Whilst we have had some rain, we still haven’t had enough to penetrate the soil meaning that the beds are still too dry to dig over.
We are visiting the allotment less frequently now that there is no need to water everything and digging is on hold until we have more rain. In the event that we have persistent heavy rain, the next problem will be that the soil will become too claggy to dig. The joy of gardening on heavy clay soil.
There are other jobs to occupy us. Last week I tidied the strawberry bed. I cut off all the old leaves and removed any runners. We then hoed between the plants before applying a light mulch of compost. Some of the runners were planted up to hopefully produce some spare plants should we have any winter casualties in the main strawberry bed.
Removing the leaves also revealed a few bonus berries which were added to the handful of raspberries that we also picked.
Martyn, lifted all the carrots which, like the beetroot, that I mentioned in my previous post, are being stored in tubs and crates of compost. These will be kept in the garden greenhouse over winter. This method of storage has worked well in the past and also means carrots are easily accessible when needed.
I picked a few dahlias. The plants haven’t produced as many flowers as usual and many are much smaller than they usually are but at one point we thought most of the tubers would fail to shoot, so we can’t complain too much.
We decided on a visit to Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors. It was the NYMR steam gala so Ruby had two new experiences.
She enjoyed her walk on the moors but wasn’t as sure about the noisy steam trains.
We made sure that we were well away from the platforms when any trains were due.
Sheep roam freely in the village and, despite having come across sheep before, Ruby is still bemused by them.
Last week’s meals included a vegetable biryani that incorporated our carrots, potatoes, peppers, onions and peas. I also added some sweet corn.
I also made a chicken and vegetable stew that used some of our potatoes, carrots, onion and some of our tomatoes. 
I used some of our sweetcorn in some turkey and corn burgers based on this recipe. I didn’t have any fresh basil and so I used flat leaved parsley instead.
As always until next week stay safe and well
Again I am linking to Harvest Monday on Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog
Having very limited space at home I will be leaving them in the ground but covering the patch with straw. The net that keeps the root fly off serves to keep the straw in place! Potatoes I will lift… soon. Parsnips and Jerusalem artichoke are staying put but beetroot I am undecided about as most sowings are still small. If I detect any nibbling I will lift them at that point. (In the School Garden the carrots have to be lifted as the badger digs under the net to get them from below!)
The slugs would devastate the carrots if we left them, Mal. We leave parsnips and leeks in the ground as the slugs don’t seem to bother those.
I’m amazed at all your carrots! Your dahlias look wonderful. They don’t do very well here. Glad to hear you got some rain. Your chicken stew looks fabulous!
We were quite surprised by the carrots too, Bonnie.
Your carrots look a good size – all ours are short, but still tasty. Your calabrese looks really good too, lovely additions to so many meals.
You can’t beat homegrown carrots for flavour, Belinda.
Lovely dahlias, nice apples and such a carrot harvest. Predictable and regular rain is a blessing that we miss when it does not come.
We have had a bit of rain now, Sue but we are going to need lots more to catch up.
That is a beautiful haul of carrots! I had a heavy clay soil at my previous garden so I can identify with the troubles of working it. Our soil now is a silty loam, which is light and easier to work but also light on nutrients.
It’s swings and roundabouts isn’t it, Dave. Silty loam sounds ideal to us but there’s always some downside.
Really lovely to see all those carrots! I’m lucky to be able to leave my carrots in the ground. I cut off most of the decaying tops in late November, but they soon regrow fresh greens and stay so sweet and fresh all through winter and well into spring, usually late April. We have new season carrots in early May. For beets I store in damp pine shavings, beets seem to retain their taste and texture better than carrots do
Leaving carrots in the ground isn’t an option for us Steve although last year the carrots stored well this way until they eventually became a bit soft. Maybe the compost was too dry.