Summer Harvests and Planting

It has been a tricky growing year, extremely high temperatures and no significant rain for many months means watering has been a real chore. But it’s starting to pay off now with lots of harvests.

I’ve grown some decent carrots, these are Autumn King which are incredibly tasty too. I also have a purple variety growing which I am yet to pull, something to look forward to.

Plenty of beetroot ready to pull now, the leaves can be eaten and used in salads.

And of course the courgette glut has arrived. The big watery ones go to the chickens as a treat.

I harvested some of my maincrop potatoes to see how they were doing, I needed some potatoes to go with a roast and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount I pulled up from just a single plant.

The variety is Carolus which I haven’t grown before. The dark pink/red eyes are attractive and the flavour is very good with a floury texture, great for roasting. I would imagine they make lovely mash too which I will also try.

I remembered to thin the parsnips, go me! These slender little things were included in the roast dinner and jolly nice they were too.

In the greenhouse the tomatoes are just starting to turn red. It’s so nice to have homegrown tomatoes on the menu again, the taste cannot be beaten. I’d like to say I have really tiny hands but no, this tomato really is that big.

Another ‘success’ on the plot this year is bindweed, I grow buckets of the stuff. Ahem! It isn’t fazed by desert heat and can survive anything. I didn’t take a photo, I refuse to give it more of my attention.

Not everything is doing well, the kale and sprouts seem to be really struggling with the heat. I have even resorted to giving them a liquid feed which I rarely have to do. Oh well, I will mulch them again and do my best to water during very hot spells while keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

And now to the planting!

In between all the excitement of harvesting which has been very nice to do all things considered, I planted a few things out just to push my luck. I’m hoping to extend the harvesting season further. Young beetroot seedlings went in along with Pak Choi and Kohl Rabi, waiting patiently at home but ready to go out are cauliflower and winter cabbage too.

The temperature for the South / East is set to rise again next week to heatwave levels, with no sign of rain to come the watering cans will be busy again and the Pak Choi will no doubt sulk and die. Ugh!