Happy New Year

It was good to see so many turn out for our first meeting of 2024.

A beautiful January morning encouraged outside work, non-stop weeding eg the summer raspberry patch is now ready to receive manure and then cardboard sheets lain between the rows to help suppress weeds, while the riddling of the carrot bed continues; watch this space for our summer crop.

Our annual Christmas brussel sprouts stalk to take home, plus leeks and cabbages.

Plus preparation for next year, double digging and then riddling for a new carrot patch.

Best wishes to everyone, our group and to anyone who may take a look at our site,

for a Happy Christmas.

We’re harvesting super leeks, while new salad plants, grown at home, are now in a polytunnel.

We continue to harvest a good “take home” box; squash, kale, leeks, parsnip, cabbage, broccoli, parsley and chard.

We’re gradually covering the no-dig beds and paths with cardboard.

Jobs on the “to-do” list include cutting down the feathery fern-like shoots on the asparagus plants, removing the lower, dying leaves on the brassicas and of course, weeding.

We have a good addition; six new compost bins, constructed by one of our members.

Beds are being prepped (raking in manure), prior to planting garlic.

We have established it must be rats eating the tomatoes but we’ve decided to harvest the tomatoes to share and ripen at home or use as is in cooking.

The strawberry beds started last year but were not successful, are now populated with plants, so here’s hoping for tasty fruit next summer.

Soil is being riddled on some patches to remove stones and root debris.

The climbing bean season here is over and the dried borlotta beans have been shared between members.

Chard, spinach and kale continue to crop well, tiny brussels sprouts can be seen on stalks, broccoli plants are producing florets, squashes have grown well, while in the polytunnels, chillies, peppers and spring onions are being picked.

“Picked at” might be an apt description, in that an occasional beast takes a bite (as on the skin of the sweet pepper), but some of the tomatoes are being devoured, either by the tomato moth or rats.

However as can be seen, recent harvests continue to provide us with a good range of produce.

Cooler mornings but gradually warming up.

As mentioned last week, the remaining dry pods of the broad beans are being collected to retain the seeds for next year. Also strawberry runners have been potted to provide new plants for 2024.

Squash and borlotta beans are developing well, as are the little, large and in between tomatoes.

Manure is carefully crumbled to make a layer for the compost bins.

Again a good harvest.

How the months fly by, produce growing well for harvesting – and weeds growing well.

More leeks are being sown; a bit late but the plants are looking healthy.

Basil always does well, grown in a poly.

We have a second crop of broad beans from new growth on older plants in a poly, while those grown outdoors need to be picked continuously as they’re ripening quickly. However, we can keep the dry ones as next year’s seeds.

A new member has made and fitted two new doors to our largest polytunnel.

The harvested garlic is now drying in the central path of another poly, together with some of our onions. Other onions are still in the ground.

We’ve started to pick tomatoes and have many to ripen. We’ve restricted the chilli peppers to just four plants but they look as if they’ll be productive.

One way to transport harvested lettuces – in a wheelbarrow.

Keeping the bees and plants happy – sunflowers and the companion planting of marigolds/tagetes.

We’ve had a superb crop of shallots.

The tomatoes are developing well.

The early crop of broad beans has almost finished being harvested. Now the outdoor beans are ready to be picked, as are the sugar snap, mangetout and lettuce, both the heart and cut and come again varieties, and in a poly, cucumbers, a mini variety.

Poking through the ground in late May, the Pink Fir Apple potatoes are in flower, as are the courgettes, squashes and borlotta beans.

A good harvest.