Kiwi fruit

I have a have a kiwi plant, it was my birthday present. I have liked the idea of having a kiwi plant since last year when I read about a new verity that had been bred to better suit our climate, the down side is that it’s fruit are the size of grapes which isn’t very big.

My kiwi is a ‘Jenny’, this verity is “A self fertile variety avoiding the need to grow male and female forms for a successful crop of fruit. Ideal for growing through trellis work or against a sunny wall, where it can be supported and trained. It’s creamy white flowers have a delightful rose-like fragrance with fruits being ready for picking from late summer.”

I don’t really know much about growing them, so if anyone has one or has any tips then please share them with me!

It’s raining, it’s pouring

Today has been VERY wet, as it is now the summer holidays the outdoor play sessions are all day not just after school and it has been raining since before I woke up this morning. I’ve really enjoyed myself though, I’ve loved having to think on my feet about what we can do. Even though we have a big tent most of the day has been spent outside, my waterproofs gave up at about lunchtime (and so did the sides of the tent) but I was still happy enough.

In the last year I have noticed a change in myself, before Christmas I could have quite happily been in an office all day on even just an overcast day but even before I started my new job I was beginning to not be able to sit inside and would have to find some reason to leave to be outside, now I’m actually enjoying  being out in the pouring rain. If only it didn’t cause so much mud!

In season this week #46

VEGETABLES

artichoke*, aubergine*, beetroot*, broad beans*, broccoli*, carrots*, celery, chillies*, courgettes*, cucumber*, fennel*, french beans*, garlic*, kohlrabi*, leeks, lettuces & salad leaves*, mangetout*, new potatoes*, onions*, peas*, peppers, potatoes (maincrop)*, radishes*, rocket*, runner beans*, spinach, spring onions, sweetcorn, turnips, watercress*, wild nettles

FRUIT

apricots*^[i], bilberries*, blackberries*, blueberries*, cherries, figs, gooseberries*, greengages*, kiwi fruit*^[i], lemons^[i], loganberries*, melons*^[i], nectarines^[i], oranges^[i], peaches*^[i], raspberries*, redcurrants*, strawberries*, tomatoes*, whitecurrants*

HERBS, FLOWERS, FUNGHI, NUTS

basil*, chives*, coriander, dill, mint*, mushrooms (cultivated), oregano*, parsley (curly)*, parsley (flat-leaf)*, rosemary*, sage*, sorrel*, tarragon*, thyme*, wild mushrooms

MEAT

beef, chicken, lamb*, pork, rabbit*, venison, wood pigeon*

Home cooking

Well, the rain that has been forecast for the last few days arrived today but we haven’t done too badly as the last three days were it has been meant to be rain we have just had showers, and showers that it is easy to ignore and carry on working through.

I’ve managed to spend a fair amount of time at the allotment, and also taking down the kids house in readiness for putting up the new goat housing. This morning wasn’t bad either, the rain held off while we moved some ewes and lambs.I moved the three chicks that have been living inside (not in the brooder for a while but still in the house) to a new house and clear the goat pen a little. It is still getting very water logged whenever with get rain and doesn’t drain by itself, a problem that might hopefully be sorted with the new house but I think will need to be worked on for a while yet. The goat housing and pen are at the bottom of the garden and so the pen ends up with all the rain from the rest of the garden running into it, I did plant some willow the other side of the pen this spring in the hope that they would suck up some of the extra water but they have not taken. I will try again later this year.

The highlight of the weekend has been the start of ‘real’ harvesting from the allotment. Tonights dinner was mostly home grown and was cooked on the Rayburn which has also been heating some water for us.

We had savoury pancakes with a kale* and courgette* gravy filling and a cheese sauce and garlic* kale* (a recipe adapted from Colour It Green). I think the only vegetable in the whole meal that wasn’t home grown was the onions, and the ones on the allotment are coming along nicely!

*home grown

A Farm for the Future

Last night I came across a BBC 2 documentary call “a farm for the future“, I found it very informative and inspiring.

Watching things grow

This morning the tray of lettuce seeds was starting to show small yellow-y leaves just starting to unfold, this evening the trays are filling up with tiny little plants with two green leaves. I’ve been watching the change happen throughout the day as I’ve popped in and out of the house for different things, it has been amazing to watch.

In a month or so we will be eating these little plants, that are barely more then two leaves. They could so easily be over looked and this morning they were less than that.

If the camera was working I would have taken photos but sadly it’s batteries are flat.

In season this week #45

VEGETABLES

artichoke*, asparagus, aubergine*, beetroot*, broad beans*, broccoli*, carrots*, celery, chillies*, courgettes*, cucumber*, fennel*, french beans*, garlic*, kohlrabi*, lettuces & salad leaves*, mangetout*, new potatoes*, onions*, peas*, peppers, potatoes (maincrop)*, radishes*, rocket*, runner beans*, samphire, spinach, spring onions, sweetcorn, turnips*, watercress*, wild nettles

FRUIT

apricots*^[i], bilberries*, blackberries*, blueberries*, cherries, figs, gooseberries*, greengages*, kiwi fruit*^[i], lemons^[i], loganberries*, melons*^[i], nectarines^[i], oranges^[i], peaches*^[i], raspberries*, redcurrants*, strawberries*, tomatoes*, whitecurrants*

HERBS, FLOWERS, FUNGHI, NUTS

basil*, chervil, chives*, coriander, dill, mint*, mushrooms (cultivated), oregano*, parsley (curly)*, parsley (flat-leaf)*, rosemary*, sage*, sorrel*, tarragon*, thyme*, wild mushrooms

MEAT

beef, chicken, lamb*, pork, rabbit*, venison, wood pigeon*

Seed sowing

At the last LETS meeting I had a very interesting conversation with one of the other members about seed sowing. She is trying out square foot gardening and her brother send her a book that she has been reading. The most interesting and useful part that she has found is that we buy and plant far too many seeds, and it is very right. At this very minute I have an open packet of cabbage seeds in front of me, average contain 350 seeds. They are not the only type of cabbage I have, off the top of my head I can think of two other verities sitting in my seed box.

Even just thinking about one of the packets of cabbage seeds, 350 cabbages is a lot even for a big family and takes up a lot of growing room.

I hate seeing wasted seedlings, or wasted seeds that aren’t ever going to grow but am guilty of just sowing the whole packet, after all I’ll find room somewhere for them, and of course most of them just go to waste or don’t reach their full potential or productiveness because of lack of time, it takes a lot longer to pot on a whole packet of seeds then just the dozen or some plants that are needed, or lack of space.

The book says something about changing your attitude to growing and it is completely right, if my seed box was my main way of feeding myself I would be much more carefully about only sowing what I needed and planning a head, after all I’m not going to eat 350 cabbages in a few weeks so it is much better to plan what I am going to need, say a dozen at a time, and then have another dozen coming on for a few weeks later. 

I have no idea what the book is called or who it is by, and I very much doubt I would get round to reading it if I did but it all fits with what I am trying to do: be more self-sufficient, sustainable and less wasteful so I am going to try and work with it.

So today I have carefully counted and sown:  

• 24 Musselburgh leeks
• 54 lettuce
• 60 Ferrari french beans
• 12 Raab ’60 days’ broccoli
• 12 Red Russian kale
• 12 All the Year cauliflowers
• 12 January King cabbages

I haven’t done the best job of planning for them, and I know it’s not the best time of year to sow all of the seeds, leeks are very late but small leeks are better than nothing.

The other day I carefully counted out and sowed 30 Greyhound cabbages that are just starting to show their heads. 30 cabbage is a lot but I will learn

Allotment 15/07/09

Spent this evening at the allotment, weeding mostly. I have been neglecting it for a week or so and I’m pretty sure that this is the first time I have weeded so I haven’t been doing badly. Everything has grow loads, including the thistles which are still a big problem, they are everywhere. We (Rhys came too) took the netting of the courgettes as they are starting to push it of any way, there is a huge difference between the main bed of them, which was manured, and a few that I put in another bed, which wasn’t manured, when I ran out of room. After thinking about it there is also a very noticeable difference between the first bed of beetroot, not manured, and the second, manured and now thinned, that I had been putting down to them being nibbled by rabbits, so the soil wasn’t has rich has I thought it was. 

I ‘thinned’ the larger of the beetroots in the second bed out so as the smaller ones have more room to grow, they are a very nice size and the first real harvest for the allotment!! 

The rounder ones are Detroit 2 and the more pointy shaped ones are Pronto. They were sown just over two months ago. After weeding the rest of the bed, or most of it, I sowed some ‘Burpees Golden’ where the peas failed. There are still two pea plants left there, one of them has it’s first flower on.

The kale looks great, the net curtains are working really well at keeping white butterflies off, and the rabbits. The leeks are not doing so well, they have been nibbled and over grown, I had been leaving the weeds around them to try and protect them from the rabbits but it hasn’t really worked, but there are plenty of tomatoes that have self-seeded themselves that I have left in.

After weeding we put some more manure out on the end of the plot where there still isn’t anything planted, I think things are going to grow so much better that way.

In season this week #44

VEGETABLES

artichoke*, asparagus, aubergine*, beetroot*, broad beans*, broccoli*, carrots*, celery, chillies*, courgettes*, cucumber, fennel*, french beans*, garlic*, kohlrabi*, lettuces & salad leaves*, mangetout*, new potatoes*, onions*, peas*, peppers, potatoes (maincrop)*, radishes*, rhubarb, rocket*, runner beans*, samphire, spinach, spring onions, sweetcorn, turnips*, watercress*, wild nettles

FRUIT

apricots*^[i], bilberries*, blackberries*, blueberries*, cherries, figs, gooseberries*, greengages*, kiwi fruit*^[i], lemons^[i], loganberries, melons*^[i], nectarines^[i], oranges^[i], peaches*^[i], raspberries*, redcurrants*, strawberries*, tomatoes*, whitecurrants*

HERBS, FLOWERS, FUNGHI, NUTS

basil*, chervil, chives*, coriander, dill, mint*, mushrooms (cultivated), oregano*, parsley (curly)*, parsley (flat-leaf)*, rosemary*, sage*, sorrel*, tarragon*, thyme*, wild mushrooms

MEAT

beef, chicken, lamb*, pork, rabbit*, venison, wood pigeon*