My onion harvest

Crop of onion 'stuttgarter'

I finally harvested my onions yesterday. It had been dry for a few days, so the onions shouldn't be too wet - they need to be dried before you store them, to avoid them rotting or getting mouldy. The soil at the allotment is so heavy that some of the onion stems snapped when I was pulling the onions out, but most of them kept their stems. With the longer stems I have made two plaits and the rest I simply bunched up and tied together, as you can see in the photo. They're all hanging from the ceiling in the shed now, waiting to be cooked!

Ayer toco osecha de cebollas. Llevaba sin llover un par de dias, asi que las cebollas estaban secas. Y ahora que las he colgado del techo de la caseta se mantendran secas y, si todo sale bien,  nos duraran unos cuantos meses. La tierra de la huerta es muy dura, y al tirar de las cebollas algunos de los tallos se rompieron; pero con todas las demas he trenzado las dos ristras y los dos manojos que veis en la foto. Ya tenemos cebollas en la despensa para cocinar!

Water cuttings from sweet rocket

Water cuttings from sweet rocket

These are some cuttings of sweet rocket that I took a few weeks ago. Of six cuttings I took, four have developed tiny white roots, quite a result! Two of them are doing really well - you can see them in the photo: they have green leaves, and one of them has even flowered.  I like the decorative stand with the glass "test tubes", it looks pretty on the windowsill while I'm waiting for the cuttings to grow new roots.

Today I decided to plant them outside. but to minimise the shock (these have been in the kitchen window for weeks now) I covered them with a a half plastic bottle. Hopefully they'll take!

Estos esquejes de hesperis matronalis los corte hace unas semanas, y han estado en la ventana de la cocina hasta hoy. Este soporte con los "tubos de ensayo" es muy decorativo, y hace bonito mientras espero que los esquejes echen raices.  De los seis esquejes que corte, cuatro han echado raices, y dos de ellos - los veis en la foto - han echado hojas tambien, y uno hasta tiene una flor!


Hoy los plante fuera por fin. Como llevan en interior varias semanas, los cubri con una botella de plastico cortada a la mitad, para que no sufran demasiado con el cambio. 

Homegrown cut flowers

Homegrown cut flowers in my two favourite vases

I love having bunches of flowers in the house that I cut from the garden - it's almost as satisfying as growing food! And now that the garden is a little bit more established, I tend to have enough flowers to share with the bees... 


Cortar flores del jardin para poner en el jarron dentro de casa me da casi tanta satisfaccion como cortar hojas y fruta para comer. Y ahora que el jardin esta un poco mas establecido, suelo tener suficientes flores para cortar y dejar en la planta. Esta es la lista (abajo) de que flores tengo ahora para el jarron.

This is what I'm growing and cutting at the moment (between pots, a small bed on the ground, and weeds in between cracks in the concrete patio). Some don't last very long once cut, such as the budleia, but they look and smell so lovely that if I have spares I would cut one or two for a short-term display indoors!:

Picking now, summer (verano):
Roses (rosas)
Sweet Rocket (hesperis matronalis)
Lavender (lavanda)
Perennial Wallflower (alhelies morados)
Freesia
Budleia 
Calendula
Nigella
Cosmos
Pinks (clavelinas)
Petunias
Sweetpeas (Lathyrus odoratus)
Fushias


For foliage (hojas):
Weeds - including grasses (hierbas silvestres)
Sambucus nigra
Golden choysia


Picking in spring (primavera):
Hyacinth (jacintos)
Daffodils (narcisos)
Bluebells (campanillas azules)
Scillas (campanillas ibericas)
Honesty (lunaria)


To add for next year (mas para el ano que viene):
Red clover (trebol de flor roja)
Cornflower (centaurea)
Chocolate cosmos
More sweetpeas (mas Lathyrus odoratus)

What to sow in August

WHERE:
There's lots to harvest now, and as some crops get eaten or die off they leave new spaces where to make new sowings. (Beetroot, lettuces sown early in spring, garlic, potatoes, onions, early peas, broad beans - these are normally dead or eaten come August).

WHAT:
There's two main options: a) you can either sow quick crops that will grow and get harvested before the end of the summer (October); or b) sow plants that will grow through the winter and you can eat during the winter or early spring.

HOW:
Same as you did in spring, you can either wait until you lift one crop and sow directly in the newly cleared ground; or sow in small pots (also called modules, or plugs), and plant out the little seedlings later on. Growing seedlings in pots means that you can start early and at the same time that you have the old crop still producing, thus minimising the gap until your next crop is ready. When you have little space this is a good option, otherwise you'll be without anything to harvest for a couple of months!

I dug up my potatoes last month (it was an early variety), so in that bed I planted (all grown in pots beforehand): swede, turnip and kale (for winter); lettuce, pak choi and spinach (for a quick crop before it gets too cold). This weekend I'm going to lift the onions and sow some more stuff, but because I haven't got any more seedlings in pots left they'll have to be direct sowings. I think I'm going to go for quick crops (the seed packet confirms they should be ready in 8-10 weeks, that means early October - still before any frosts, hopefully!): lettuce, cress, radishes, maybe some quick carrots (the varieties called 'early' tend to be faster-growing), spinach, pak choi. I don't like the taste of oriental salad leaves like mizuna, but they're good to sow this time of the year too.

There are special varieties of lettuce that grow better in cold weather, so I'll go for those. Spinach also don't mind growing into autumn. And, if you cover them with plastic (I make my own cloches with bamboo canes and clothes pegs) they last a bit longer - until it gets too cold and too dark.

Donde se van cosechando lo que plantamos en primavera, van quedando huecos, y ahora es el momento de plantar cosas nuevas. Por ejemplo, mis patatas las levante el mes pasado, y en su sitio he plantado: berzas, nabos, grelos, lechugas y espinacas. Este fin de semana levantare las cebollas, y sembrare: mas lechugas (de otro tipo, para variar), espinacas (que nos encantan), zanahorias (una variedad que madura rapido) y rabanitos.

En agosto se pueden plantar dos tipos de cosas: a) cosechas rapidas que maduran en dos meses (el paquete de semillas suele poner cuanto tiempo tardan en madurar, "8-10 semanas" quiere decir principios de octubre, cuando todavia no hace demasiado frio - antes de las heladas); o b) plantas que aguantan todo el invierno fuera, como berzas, nabos, brecol, coliflores, repollos.

Yo a menudo siembro en macetas pequenas, porque asi la planta va creciendo mientras la cosecha primera todavia esta en la tierra, y cuando levantas las plantas viejas ya tienes una planta medio desarrollada. De esta forma tienes que esperar menos tiempo hasta que la segunda cosecha este lista (en vez de 8-10 semanas, quizas solo 4-6), y cuando tienes poco espacio lo ultimo que quieres es tener que esperar dos meses hasta poder volver a comer algo...

DIY planter from recycled materials

New home for my japanese anemones

Nick and I built this planter last weekend. Actually, Nick did the building and I did the planting. The wood was a left-over panel from the shed (it was homemade and already here when we bought the house), and we discovered it back in spring when I painted the shed. We cut in in 4 parts and assembled what you see, with weed matting for the bottom. I was going to paint it first, but I now I quite like the shabby appearance, and it reminds me of where the panel comes from!

All of the plants I had already, except for the trailing one with the white flowers, which is called Bacopa. One the left are some irises that were on the ground when we bought the house, and which I have kept in pots until now (I had to lift them when we built the vegetable raised beds), and behind the bacopa is a japanese anemome that I bought three years ago and was surviving (but not thriving much) in a very small trough. All three plants have already flowered in shady conditions, which is perfect for where I have put this planter - in the corridor between our house and the neighbours'. They also flower in different seasons (irises in late winter, bacopa in summer and anemones in autumn) so there will always be something interesting going on. All in all it only cost me £8: £5 for the compost and £3 for the bacopa :-)

Esta jardinera la construimos Nick y yo el fin de semana pasado. Es decir, Nick la construyo y yo la plante. La madera era un panel sobrante de cuando los duenos anteriores construyeron la caseta, y que descubrimos en primavera cuando pinte la caseta. Las plantas, excepto la rastrea de las flores blancas (le llaman bacopa) ya las tenia: a la izquierda hay unos iris que ya estaban en el jardin cuando compramos la casa, y que tuve que pasar a macetas cuando construimos la huerta; y detras de la bacopa hay una planta que en ingles le llaman "anemona japonesa", japanese anemone, pero no se el nombre en espanol. Pinchad aqui para ver una foto de las flores. Estas tres plantas ya han dado flores en condiciones de poca luz, lo cual es perfecto para el sitio donde he puesto la jardinera: entre nuestra casa y la del vecino. Los iris florecen a finales de invierno, la bacopa en verano y las anemonas en otono, asi siempre hay algo interesante que ver! En total los materiales solo me costaron 8 libras: 5 del compost y 3 de la bacopa, todo lo demas fue reciclado!

My seat outside

My seat in the garden

This is where I have my breakfast every morning - and sometimes, like today, a beer in the evening. The thought of breakfast outside is what really gets me out of bed! I particularly love this time of the year, when there's lots of flowers and the lavender smells gorgeous. It's always full of bees, especially in the morning (my garden faces East and gets the sunlight early). And the photo below is what I'm looking at while I'm seating...

Aqui es donde me siento todas las mananas a tomar el desayuno. Y a veces por las tardes al  volver del trabajo, como hoy, me siento con una cerveza y un libro, o el ordenador. Por las mananas la idea de desayuno (con mi cola-cao) y sentarme al lado de la lavanda es lo que consigue sacarme de la cama! La lavanda huele de maravila, y esta siempre llena de abejas - sobre todo si es un dia soleado. Mi jardin da al este y el sol le da temprano, perfecto para mis desayunos! La foto de abajo es la  vista desde el asiento:

View from my seat

Crop of Purplee Teepee french beans

Purple Teepee beans

I picked these beans this morning. They are a variety of french bean called Purple Teepee, and as you can see they are mostly purple. These come from a couple of plants that have been growing in part shade, and the parts of the beans that were more in shade are more green and less purple. To get really dark purple beans I think you need to grow them in full sun (that's one for the allotment next year). But I'm quite pleased with this crop, it will make a meal for two and I didn't do much for the plants. I planted the seed back in spring, then planted it outside and let the plants get on with life. Lately they were attacked by slugs and snails that ate all of the leaves, but luckily left the pods. I had three plants, and one of them still has a few leaves and flowers, so I left it to see if I get a smaller crop next month, but the other two plants were completely gone and I had to pull them up. Still, I like this bean and I think I'll grow it again next year. It's a low-growing bean (it doesn't climb) and the flowers are purple too, very pretty!

Estas judias moradas son una variedad que se llama Purple Teepee, y como veis son moradas. Las plantas estaban en semisombra, y a las que les dio mas sombra estan mas verdes que moradas. Para conseguir el color morado oscuro tienen que crecer en mas sol, el ano que viene las plantare en la huerta municipal. Es el segundo ano que planto estas judias y la verdad es que me encantan. La planta es de mata baja y las flores son tambien entre rosa y violeta, muy bonitas. Son faciles de cultivar, yo sembre la semilla en primavera, las plante en el jardin en mayo y no las he vuelto a tocar hasta ahora. Los caracoles las atacaron este ultimo mes y se comieron casi todas las hojas, pero por suerte las judias no. Una de las plantas (tenia tres) aun tiene unas pocas hojas y un par de flores, asi que la he dejado a ver si me dan una segunda mini cosecha el mes que viene, pero las otras dos plantas las he tenido que levantar - no quedaba mas que los tallos pelados!