Starting my blog again

I haven't posted since May and a lot has happened. I have had varied success with my crops - The courgettes were fantastic - and far too many - five plants is too much - next year I will do just two, and maybe one yellow one for fun. The marrows produced well but didn't get as big as we hoped - but I made some delicious marrow and ginger jam with them. I have had a good crop of butternut squash and squash, but only one pumpkin - albeit a very handsome one! It will be carved for Halloween tomorrow if I have time. Also on the new plot were excellent potatoes, jerusalem artichokes, sunflowers and dahlias.

On the old plot I had mixed results - fantastic strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries - we had the last helping last week which is amazing. The rhubarb really was not great for some reason - I think it might be old and tired. The beans - all of them were pretty sad - I'm hoping for much better next year. The winter onions did very well, but the summer ones were disappointing. The shallots were brilliant. I had some fantastic cucumbers and carrots and beetroot and the chard and spinach beet did well. The fennel was not good - in fact I had no harvest at all from it. The lettuce and radishes cropped well as did the greyhound cabbage. The calabrese did well, but I don't think I will bother again - a lot of growing for only one head didn't seem worth it. However, the Cavolo di nero kale and brussels sprouts and cropping very well indeed, inspite of a whitefly invasion. The sweetpeas did very well until I went on holiday and the dry weather and lack of picking did for them. So, as you can see, a very mixed result - possibly because of the very dry weather we had this summer.
This was my harvest last weekend - not bad for a week before November!

I haven't mentioned the show! I entered in several categories and won 2nd prize for my courgettes and raspberries and shortbread and third for blackcurrant jam and rock cakes! I was very chuffed. My victoria sponge was disappointly unplaced as was my delicious beetroot chutney! Never mind - there's always next year!

I have decided to give up my second plot - with some regret, but it was becoming a bit of a chore and I felt I couldn't do justice to both plots. One of the main problems was that the plots were so far away from each other. I think if they had been closer together, it would have been easier to manage. Anyway, I think I have made the right choice and I shall have to move my blackcurrant bushes before next week, when I have to hand it back to the council. I shall just have to be very careful about what I choose to grow.

A month ago I found this lawnmower in the skip and couldn't resist it. The tame photographer is going to smarten it up and it will a make a perfect machine to move the grass paths.
This is just a short post to get me back into the habit of posting more regularly - I do have plenty of photos taken over the summer, but it will take too long to post them all. If I come across some really good ones, I might post them, but I think I will just start again from now.

To finish up last week we tidied up the old plot in preparation for giving it up - harvesting the remaing crops and emptying the shed - all that is left if to transplant the blackcurrant bushes and rescue the metposts and wish it farewell and hope it has some energetic new owners.

In the old plot I did a bumper weeding session and the harvesting. What I really need to do this weekend is turn the compost and put down some manure on top of the empty beds in preparation for winter.