girls!
DeleteGorgeous looking fennel! About half of ours bolted but they were planted going into warm weather. We've sliced them off their roots and they're already reforming new heads. Nice variety you have there, especially considering it's low season!
ReplyDeleteSometimes things happen at strange times - micro climates perhaps? I too slice mine off at the roots when I harvest and let the roots re-sprout that way they grow quicker and utilise all those roots!
DeleteHmmm. Fennel. The (my) jury is out on that one. I've never been overly fond of the taste of liquorice (apart from salty zouts, but that's another story!). I've only used fennel once and I wasn't enamoured but I should try again. I wouldn't give them any space in my patch, though. I find it interesting how people have such different opinions on the same flavours. Do we actually 'taste' things differently, to each other? Does our taste come down to either nature or nurture or do other things come in to play? Sorry, I'm off on a tangent!
ReplyDeleteI bought some beetroot seeds the other day. I've not grown them before as I'm the only one who likes them but why should that stop me? My son will mostly eat what he's given (sometimes under sufferance) or he gets the evil eye and my daughter doesn't live at home anymore, anyway. The dog doesn't get a say.
Your rocket looks as feral as mine!!
Not off on a tangent at all. I DO find 'taste' an interesting question. I am obsessed with all things tart and don't like really sweet fruit. I love lemons and lines and really tart citrus yet others also have similar attractions to sweet fruit. I must say it took me a while to LOVE fennel... mum can't stand it, but I really am fond of it now... but it wasn't a 'natural attraction'.
DeleteI love beetroot too.
Are salty zouts those salty liquorice things that the Dutch eat? I love those. Mouth watering!
I don't have a sweet tooth, hardly at all. And when I do have something 'sweet' it is usually tart, as well. I rarely bake but as I needed to use up some eggs that my two girls are producing in abundance and some limes that I was given, I made a coconut and lime cake that was quite tart and I really liked it yet my son didn't, at all.
DeleteYep, zouts are exactly that. While all the other kids spent their pennies on sweet lollies, I'd buy zouts - not just zouts but DOUBLE zouts (twice as much salt). No wonder I was shunned!
I also was lost in fennel admiration reading your post. They look great, and I don't even like fennel! I did grow it once, and when I harvested the bulb I cut it at the base and it regrew more bulbs! My garden is doing much like yours, with my main crops for picking being celery, beetroot (roots and leaves), spinach, carrots, broccoli and the odd few peas. Onion and beetroot seedlings are coming up now too. But it is quiet on the garden front.
ReplyDeleteOh thanks, its a funny time of the year. They do look fab.
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