There’s not a lot of interest to share about last week. We were still having to water on every visit to the allotment but we did manage to fit in a bit of weeding and general housekeeping.
Our greengages were dripping with greenfly, which was also affecting the tayberry that grows beneath it. Last year we didn’t pick any tayberries as we didn’t fancy harvesting berries covered with greenfly. Our coffee break area is also close by so it was an unpleasant place to sit. It called for desperate measures so, Martyn treated the greenfly to a jet wash. The process will be repeated to try and keep any infestation at bay.
I did manage a tiny bit of planting. I planted a few cauliflowers and calabrese that just couldn’t hang on in the cold frame for longer. Each planting hole was filled with water before planting and then the plants were watered in well.
After lifting one of our garlic bulbs to check how they were doing, I decided to lift the lot. Both varieties had produced good sized bulbs which had formed cloves. I bought one variety as a soft neck and the other as a hard neck but both produced scapes so both are hard necks that won’t keep as long. We filmed the harvesting which is posted here.
Our stored onions had begun to grow so I lifted some autumn planted ones.
One of the varieties, Sensyu, hadn’t produced bulbs and just looked like fat spring onion. We have grown Senshyu for a few years and have never had this problem before. Anyone any idea what has happened?
I think we have another onion problem. Our leeks were attacked by allium leaf miner a couple of years ago, since which time we have grown them under mesh. Now it seems that the dreaded pest has turned its attention to our onions. It looks as though in the future we will have to cover those too. It’s becoming necessary to cover everything. We need a large mesh tent.
Our harvests are beginning to look a little more respectable.
The yield from our first root of potatoes was modest which was hardly surprising as potatoes don’t thrive in hot conditions and it is the one crop that we don’t water. As I am writing this on Sunday evening, we are at last getting some decent rain. The potatoes will appreciate that. It will also give us a break from watering duties. I feel like celebrating!
We had some thunder, early Sunday morning, which we think was responsible for the deaths of four fish in our fish pond. During a thunderstorm, the oxygen level in water can drop which we think is what happened when the thunderstorm occurred. We tried to aerate the pond and so far there have been no more casualties. It’s a case now of crossing all our fingers.
We visited a local garden centre to buy some plants for the summer house. In the past, plants have survived winter in the summer house but not last year.
Last week I cooked several dishes that used our homegrown produce.
I used up the last of our frozen tomatoes along with some of our onions and basil to make a batch of pasta sauce which was portioned and popped in the freezer.
I made a sweet and sour chicken that used some of our onion, frozen peppers and frozen sweetcorn. I didn’t have baby sweetcorn so used kernels.
I made a Thai squash and pineapple curry that used some of our squash and frozen green beans.
I also made a turkey chowder that used some of our onion, parsley, and frozen sweet corn but I forgot to take a photo.
Martyn, served our first new potatoes, calabrese and turnips with some breaded salmon.
We didn’t have any afternoon walks with Ruby last week, as it was too hot, so walks were confined to evenings in the park.
Instead of photos of flowers at Nostell, I have put together a carousel of flowers in our garden. We also filmed a walk ariund the garden which will be posted here.
As always until next time stay safe and well.
This week I am linking to Dave’s Harvest Monday post on his Our Happy |Acres blog
I had the same problem with some of my autumn planted onions, some looked like enormous spring onions just like yours. Such a shame about your fish, hope the rest asurvive. Love the plants and your meals.xxx
So far the rest of the fish are fine, Dina, Once we had oxygenated the water they were happy. Just wish we had caught it sooner but we were asleep. Which variety were your onions?
Oh no, I hope the rest of the fish are okay. We’ve hardly had any rain here, we had one huge thunderclap in the middle of the night which woke us up and nothing more. Still not much rain in the forecast either.
The rest of the fish revived once we oxygenated the water, Jo.It’s the first time that we have had that problem.
Soon as I saw the title, I knew there’d be something about onions and garlic. I do like your current header, the Astrantias. It’s a very pretty picture indeed.
Thanks Debbie, Astrantias are very photogenic
What a nice new crop. And young potatoes with cabbage and salmon look appetizing. Beautiful photos of your new flowers. Hugs.
It’s good to start harvesting, Nadezda
Thank you for sharing the carousel of your flowers. What a nice way to do that. I think I have that feature on my blog platform but have never used it.
I only found the carousel reccntly Sue
I’ll bet all that garlic smelled good! At least to me it would. Too bad about the mixup in types though.
I did when we were bringing it home in the car, Dave