October Picture

The harvest is coming to an end. The sweetcorn has been eaten - yummy, and the runner beans are coming to an end - just a few more and that'll be it. Good thing too since some of the poles snapped in the recent winds and the whole lot have collapsed against the fence!

Just a few beetroot ans the winter squash to be fetched in. And last will be the parsnips but they need to wait until we've had a good hard frost!

Hosepipes and Water Meters

I've come home from work early - a trip to the vets needed to remove a tick from the guinea pig's ear. So while the kids are loading him into a box I stroll down to check on my patch of dirt.

"Strange," I think as I approach it. "Someone's watering it."

Then it dawns on me. The kids are behind me in the guinea- pig run. That's the hosepipe! Someone has left it on and the hose has split with the heat and the pressure and there's water spraying everywhere!

A mad sprint up the garden to turn off the tap and I return to survey the damage. The ground is soaking. Fortunately most of the water has gone onto my veg and my squash and sweetcorn are looking very happy.

But that's not the point.

We're on a water meter.

And I'm not looking forward to getting my next water bill.

The guinea pig's fine though and here he is, back in his run, minus tick :-)

Winners and Losers

Some things are doing really well in my patch of dirt - as you can see from these pictures - I've even added one from a different angle this month for you to see my main successes so far - my legumes and potatoes coming on a treat! With a bit of luck I'll be eating peas and broadbeans and maybe some new potatoes in only a matter of weeks!



My parsnips and sweet corn are also doing allright, even though they are still quite small.

But I have also had a couple of resounding failures. My carrots are a disaster! They germinated but now I only have a couple of plants! I've no idea why. Did something eat them? And I have only one cauliflower plant. I put them outside the greenhouse to harden off and the slugs munched them!!! Death to slugs!!! And as for my courgettes and squash - it was really sunny here on Monday and they were sat in the greenhouse while I was at work and when I got home they were all scorched and brown. Anyway, I've planted them out so we'll see what happens.

So to try to fill the gaps I've popped in a row of beetroot and some onions. I'll let you know what happens to them :-)

May Update

Here's what my patch of dirt looks like this month.

On the left you can see my legumes - broad beans, peas and runner beans, all coming on nicely. Behind them the potatoes are breaking the surface. You can't really see them but trust me - the carrots and parsnips are germinating, as are the onions. The sweet corn and squash will soon be ready to go in and in the greenhouse I'll be growing melons, peppers and plum tomatoes.

I feel hungry already. :-)

Sow by Dates

So how set in stone are these sow by dates on packets of seeds? They always seem to contain far more seeds than I actually need, and I do so hate waste - but with only a small patch like mine I'm hardy going to be growing 300+ parsnips, am I.

Anyway, I have several packets of different varieties of winter squash left over from various failed attempts to grow these in previous years, so I thought I might as well give them a go.

So, now that I have glass in my greenhouse I've been planting:

Pumpkin (no idea how old these seeds are)
Trombone squash, (last year's seed)
ordinary courgette (last year's seed)
Italian round courgette (new seed)
Another sort of squash but I can't remember what it's called. (last year's seed)
Some very old spaghetti squash seeds (don't hold out much hope for these)
And melon (new seed)

I've also started off some cauliflowers and brussel sprouts (Why on earth did I plant the devil's vegetable? Everyone in the family hates them. Oh well.)

And finally - runner beans. Oh, but I've had a right muddle with these. You see I bought a load of loose seeds, in a brown paper bag. When I got home I found that mice had been at one of my old packets of runner bean seeds from last year and they had spilled all over the place. So I picked them up and put them in another brown paper bag.

Yes, you've guessed it - when I went to plant the runner beans I had no idea which were last year's seeds and which were this year's seeds. Great! Well I suppose if nothing grows then I'll know I planted the wrong ones!

Anyway I'll let you know what comes up.