Harvest!

Our local butcher was selling off his Christmas hams at half price, so we bought one. And what better to go with ham than cabbage? However, I didn't foresee this when last shopping for veg, so no cabbage in the house - or was there? I remembered a little cabbage growing outside, so I went out, and wonders - it had survived the Big Freeze... Harvested it, washed it, and cooked it in the ham stock - it was delicious! Seems like cabbages can handle a little freezing.

Don't know about the leeks - was relying on them for a winter staple, but the ground has been too hard to harvest for some time. Wonder what they'll be like when the thaw comes?

One a warmer note, I'm organising a felting workshop at the end of January see my crafting blog for details.

And I will be running beginners gardening courses soon - details to follow.

Broad beans finished

This year I planted 2 kinds of broad beads - The Sutton and Aquadulce Caludia. Planted them in January (1st) - inside - and then at the end of January the Aquadulce went into a tent greenhouse. The Sutton were planted out without cover a bit later. Both did well- the ones in the greenhouse produced a bit earlier.

The Sutton have short fat pods, with the beans close together, so a surprisingly good yield per pod. The Aquadulce have bigger pods, but about the same amount of beans. So they are both good choices in my opinion. Not sure if growing them inside or the greenhouse is necessary - will try just planting them out directly next year.

I'm taking the last harvest from them today, and I'll plant leeks in one of the beds. The other I'll re-cover with the tent greenhouse, and use it for winter greens.

Harvests

Clearing the beds bit by bit - before we know it, it will be time to start replanting them! So today I harvested most of the remaining leeks - I'll miss having them out there - and some corn salad.

The corn salad was mixed with some Rocha pear, and a little goat cheese, and dressed with a light balsamic vinegar dressing for a sublime salad.

There's more corn salad in one of the planters, and in another bed. It's a great one for this time of the year, and it self seeds like crazy, so with judicious weeding, you can forget to plant and still have some coming along.

I'll probably make a Leek and Feta tart tomorrow. And will hopefully get around to sowing some more leek seeds, so it won't be too long before the next batch is ready.