New Year in the Vegetable Garden

Swede from a June sowing, we’ve been harvesting swedes from the June sowing since early November.

I thought it might be interesting to start the New Year by showing what’s in the vegetable garden at the moment with a selection of photographs taken yesterday afternoon. Some of the crops are for our own consumption over the winter months whilst the hotel is shut and others are in preparation for when the hotel opens on the 1^st of April.

I sow a winter spinach about once a month from August onwards and this is ready for eating now is from a late September sowing.

The first sowing of Mange Tout made 9/11 and should be ready for the first guests in April. We will make a total of 3 sowings the last sowing being made mid February.

Our first sowing of broad beans; sown late October should be ready early May. We’ve just planted out our second sowing which I sowed in pots in the greenhouse the 10^th of December.

Endive for our own consumption over the winter. It’s easier to produce than lettuce in the depth of winter though tastes slightly more bitter. This is from a late August sowing.

Apart from the vegetables there is the soft fruit; these are the blackcurrant bushes waiting to be pruned (soon) I finished pruning the raspberries yesterday.

Savoy cabbage from a June sowing. If the warm weather continues all our cabbages will need eating in the next couple of weeks, a rather daunting prospect!

Fennel sown mid June, harvested in late September and now reshooting ready for a second smaller harvest.

Elephant garlic (which did very well here last year) planted end of July and will be harvested in May

Oats sown late October which we use as a cover crop. As we harvest our crops in late summer and the beds become bare we prepare them and as soon as it rains sow them with oats as a cover crop. Then when we need the bed in spring we pull up the oats which we use for compost and are left with a beautiful friable soil.

The last of our Green Sprouting planted early June and has been harvested continually since early September.

Lettuce plants in the greenhouse sown the 10/11. I planted the first of these lettuce out yesterday under cloches and hopefully they will be ready for the first guests in April.

Strawberry plants from runners taken in November. They will be kept in the greenhouse till early March when they will be planted out. From last year’s experience these plants should start cropping in May.

Leeks for our own winter use sown mid April, with the use of different varieties we have been harvesting leeks from this sowing since early September.

Leaf beet a great hardy vegetable resisting both cold and drought. With two sowings a year we have production throughout the whole year. This crop was sown mid June.