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).