Saturday 7 January 2012

green shoots

The first green shoots of the new season are now popping up and, as usual, it’s the chives that are the earliest to provide us with food.




I know it's not much but just adding chopped chives to mashed potato or in an egg sandwich lifts it from the ordinary and lets me know that the earth is beginning anew and things are as they should be.

All of my chives are constrained one way or another as they do have a tendency to run amok if left to their own devices. At the end of each summer I split off a good clump and put them in a pot of fresh compost to give us a very early picking from the greenhouse. Last year the first pick was at the end of February but it’s going to be much sooner this year due to the mildness of the winter so far.

Although the ground is very soft I did manage to get a bit done on the veg. plot today. The last of the swedes came out meaning that last years brassica bed can now be made ready for the following crop. That just leaves carrots, chard, kale and leeks for fresh food outside plus the lettuce, chives and spring onions in the greenhouse.

As an experiment last year I sowed some carrot seed in a grow sack that previously had potatoes in it. The last week in August is supposed to be too late for carrots, certainly this far north, but I have managed to get a couple of meals of baby carrots. The compost was already there so all it’s cost me is a few seeds. Well worth trying if you live further south.


2 comments:

  1. Good tip Colin to try some late carrots. Just a few brussels, kale, cabbage and the PSB left on the plot now. Preparation for the new season well underway!

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  2. Hi Colin; only just discovered your blog via a round-about route through some mutual acquaintances... It's nice to find someone who is keen on growing veggies in such a pragmatic way. I'll be looking in here again, in the hope that we have a few things in common!

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