Gardens get scruffy over winter and I thought that I’d brave the cold and get some exercise. I trimmed the spinach and chard; they both had quite a few old and semi eaten leaves. Hopefully they’ll take the hint and produce some new leaves to eat. I’ve put slug pellets down as the little blighters get everywhere. The winter cabbages are coming on but the cauliflowers look pretty weedy.

Talking of tidying up, I need to go through my seed packets and decide what to plant and what to swap.

I've caught up a bit in the garden; it's all looking pretty neat. My aim is to have some crops through winter. I planted some chard a while back, that's growing well and should crop through winter. Meanwhile, there's the last of the root vegetables (carrots, beetroot and parsnips). I've planted another row of carrots (autumn king) and cauliflowers (all year round). Unfortunately, the cabbages that I planted all got eaten by catapillers (butterflies can get through fruit netting, apparently). I bought some from the garden center and I'm keeping them in the greenhouse for a while.

Meanwhile, I've taken a load of cutings from curry plants, lavander and box. Let's hope that they take.

Tags: root vegetables

I’m trying to make sure that we have vegetables this winter and so I’ve been planting up swiss chard (Fordhook Giant), lettuce (winter crop) and spinach (giant winter). I’ve also planted a row of mixed salads, including rocket.

We’ve just eaten the last of the broad beans, I’ll definitely sow some more late this autumn for next year.

This year July is wet but sunny and hot when not raining.

Tags: salad, legumes

We’ve started on the potatoes and beetroot. We’ve been eating the broad beans and onions for a couple of weeks now. I’ve taken to planting up the gaps as I pull stuff out. So, yesterday, I sewed more carrot and beetroot and a row of chard. I’m hoping that the chard will keep me going through the winter.

The weather continues to be warm and sunny with the occasional heavy showers keeping the water butts pretty full.