Tomatillo crop

This is my best so far crop of tomatillos. I had to pick most of them a bit green, because I know they won't have tone to ripen now - frosts will kill the plants, and the sun us too low now. But they will still be tasty! This is one plant I will definitely grow again. They are delucious, super easy to cook with, and very easy to grow. The only thing to remember is to sow them as early as possible, as they take a long growing season.

Mi cosecha de tomatillos. En el clima ingles no les da tiempo de madurar, pero aun verdes estan buenisimos!

Autumn harvests

It started with the beans back at the end of September:

En septiembre empezamos con las judias (la cosecha fue pequeña, pero los colores son impresionantes):

But now in November the real stars have been the root crops that I sowed in the spring. They've been in the ground for a long time doing very little, but they're perfect now!

Ahora en noviembre es el momento de las zanahorias, las chirivias y los colinabos que sembre en primavera. Han tardado meses, pero ahora estan dando muy buen fruto:

This is a very simple trick, but it took me way too long to figure it out: wash your root veg at the allotment when you pick them, where the soil won't clog up the kitchen sink (unlinke the carrots above). These are drying out in yesterday's sunshine:

La cosecha de ayer, lavada en la propia huerta (en vez de en casa, donde la tierra atasca el fregadero – ojala hubiera pensado en este truco antes) y secandose al sol:

And finally the beautiful chards, the red cabbages and the black kale, perfect for winter stews:

Y por ultimo las acelgas multicolores y unos repollos colorados, que nos van a dar (ojala) buenos cocidos:

Autum colour

These are the plants that are cheering up the garden these days. Plantas con color para el otoño:

A whole load of beetroot

This year's surprise glut has been beetroot. Well, and lettuce, but those went to seed when I was away on holidays, so I never got to eat most of it. And the rest of the crops have been a bit of a wash-out this year (no green tomatos - no tomato plants at all, in fact!, only two courgettes, and the cucumbers are few and far between so I'm keeping up with eating them). The beetroots, however, are perfect for the picking just now. And there's A LOAD of them. I picked three already the other day, boiled them and froze them sliced. I gave three more away to a friend. But this mountain of beetroot is the rest of my crop, and I plan to try roasting (at least a few of them). I think I will leave a few raw ones out, the prettier ones, and see if I can donate them to some other friends! All I need now is to find beetroot recipes that I like, since I'm not a fan of the vegetable myself (yet). 

 La cosecha de remolachas ha sido un exito total, y ahora me salen por las orejas... Es la cosecha mayor de este ano. Ya coci y congele tres, regale otras tres, y el resto lo voy a asar, y probablemente regalare otras cuantas. Lo siguiente que tendre que buscar son recetas con remolacha, porque no es mi vegetal favorito (todavia), pero ahora no me queda mas remedio que aprender!

Tidy up for autumn at the garden and allotment

This weekend I've been mostly tidying up the garden and allotment, which had become a bit overrun with weeds over the summer. And I've been planting a few things that will look good over the next few months - end of summer, autumn and even winter.

Este finde he estado arreglando las malas hierbas y excesos del verano, y plantando cosillas para los proximos meses. En casa, me dedique a quitar malas hierbas de entre los adoquines, transplantar una salvia y un romero de la huerta a casa, reorganizar las macetas (ahora queda mucho mas espacioso), y por ultimo compre en el vivero unas flores para el otono e invierno: una erica con flores rosas, unos pensamientos (violas), e incluso unos alhelies para la primavera.

At home, I was busy clearing the weeds that grow between the bricks in the ground, transplanting a sage and a rosemary from the allotment to the pots at home, rearranging the pots to make it look more spacious, and finally I bought some autumn/winter flowers that I planted: a pink heather, lots of violas, and even a few wallflowers for the spring.

 

Above, big pot planted with violas, wallflower small plants, and a few daffodil bulbs. Below, the herbs transplanted, on the left, and a few colorful violas to brighten up this dark(ish) corner.

La maceta de arriba tiene violas, alhelies y unos bulbos de narciso. Abajo, la salvia y el romero transplantados, a la izquierda, y unos pensamientos para darle color a este rincon.

New garden layout:

New sowings: Rocket, parsley, spring onions, and a cutting of pelargonium. Siembras de: Rucula, pereji, cebolletas, y un esqueje de geranio.

These gladioli are looking good at the back of the allotment, and they only cost me one pound back in the spring! I have planted next to them a clump of crocosmias that weren't doing well at home in a pot. Next to the flowers I have a couple of trailing cucumber plants.

Estos gladiolos los compre en un "todo 100" (£1) en primavera y estan preciosos en flor. Acabo de transplantar unas crocosmias, que tenia en casa en una maceta y se estaban secando, asi, y en este momento en el suelo hay dos plantas de pepino que estan dando fruto.

I cleared this patch of soil of weeds (until recently it had onions), and now I've planted out some tiny plants I bought from the garden centre on Saturda. These should either be ready in the next few months (before the cold), a few lettuce plants and spring onions, or stay in the ground until spring, leeks and purple sprouting broccoli.

Aqui plante unas plantitas que compre el sabado: lechugas y cebolletas (para comer en los proximos dos meses, antes del frio) y puerros y brecol (para la primavera proxima).

Garden plans colour-coded sketch

I keep trying different ways of planning the garden and/or allotment design, and this is my latest attempt. My drawing skills are appalling, but I hope the photo makes some kind of sense (it made sense to me while I sketched it!)

This is the basic shape of my garden. Minus any sense of scale or proportion, unfortunately, but I tried my best and I had to re-draw this several times to get this "good" (believe it or not). The bit at the top of the pic is the bit next to the house, then there's a corridor and the bit at the bottom half of the pic is the bit at the back of the house. The door from the house is to the left at the top (I drew the door step as a black narrow "box"), the shed is along the line at the very bottom of the picture.

What I've done is mark out all the containers (the whole area, except a narrow stretch along the fence in front of the door from the house, is paved). Then I've colour-coded them according to which season they have the most interest: BLUE for winter, YELLOW for spring, PINK for summer, ORANGE for autum, and GREEN is for ever-green perennials that have pretty much all-year interest.

And the second thing I've highlighted, with a blue outline around the container, is which ones have annual plants, so I can get a better idea more quickly of what space I've got available when I'm buying bedding plants at the garden centre... (or sowing seed trays in the spring!).

I always feel the planning of the garden gives me almost as much fun as the actual planting or sitting among the final result. Hopefully this visual plan will help me organise and group the plants that I've got better, stop me from buying the wrong things at the garden centre, and place those things I do buy in the right place.

I am going to try to go for a mediterranean-ish look. Stuff that will survive some heat an sun (not that we get much here) without much damage. Since the space I've got is quite small, I'll stick to small and simple things such as lavenders and other herbs (which I already have), and annuals such as pelargoniums next summer (a bit too late to get new ones this year). If I can keep my one pelargonium of this year through the winter, so much the better, but I expect I'll buy a couple new ones next year, along with some tagetes and the like.

Most of my pots at the moment have perennials, but i think for next year I'll leave all the empty ones (with the blue outline) free for annuals because it's also very interesting to buy new things each year and change the look of the garden - it's like buying a new summer outfit every year, I suppose.

Esto, aunque no lo parezca, es un plano de mi jardin. No esta a escala y las proporciones no son correctas, porque no se me da bien dibujar, pero me sirve para hacerme una idea. La mitad de arriba de la foto es la parte cerca de casa, el escalon junto a la puerta es esa franja negra de la iquierda. La mitad de abajo de la foto es la parte de atras de la casa, junto a la caseta (justo abajo) y el banquito (a la derecha).

Lo primero que hice fue delinear todas las macetas (la unica parte directamente en tierra es la franja enfrente de casa, a la derecha). Lo segundo, he indicado con colores en que estacion del ano tienen mayor interes: AZUL para invierno, AMARILLO para primavera, ROSA para verano, NARANJA para otono, y VERDE para plantas que mantienen el mismo interes practicamente todo el ano.

Lo tercero que he indicado, con un borde azul, es cuales de las macetas van a tener plantas anuales. El resto (la mayoria) tienen plantas perennes, pero quiero dejar tambien espacio libre para anuales que puedo cambiar cada ano, porque es divertido cambiar parte del diseno cada ano, un poco como comprarse un vestido de verano a la moda todos los anos. Con suerte este plan me ayudara a elegir mejor que plantas compro, no comprar lo que no quiero o no pega bien, y agrupar las que ya tengo mejor.

He decidido darle un aire mas “mediterraneo” al jardin, en parte porque me gustan las plantas (algunas huelen de maravilla) y ademas sufren menos con el calor y la sequia del verano (no es que tengamos mucho ni de lo uno ni de lo otro en Londres, pero al estar en macetas se secan mucho antes). Ya tenia algunas lavandas, tomillo, salvia y romero, que son plantas simples (y ademas comestibles), y como no tengo mucho espacio seguramente con esto casi me baste. El verano proximo comprare unos geranios (pelargonios), algunos tagetes, etc para darle color, y posiblemente con eso baste. No creo que el geranio de este ano sobreviva el invierno en la caseta, pero estaria bien!

Va por ellos. This is for them.

No es mucho, pero estas son las mejores flores que tenia en el jardin. Estas son en honor de las victimas del accidente de tren en Santiago, sus familias, y todos los que los ayudaron.

This is not much, but they're the best flowers I had in the garden. These are in honour of the victims of the train crash in Santiago, their families and all who helped them.

Plants that are doing well in the draught

We are having some lovely weather these past two weeks, and my pot plants in the garden at home are struggling with the unexpected heat (i.e. good weather) and lack of constant rain. And also the fact that I don't have a garden hose and I only water the pots once or twice a week if it doesn't rain. However, some plants are doing wonderfully and you can't even tell they notice the extra heat and dryness. The pelargonium is my favourite, it's positively thriving in its little pot, when everything around it is dying a slow death.

The rose is a nice surprise, it even has a second wave of buds about to open! The strawberry tree, azalea rosemary and helichrysum (Mediterranean type of plants, so no big surprise) are also looking healthier than anything else around.

The cornflower looks a bit leggy now but it's been flowering non-stop for weeks and the bees love it. Almost as much as they love lavender, which is also doing well in the sunny(ish) weather but is so small at the moment that it only feeds one bee...

The crocosmia is doing well in its big new pot (each year it gets better, three flowers this one!) and the kniphophia on the small pot on the floor, which isn't flowering yet (too small) but isn't drying up either. No surprises there, as they're both from South Africa.

June away: the aftermath

So, this year I broke a cardinal gardening rule and took a long holiday in the middle of June. Right when the weeds grow at their strongest. I had an amazing holiday in Peru, so I don't regret it, but coming home after three weeks away (we landed on a Sunday and I couldn't go to until the next weekend) I found this:

Asi estaba a la huerta despues de las vacaciones en Peru:

After two weekends of weeding, I have managed to pull most of the weeds and clear the good plants. Y asi esta tras dos fines de semana quitando malas hierbas:

But it's not all bad. The strawberries do better when protected by surrounding plants. Pero no todo son males. Las fresas se dan mejor con proteccion de otras plantas alrededor:

And the raspberries are too tall even for the weeds. A las frambuesas tampoco le afectan:

But the best thing are the lettuces, thanks to my plot neighbours thar watered them while I was away. Lo mejor, las lechugas, gracias a mis vecinos de parcela que las regaron estas semanas:

Best of the garden

It's no Chelsea medal-winner, but these are my favourite views in my garden at the moment:

Estos son mis rincones favoritos en el jardin este mes:

Last of the raised beds and first of the beans

Today I finally finished making the "raised beds" at the allotment. It's really just a few recycled low boards around the soil, but I really find it easier to plant in boxes and I like the look. These two at the back that I did today are the last. In the bigger one I'm going to plant the cauliflowers and cabbages, and a row of of borlotti beans:

In the strip by the fence I've planted some bulbs (iris and gladioli) at the front, and behind (in front of the peas) I'm going to put the cucumbers, currently growing in pots in the shed, when the weather warms up:

The beans were growing too long and floppy in their pots, so I had to plant them out. I thought the weather was warm enough, but almost all the plants show damage on their leaves. I'm going to sow fresh seed along the line, in case these plants don't survive. I'm happy with the structure, though, and in between the beans I've planted seedlings of lollo rossa lettuce (barely visible, as they're dark red):

The courgette plants were getting too big in their pots too, so I had to plant two of them out. These plastic covers don't look great but hopefully won't need to stay very long. However, I kept the two smallest in the shed, should these not survive the cold!

And the last thing I did this morning: I've planted up the last corner of my proper raised bed with lettuce and some herbs that don't mind a bit of shade (this bed is next to a big fence and is the shadiest of my allotment spaces): rocket, parsley, rosemary and chives.

Flowers opened last week

The past two weekends have been relatively sunny, dry(ish) and mild, so I’ve been working quite a lot in the garden and the allotment. I’ll post photos of the allotment later this week, but at the moment the garden is looking much better, with perennial plants that come in bloom much earlier.

Los ultimos dos fines de semana ha hecho bueno (relativamente) y el jardin y la huerta lo notan, sobre todo el jardin porque tengo estas plantas perennes que florecen mucho antes. Hace una semana me llegaron unas bolsas de compost y rellene las macetas que estaban a medio llenar desde que me mude el ano pasado, asi que ahora esta todo listo para plantar, pero estas plantas de las fotos estan en su mejor momento ahora.

I got a delivery of multipurpose compost to fill up the rest of the pots in the garden, which have been half-empty since I moved in last June, and they’re all now ready for growing. But before I sow and transplant any new stuff, here’s some perennial plants that are looking good at the moment:

I’ve had this viburnum for a few years now, and I absolutely love it. It reminds me of my dad, he loves viburnums too. This is right in front of my kitchen window, and it looks (and smells!) its best at this time of the year. I can smell it when I open my bedroom window.

Tengo el viburnum delante de la ventana de la cocina, y es una de mis plantas favoritas de todo el jardin. Me recuerda a mi padre, y huele de maravilla, incluso cuando abro la ventana de mi habitacion.

My one plant of dog’s tooth violet (the yellow flowers) produces a few more flowers every year. I had to transplant it so I cut all the flowers first, and they make this beautiful handful with some bluebells.

La planta amarilla (erythronium dens-canins en latin) tiene unas flores preciosas, y de una sola planta cada ano salen mas flores. Tuve que transplantarla a otra maceta, asi que corte todas las flores e hice este ramito con unas campanillas (que huelen que es una gloria).

This nemesia has survived from last year, and it started flowering already. Most people treat them as annual bedding plants, but I find they tend to survive in my patio garden (perhaps being so close to the house offers some extra weather protection?).

La nemesia aqui la suelen tartar como anual, pero a mi he visto que se me suele conserver todo el invierno (puede ser que esta protegida de las inclemencias por estar al lado de la casa?), asi que ya ha empezado a florecer.

And finally, I love this dicentra (dicentra spectabilis alba). It does not smell, but it looks gorgeous with all the leaves and hanging flowers, it is bushy yet delicate and I really like it, also it does very well in shade (this strip of the garden barely gets any direct sunlight, at least not this time of year).

Y por ultimo, la dicentra. Esta planta no huele, pero me encantan las hojas y flores, y a demas se da muy bien en sombre (a esta parte del jardin, al menos estos meses, no le da el sol directo).

First lettuce seedlings planted out - under cloche

This is something I did last weekend. I had some lettuce plants that I sowed at the end of February and were ready to be moved to a bigger pot. You can see in the photo the root system was developed (you can see little white roots), and the plants had a few leaves each:

Tenia estas plantitas de lechuga que sembre a finales de febrero y ya estaban listas para el transplante. En la foto se ve que las raices estaban desarrolladas y cada planta tenia varias hojitas. Las he puesto en la huerta, pero como todavia hace frio (y viento) las he cubierto con estas campanas de plastico. Lo del viento puede ser un problema - el otro dia me encontre las campanas en la otra punta de la huerta - asi que las sujete con unos ganchos de metal. Estan plantadas muy juntas, pero voy a usar las hojas individuales en vez de la planta entera asi que espero que se den bien:

I planted them outside, taking advantage of the improved weather, but it can still get cold at night so I've put them under these plastic cloches. I had to peg down the cloches because it can get quite windy at the allotment - the other day, pre-pegging down, I found them at the other end of the plot! I'm going to pick the leaves individually as the plant grows, so I've planted them quite close together and I hope they will grow well:

Propagation under way

These are the seedlings I'm growing in the house at the moment. I start most of them in the kitchen windowsill, which is the warmest spot with most light. These haven't germinated yet (lettuce, onion, chard 'bright lights', and in deeper pots in the corner some sweet peas).

Estos son los semilleros que tengo en este momento en casa y in la caseta. El primer paso suele ser la ventana de la cocina, que es mas caliente y tiene mas luz. Aqui tengo (todavia sin germinar): lechuga, cebolletas, acelga multicolour, y en una maceta mas profunda en la esquina unos guisantes de olor:

The bathroom windowsill is also a good place to start seeds. Here I have cucumbers (one shoot has just appeared!) and courgettes:

La ventana del bano tambien es un buen sitio. Aqui tengo semillas de pepino (el primero acaba de asomar la cabeza) y calabacin:

Once they've germinated I move them to the shed, which is cooler but still better than outside! I have several propagators with lids, which add a bit of extra warmth and stops them from drying. Here I've sown: parsley, more lettuce, kale, sprouting broccoli, swede, nasturtium, marigold, and spring onions

Una vez que han brotado, paso las plantitas a la caseta, que es mas fria que la casa pero mas protegida que al aire libre. Tengo varios semilleros con cubiertas de plastico, que aumentan la temperatura un poquito pero sobre todo mantienen la humedad. Aqui tengo, en diversos estados de crecimiento: perejil, mas lechuga, berzas, brecol, rutabaga (un tipo de nabo), unas capuchinas (nasturtium), tagetes y mas cebolletas:

I use this old cat litter tray as my potting tray (and a portable light, evenings aren't bright enough yet):

Esta bandeja, vendida como WC para gatos, es donde planto mis macetas (con una linterna puesta encima, porque aun se hace oscuro pronto):

I have hung these recycled fruit baskets from the window frames, to give me extra growing space in the light. I have put the most developed seedlings (lettuce, calendula and cornflower), a deeper pot with leeks, and the onion sets:

He colgado estas bandejas de plastico, recicladas de fruterias, delante de las ventanas de la caseta, para tener espacio extra cerca de la luz. Aqui tengo las plantitas mas avanzadas (lechuga, calendula y centaureas azules), una maceta con mas fondo para los puerros, y las cebollas de bulbo:

The third window of the shed: parsnips, lettuce, red cabbage, cauliflower and spinach (not out yet), and rocket

Y esta es la tercera ventana de la caseta, con semilleros de: chirivia, lechuga, lombarda, coliflor y espinaca (aun sin germinar), y rucula:

Onions in plugs

I love onions and it's probably the vegetable I eat the most, so I'm planting some more now. I have some sets I planted in the autumn growing happily at the allotment, and these new lot will produce a later crop. I haven't planted them directly in the ground because I still haven't finished building the raised beds and digging: I have planted them in plugs to germinate, which should give me a few weeks to prepare the soil to plant them out. I used a sheet of egg carton, and the last few I put in plastic plugs:

He decidido plantar mas cebollas porque son de lo que mas como. Tengo unas en la huerta que plante en otono, y estas me daran una segunda cosecha. Las he plantado en una huevera de carton para que empiecen a germinar, y mientras tanto acabo de preparar la tierra en la huerta para plantarlas.

Easter flowers

This has been a really cold Easter weekend, so I'm still holding on sowing seeds in the ground outside (despite all the books and websites recommending a huge list of things to plant in March; it's a waste of time and good seed, if it's too cold). I've filled all of my indoor propagators (in the kitchen windowsill, the shed, and a couple of pots in the bathroom windowsill), in the hope I'll have stuff to plant out when spring comes. Next month or so.

But in the meantime, these flowers, which are supposed to open in winter, are looking good in the garden at home and cheer me up:

Hace demasiado frio para sembrar en tierra, y en la casa ya no me caben mas semilleros (tengo las ventanas de la cocina y del bano, y la caseta, en capacidad maxima), asi que mientras espero a que haga mejor y pueda transplantar de los semilleros a la huerta, estas flores del jardin me alegran el dia. Arriba, unas escilas azules, las pobres medio ahogadas por las hierbas (tengo que transplantarlas), y abajo el jazmin de invierno - lleva florido desde enero, es de un esqueje de mi tia Tita.

Above is a scilla, which I need to repot as it's overgrown by grasses. And below is a winter jasmine that has been in bloom since January, it's from a cutting from my auntie in Spain and is doing wonderfully now.

Aqui tengo una primula amarilla, y la planta azul que no se como se llama pero lleva florida practicamente un ano entero, verano, otono, invierno y ahora primavera!

Here I've got a yellow primula on the left, and the blue plant which I don't know the name of but is a wonder flower: it's been in bloom for a year solid, summer, autumn, winter and now spring!