Another week flies by !! 14.08.07

Where does it go ? Time I mean !

Ruby is fine, now at 7 weeks old and thankfully sleeping through the night !

Southend United suffered a 2-1 Home defeat on Saturday, not the start to the season that was hoped for / expected ! Perhaps we will fair better against Cheltenham Town in the first round of the Carling Cup tonight at Roots Hall.

The garden plot continues to grow on well, with bumper harvests abounding:

The Runner Beans are looking truly fabulous, with a large picking in the last week, we now have 3 bags of freshly picked and blanched runners' in the freezer, as well as having some for a meal last week. The plants are full of smaller beans ( up to 3 inches long ) and with regular morning watering, we'll soon be harvesting even more.

The maincrop spuds ( v. King Edward) are still providing for the table, and we are digging them up as we need them. They are really delicious and a real treat, as well as a great save on the grocery bill. Talking of Bill, my FIL has given me a bag of winter seed pots (v. Maris Piper ) which i hope to grow for a Christmas harvest. I expect these will take longer to grow on as the days are now getting shorter, but it's still too early to plant them up. Instead, I will find a cool spot in the shed and let them start to chit. There are 15 seed in total, so I will plant them up 5 at a time, with a couple of weeks between each planting, and hopefully will then get my winter harvest. Never tried this before - wish me luck !

The Curly Leaf Kale, that i transferred from my conservatory to an outside position, are growing on well in their 3.5" pots. Hopefully within a week I will get them into their final position where I hope they will flourish to provide my winter greens. It's nice to be growing something a little different. You don't see this in the supermarket's too often, but when it is there , it flies off the shelf. The best thing about the kale, is that the leaves take on savoy cabbage like growth, but don't have the veiny texture when cooked. Talking of savoy cabbage .....

I planted some seeds last Monday (v. January King 3 Savoy Cabbage), in a propagator in the conservatory. I know its a bit late, but the weather has been quite mild of late, and I'm hopeful they will germinate. I have nothing to lose by trying! This variety is very hardy and again I'm hopeful of it growing on well into the winter months.

Today we are going to pick our first lot of Toms (v. Moneymaker) that I left in the ground after the winds destroyed them. They are much slower to ripen but nonetheless are doing ok. I can almost taste them now! The toms in the conservatory (v. Gardeners Delight ) have their trusses set and are now also beginning to ripen off. I am feeding with some Doff tomato food I found in the shed as funds are a bit too tight for buying tomorite!. If you fancy helping out, there's a paypal donate button on the site. All donations gratefully received !

With bare patches opening up on the plot, I am planning some more catch crop sowing. I will be planting more Beetroot ( v. Boltardy ), Carrot (v. Autumn King ), and also some more Radish (v. French Breakfast). Then, if there is still some space, I will plant out some mixed salad leaves. Still quite a lot to do, and time is of the essence. Now i just need to find some!

Hope your gardens are doing as well as mine, and I hope you continue to come back on a regular basis. That's about it for today.

Take care all

TTFN.