Since the beginning of December things have been slow and restful down my plots, compared with previous years. Over the past couple of weeks, air temperatures have risen and I have spent several pleasant days in the sunshine, mainly replacing the storm damaged vents in the walls of my poly tunnel. This involved fixing wooden battens along the sides of the tunnel, inside and out and replacing the original torn vents with stronger pieces of nylon mesh. To date one side of the tunnel has been completed and the other side partially completed. A bit of a fiddly job to say the least, trying to fix battens to both sides of the tunnel walls at the same time and definitely a 2 man job.
Most of the allotments are looking tidy if not devoid of crops at this time of the year and compared with previous years, few plot holders seem to have been tending their plots lately, compared to last year over the same time period. With the final pruning done to my blackcurrant bushes two days ago, just some pruning to the red and white currants and fruit trees remains to be done later this Winter, leaving the plum tree pruning until June. My rhubarb plants are already showing early signs of new growth. If this mild weather continues it could well be an early start to next season. I mentioned in an earlier post that I thought this Winter would bring extremely bad weather with it. Wrong so far!! But I wonder now if Winter will be late with snow, frost etc around Easter time. I had a good harvest of cabbage (round headed and cavolo nero) parsnips, carrots, mixed lettuce and lambs lettuce today most of which will be eaten and hopefully enjoyed on Christmas day.
A FEAST OF VEGGIES
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| It Always Looks Good On Paper (Next Seasons Squash Seeds) Dec 2014 |
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| Poly Tunnel Vents Needing Repair (Dec 2014) |
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| New Vents & Battens Being Fixed To My Poly Tunnel (Dec 2014) |
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| A Few Veggies For Christmas Day |
(A gardeners poem with apologies to any poets reading it)
It was Christmas day in the kitchen and the turkey was cooking well
The giblets still inside their polythene bag were exuding an odorous smell
Brussels sprouts were purchased from Asda this year
I forgot to sow some last Spring
My planning was wrong, my memory was short and definitely needed some zing
The carrots were simmering nicely smelling sweeter with each passing minute
The pan they were in was full to the brim, after I spilled some bleach right in it
Parsnips and peas looked delicious, as they cooked alongside the spuds
But the yorkshires were somewhat deflated not rising just how they should
The runner beans were a wonderful green and looking ever so tasty
But the gravy was thick and lumpy, because I had been too hasty
The custard and pud were coming along very well, as I added a little more rum
Spirit and flame from the gas hob combined, to give off a bl**dy great flash
Christmas dinner was lost in the blink of an eye, just as the first guests appeared
Sod it I thought I'm off down my plots, to sow some more seeds for next years'
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE
Parsnips and peas looked delicious, as they cooked alongside the spuds
But the yorkshires were somewhat deflated not rising just how they should
The runner beans were a wonderful green and looking ever so tasty
But the gravy was thick and lumpy, because I had been too hasty
The custard and pud were coming along very well, as I added a little more rum
Spirit and flame from the gas hob combined, to give off a bl**dy great flash
Christmas dinner was lost in the blink of an eye, just as the first guests appeared
Sod it I thought I'm off down my plots, to sow some more seeds for next years'
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE
Snow here but not a lot - so are you the poet?
ReplyDeleteOur weather has been warm and pleasant for the past couple of weeks, but took a turn for the worse yesterday, cold and wet, with a very heavy hail storm about an hour ago. Yes I did write the poem after a couple of shandies lol. If it can be called a poem.
DeleteThat looks like a great haul there Rooko. I'm going to grow some Cavolo Nero myself next year. A handsome and yummy plant. Yours looks really good.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has been mild, until late yesterday when we suddenly got 4 inches of snow! I don't think I'll be gardening for a while now. Did you get any snow, or did it pass you by?
Hi Gwenfar, I hope you are enjoying Christmastime despite the snow. We haven't had any. The weather here has been mild lately but it is cold and drizzly at the moment with hailstones. I would recommend growing Cavolo Nero. I was pleasantly surprised with its taste and texture this year. The plants are standing well, over the Winter and I've got plenty to pick still. I found it slow to develop after it germinated but that was due to the extremely hot/dry conditions earlier this year. I fed/watered them with a dustbin full of old leek foliage (poured around the plants) which had been steeped in rainwater for over a month.
DeleteWell Rooko, maybe your poem is in the style of the old Norse Saga - it needs to be handed down to the next generation via the spoken word (with actions?) rather than the written one!
ReplyDeleteOur weather has now turned very much colder, so I hope you have finished all the repairs to polytunnels etc.
I'm not sure what style the poem was in, if any. Just got over 4 days of extremely heavy overnight frosts. Got down the plots yesterday for a bit of tidying and compost some more kitchen waste. Repairs almost finished with a couple more to do due to frost damage.
DeleteNice try Rooko - although I don't think William Wordsworth has anything to worry about. Happy New Year to you.
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine, I expect W. Wordsworth would have a "poetic" choice of words to say about my effort. Anyway I bet my veggies are better than his. Hope you have a good new year.
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