Wednesday, November 14, 2007

First frosts


Frost coming tonight, so I gathered up a few things from the allotment, including the last of the small pumpkins and dug up the vietnamese coriander bush to take home for the winter. I've already got half a dozen shoots in a jar of water which have sprouted taproots 3-4 cm long and are ready for potting up.
Never done so much faffing around before the first frosts - herded a load of potted plants indoors like sheep, some even though they don't really need it (olives, geraniums, parsley) and others to extend their lives a bit (lobelia, tomatoes, marigolds, dahlias). Wrapped up a couple of outside dahlias with bubblewrap, just to see whether I'll get the last buds to flower when it warms up a bit later in the week.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Late autumn sun



Late autumn sun ensures at least a couple of pumpkins mature in time for Halloween.
Sunflower heads in the shed had got damp and were starting to rot, so I sat in the sun separating a couple of hundred seeds.
Collected gladioli and rocket seeds too.
Planted out broad beans. The ones sown directly into the ground are finally emerging.
Harvested kale, rocket, lambs lettuce and a couple of carrots.