Of Roots and Roasts...

Autumn is in full swing now – it’s been quite a job sweeping the leaves up at home, & there’s plenty of clearing up to be done at the Hill too.

But firstly, some planting – we bought some JAPANESE ONION SETS from Malvern, & not having room to put them in the plot at the time, Jane’s planted them all up in modules where they’ve really got a head start & are all sprouting up very nicely. Jane’s also planted dozens of bulbs at the front of the plot for spring colour, so I’m looking forward to that.

I’ve planted the onions out in plot B (misc. as was) and the rest of the bed will be sown up with green manure next the weekend, & then that’s that plot ‘put to bed’ for the winter.

The chickweed has not cottoned on that it’s now November & continues to grow, so I hoed it all out of plot D (potatoes as was) which was an easy peasy job what with the Hungarian rye all being sown in rows. Ha!

About a third of the bean pods looked dry enough to pick off, so I podded those later at home – plump, shiny runner beans, & pale green French beans – I’m hoping that they’ll have dried out properly so that they can be planted next year.

I’m looking forward to saving a lot more seed next year – it’s ecologically sound, & of course it’s cheaper than buying packets! Also it would be lovely to be able to swap seeds that I’ve saved – with confidence that they will grow – with other members of the GYO Grapevine so that I can grow some more unusual varieties. Today I’ve also joined the Heritage Seed Library which will give me access to unusual varieties too.

Although the sunflowers are past their prime, I’ve been delighted with half a dozen which I cut & brought home – they’re lasting much better than I expected them to, & cut flowers are another ‘first’!

I had a very good haul to bring home – the last of the late sown LETTUCE (little gem) & RADISH (saxa 3) along with some SPRING ONION (white Lisbon) for salad, so that’s that for a few months, & I also came home with a lovely CABBAGE (primo II), a respectable sized SWEDE (best of all), a TURNIP (snowball) & a huge & very lovely PARSNIP (white gem).

Needless to say, I had a fabulous Sunday roast beef dinner with that little lot – now all I’ve got to do is work out how to raise my own cattle…