First week progress

I've done all this in one week and without buying any plants or seeds (I'm quite proud of that). Todo esto y todavia no he comprado ni una planta ni semillas!

I started sowing seeds last Sunday, and by Wednesday the ones in the kitchen window sill had starting sprouting already! It really is very sunny and looks perfect for seedlings (so far). I sowed some more outside but those aren't as speedy. I sowed: marigolds, cornflower, lettuce, chard, basil, cauliflower, rocket, spring onions, leeks, cosmos and purple peas.

Las primeras semillas en la ventana de cocina empezaron a germinar en tres dias! Las que sembre fuera van mas lentas. Sembre: targetes, centaurea, lechuga, acelgas, albahaca, coliflor, rucula, cebolletas, puerros, cosmos y guisantes morados.

By the front door I had a tree that I think is a climbing hydrangea. It's a bit shady (north/east facing) and I've turned it into a spring garden, with things that flower when it's too cold to go out in the garden to enjoy them, because I will still walk past them every day after work! I'm particularly fond of the viburnum (foreground of the picture), it smells amazing and now I will enjoy it fully every year.

Junto a la puerta de entrada he puesto plantas que florecen a finales de invierno o primavera, porque aunque haga demasiado frio para salir al jardin siempre pasare por aqui todos los dias. El arbol mas grande ya estaba en el jardin, el resto (incluyendo el viburnum delante) los tenia en macetas del jardin anterior.

This spiky plant and jasmine were already in the ground but in the wrong place. Now I'm making a mini bed between our patio and the neighbour's. 

Un jazmin y la planta que parece una fuente ya estaban, pero las trasplante a esta mini jardinera que estoy construyendo entre nuestra terraza y la valla del vecino.

The magnolia was already there, and I'm making a semicircular bed with stuff I had that like part shade: rosemary, hosta, honesty, phlox, sweet williams, astilbe, a white lilac bush at the back.

Los antiguos dueños nos dejaron el magnolio, y a su alrededor estoy plantando un semicirculo con plantas que ya tenia: y que les gusta esta zona de semisombra Romero, hosta, phlox, lunarias, astilbe, clavelinas, y al fondo un lilo blanco.

I'm digging this corner, which was riddled with weeds. It's very sunny so I'm planning to plant Mediterranean/South African style plants.

Esta zona estaba llena de malas hierbas. Cuando terming de preparar el suelo, pienso poner plantas del mediterraneo / Sudafrica, porque es una de las zones con mas sol del jardin.

The decking platform at the back of the garden is hopeful going to be turned into raised beds for our veg. If it works out we will only need to buy the soil and we can recycle all the wood!

La plataforma de madera, si todo sale bien, la vamos a convertir en jardineras para huerta.

First stage of the move done

Last Friday we moved the furniture and plants into the new house, and we are hoping to exchange contracts and complete the sale this coming Friday. I left all of my pots in a cluster, with the small ones in the middle - the guys selling  us the house still live there and have two big dogs, so hopefully this will stop them from attacking the smaller pots!

The house is equally barricaded with boxes and furniture piled up in two rooms. It is an unusual arrangement, but it's only a few days left!

We are moving!!

We are swapping London for Bedfordshire in less than a week, very exciting! The new garden is south facing (and much bigger), and I'm already daydreaming about what I'm going to do with it... In the meantime, here are my plants, all ready and waiting for the removals van. 

Luckily I've kept them in pots from the last move, less than two years ago. I'm leaving a few behind, but there's a good reason for that and they're not irreplaceable. 

My dicentra spectabilis alba (white bleeding heart) I put in the one and only strip of soil in my patio garden. It is still underground and I can't find it, so I can't transplant it. And my lovely blue clematis, which is about to flower, is in a pot that is way too big to move, and would suffer too much from a transplant. So I'm leaving it for the new tenants, and hopefully they'll enjoy it!

The rest are coming with me. I've moved some from heavy glazed pots to plastic ones, easier to carry, and I gave some of them a prune. I think they are looking quite good, I hope they will not suffer much from the move and will enjoy the new garden. I can't wait!

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!