I have a confession to make. Nothing that would have the scribes of the gutter press beating a path to my door to expose to the Nation, though. No, my confession is simply that I don't do cold. The recent spell of cold weather has kept me and Plum firmly indoors. There is work to be done on the plot but I am afraid it will have to wait until the weather is more clement. I have had to brave the cold on occasion though, as we are overwintering our geraniums in our plastic greenhouses and the shed and they do need water from time to time.I was reading Hazel's blog yesterday, and it appears that she has had a really good year. On the other hand, I must admit that Plum and I are disappointed with our results this year. Last year, apart from growing the veg, we also had to organise the plot with pathways and beds and compost bins etc but this year, only having to concentrate on growing, we have come somewhat unstuck. The peas and beans didn't really take off, and as for the tomatoes, they were the same as everyone elses - a disaster. The sweetcorn grew and ripened, however, because of lack of sunshine, it doesn't taste anywhere as sweet as the year before. We did have an abundance of courgettes and raspberries and the first crop of cos lettuce was fantastic as were the strawberries ( We are still enjoying the jam we made from them). Our brassicas have been a big disappointment apart from our January Kings which, although they are growing well, we have decided we don't like cabbage. The leeks, lambs lettuce and mazuna are doing well and so are the spinach and the parsnips.We haven't seen our neighbour Julie for some time, so when we do we will have to ask her how she fared this year.
We have a plan for next year - that is to grow fewer crops and to concentrate on making them as good as we can. To this end I am having a book for Christmas entitled The Vegetable Expert which was recommended to us by Julie. I will take this as my Bible and then my next end of year report won't have to read 'must try harder'
Nil desperandum, Bri - I'm sure your year was just as good as mine, but perhaps I'm just an optimist!
ReplyDeleteYour soft fruit was superb - we didn't get one gooseberry off our bushes! And so what if you don't like cabbage? This proves that you CAN grow brassicas (which not everyone can at all), and there are plenty more in the same family to have a crack at!
I 'don't do' the cold either - but the good news is, that neither do the weeds, so you can rest easy till potato planting time at the end of Feb at least!
Look forward to seeing you both soon!