We're one less chicken thanks to the farmer's dog who got into the chicken run, but he did replace it so apart from having to get her into lay there's no harm done, but I think his son-in-law who was walking them has now taken a dislike to me because I threatened him with the muck fork. Good job I wasn't laying hedges at the time because I might have had something else to hand... Just waiting on a hospital bill for my tetanus shot now... Country life, eh?
Anyway, here's a veggie report and some pictures - which is what all this is about, really. Also an insect found in the polytunnel. No idea what it is!
Tomatoes
Gardener's Delight - small and very tasty but susceptible to botrytis.
Lily of the Valley - prolific but tasteless in my opinion. Like little plum toms.
Yellow Pear - very prolific and grows like a magic beanstalk but not much taste.
Tamina - outdoor variety which went apeshit in the tunnel and made a joke-amount of tomatoes!
Red Alert - an very early outdoor variety which did nothing in the tunnel - too hot maybe.
Gigante Liscio - lovely sweet semi-beefsteak tomato which took a while to get going but worth it.
Peppers
California Wonder - the only wonder is why it took so long to make nice peppers. Could have walked to California in less time.
Antohi Romanian - too thin and tough.
Golden Bell - sweet and fleshy yellow one. Started slow but went on to make loads.
Early Jalapeno - early for what?! Took forever but is now a nice sturdy bush which made a few warmish chillies.
Cucumber
White Wonder - crap.
Cornichon de Paris - made one cornichon and then surrendered to the mould.
Melon
Petit Gris de Rennes - 'cking belters melons. Delicious and hardy.
Cucurbits
All your dandy courgettes are not worth bothering with. Get a green one and grow it. We tried yellow ones, white ones, and patty pans and they all taste like... courgettes.
Spaghetti Squash - take ages to ripen but are delicious roasted.
Burgess Buttercup - floury, lots of flesh, taste quite nice but not as good as butternut.
Becky F1 pumpkin - see photo.
Ghostrider pumpkin - cool wee pumpkins which taste like pumpkins.
Sweet Dumpling - tiny single-serving squashes still maturing so no idea of the taste.
Butternut - I thought this was a goner but made a late recovery and we now have about 8 fruits going yellow in the sun-rain-sun-wind.
Radish
French Breakfast - I thought a French breakfast would be a cup of microwaved coffee and a tab, but apparently "they" eat these wee prolific crunchy things...
Hilds Blauder Herbst und Winter! You have to shout the name to get it right. Big purple winter radish still growing. I can guess what they taste like...
Brussels Sprouts
Dakmar 2 - purple leaf veins which look quite pretty, and lots of nice sprouts coming along. Bit of a slow grower.
Bedford Fillbasket - bigger than above, but lots of blown sprouts for some reason. Can't be loose soil - it's like concrete!
Turnip
Purple Top Milan - worked in the UK, crap here. Flea beetle ate the lot.
Khol Rabi
Azur Star - cool purple ones that you peel to get green normal uncool ones. Worked quite well if you like yet another cabbagy crunchy thing...
Modrava F1 - as above. Yawn.
Cabbage
Rouge Tete Noir - Very successful for once! Huge tight purple heads, easy to grow, taste great.
Nantais Hatif - winter cabbage looking perfect in autumn. Smaller than I thought though, so might add more manure next year.
Piachenza Savoy - just starting to heart up after being almost murdered by caterpillars, so will get a crap yield. Lucky I planted out some Emergency Cabbages a few weeks ago so might be alright. Always good to have a reserve force...
Wintergreen - just went in the ground for next spring. Should be ok...
Minicole F1- nice wee inbred.
Kale
Nero di Toscana - nice black kale, seems to be holding up well against the insect onslaught. Grows well.
Broccoli
Fiesta F1 - was tasty and very early but got ravaged by you-know-whats. A good sacrificial plant to keep bugs from the rest of the brassicas!
Purple Sprouting Early - growing away nicely, and getting huge.
Autumn Spear - was also nice but got destroyed.
Claret - as with P.S.B. - growing huge so looking promising for spring.
Peas
Cavalier - grew ok but needed more water. Nice biggish pods full of sweet peas.
Annonay - small and prolific but peas were also a bit small. Not as good as Cavalier.
Champion of England (!) - big tasty peas off a massive plant. Needed more water though...
Bijou Mange Tout - huge tasty pods but a bit wobbly in the heat. Died early.
Beans
Aiguillon - worked well, taste good but a pain to harvest being a dwarf.
Slendrette - as above.
Minidor - as above, but yellow pods. Bit less taste.
Cosse Violette - a cracking climbing bean that makes purple pods. Delicious as pods and beans, and seems to be drying well.
Scarlet Emperor Runner - huge long pods, the record being a foot long, with lots of nice beans to eat if you let them grow on.
Desiree Runner - white beans, like the above.
Express Broad - grew well, tasted ok.
Bunyard's Exhibition Broad - ditto.
Masterpiece Green Longpod - a winter variety just poking through in the seed plugs.
Super Aquadulce Broad - ditto. Better bloody work!
Onions
Long Red Florence - like a giant spring onion with a red bulb. Worked well for salads but doesn't store.
Giant Zittau - needed more muck and water so crop was poor.
Alisa Craig - same as Zittau.
Roscoff Rose - we'll plant these as sets next year for our main crop as next door swear by them. Planted late but worked ok considering drought and poor soil.
Leek
Pandora - looking good.
Long de Meziers - also looking good.
Beets
Rainbow Chard - grows faster than I can eat it! My favourite leaf for the winter.
Burpee's Golden Beetroot - Very slow to grow, but tasty.
Bolivar Beetroot - ditto.
Aubergine
Thai Long Green - nice but small. Will go for muckle purple ones next year.
Potatoes
Charlotte Early - crap due to crap method and no watering.
Desiree Main - Marvellous! Got a decent crop bearing in mind the rock-hard, infertile, dry soil.
Maize
Thought I'd have some token maize in the field to try and fit in around here. Bi-colour open pollinated organic seed though, so came to nowt. Should have sown that one with the systemic insecticides in like the farmers around these parts, and killed all next door's bees...
Things that went badly were either eaten by bugs, not watered, planted out at the wrong time or the soil was too poor for them.
Next year:
Water more: water butts at the ends of the beds connected to hosepipes so there's no excuse.
Trenches lined with paper and filled with muck for peas and beans.
Brassicas interplanted with legumes.
Lazy beds for spuds.
More muck on "greedies."
Sow beetroot in May and parsnip in March under cloches.
Each of these is as big as a beach ball, and there are only the two of us to eat them!
The deep bed works wonders for Long Lisse de Meiux carrots.
Rouge Tete Noir cabbages looking like real cabbages!
Nice leeks, but I think we're going to run out pretty quickly due to the lack of onions.
Saw this guy asleep in the polytunnel and thought it best not to wake him up. It's as big as my thumb!
