Harvest

Another long break from the blog – I must try harder.

The garden has suffered from a lack of attention this year and considering that I didn’t put anything into the ground until early June I am lucky to have any produce at all.

I planted potatoes in large bags after last year’s scabby crop in the veg plot.  Yesterday the first bag was emptied, with the help of the under-gardener, as the tops of the potatoes plants had wilted away.  The resulting crop from ten seed potatoes – beautiful, blemish free and about enough for two meals!  A neighbour had said that they never managed to get reasonable quantities when they used bags to grow potatoes.

You can judge for yourself.

 

 The courgettes have been equally lacking – how do you manage to not get a glut of courgettes?
 

The one crop that has bucked the trend – the magnum bonum peas – a late cropping variety that were popular in Victorian times. 

Last summer, I was sent a present of six pea seeds by a fellow Open University Student who I had met for the first time when we both attended a revision weekend before the astronomy exam. We discovered that we both enjoyed gardening and when I told her I had recently started a veg patch she promised to send some seeds.

There were not many peas to eat last year but from the pods that were left on for seed there has been a bumper crop this year.  The peas grow quite tall and need a frame to climb through.

You can judge for yourself.