Plot 30

... consisting of bay, rosemary and sage

Sowing Witkiem broad beans in October 2018 My first ever autumn sowing of broad beans (traditionally I have always sowed broad beans in the Spring). One row of Witkiem seeds laid out as follows.  Those planks I have recently been using to protect the soil from undue compacting as I walk up and down while digging, weeding, planting etc. Watch this space... Update 27 January 2019 The Wikiems 3 months later: Update 26 May 2019 The Wikiems now that we are approaching summer: The mice are still getting their share alas, but I have have managed to collect my first proper crop, which I will boil gently in salted water ready for a pasta dish I have in mind...

Some notes and photos of the locations and varieties of various onion and garlic seeds planted on 29 September 2018, obtained by seed suppliers Marshalls . Elephant garlic Planted right at the front of my plot, next to existing parsnip plants. Using a standard sized dibber tool to create the holes in which to insert the garlic - these holes had to be widened a little by wiggling it around as these cloves are pretty huge: Normal garlic Next to be planted were normal garlic cloves of type Provenance Wight: This occupied I think a full row, followed by three more cloves left over: And then followed further planting of another make Carcassonne Wight straight after these: Onion sets A number of rows of onions (Shakespeare) to follow Followed by more rows of red onion sets, Red Cross. And that is it for the Autumn planting of onions and garlic: elephant sets at the front behind the parsnips, garlic a bit further back in front of

Courgette and Zuccini crop Another bumper crop harvested on 8 July 2018 that were mere tiddlers the day before: We like to pick them while still relatively young, before they have morphed into large marrows. A combination of the continuing hot weather and a good daily soak has resulted in courgettes and zucchinis galore, 50% of which will probably be given to friends, relatives and co-workers. I mean, they are nice in all manner of different recipes, but human physiology dictates how many can be consumed in a day... Let's see if 2019 will turn out to be just as good...

An experiment. Having previously planted in April 2018 approximately 24 broad bean plants of the Witkiem variety with moderate success - the allotment mice also had their share - I want see how feasible it is to plant somewhat later than that recommended on the seed packet, while not being an actual October/November late sowing, with the intention of getting yet more produce before the year is out. Firstly I dig over, fertilise and water a section of plot sufficient to harbour roughly the same number of plants: On this occasion I choose the Unwins 'Meteor' variety of broad bean, having never tried this before. By the way, I still very much recommend the 'Witkien' variety mentioned in that while not being a huge cropper compared to the more mainstream makes, the beans are far less woody when fully grown.  In terms of taste and quality I thought it won hands down compared to many others I have tried.  So did the mice. June / July 2018 has been exception