Christmas Veggies

Had a lovely Christmas with the family and had vegetables from the allotment gracing our Christmas Day dinner table.  Got some curly kale, parsnips and leeks from the top plot, leeks were HUGE!  Really pleased with them, bigger than any we could see in the shops!  And harvested more than enough brussel sprouts from the bottom plot, some a bit small but very tasty.  The bottom plot has been suffering a bit as it is right next to the river and in a dip.  With all the floods we have been having in Somerset the plot didnt escape.  Simon went down there to survey the damage and the water line was 4ft up inside the shed!  Wellington boots floating around and plant pots everywhere but luckily the veg in the ground survived.  And the flood waters reached the shelf in the greenhouse but luckily the chillis were overwintering on the shelf and didnt get submerged.  Thats the 2nd time the plot has been underwater this year but it doesnt seem to do much damage, just makes the ground easier to dig!  Glad I didnt see it when it was all underwater, want an allotment not a swimming pool!

Our best parsnip this year....

One of the Girls

Thought I would quickly post a picture of one of Janes hens having a cuddle on one of those rare days that the sunshine appeared. The chicken's are doing great and we now get 4  good sized eggs per day. So many that I was allowed by my good lady wife Jane to pickle 27 of them ready for Christmas. I just love a pickled egg..

Attempting to Over-Winter my Chillies

 

Well winter is fast approaching and the chilli plants are now past their best. After chatting to other chilli growers this year i am attempting to over-winter some of the chilli plants that did well this year dispite of the weather.



Following the guide in 'grow-it' magazine, I've cut the plants back to about six inches above the soil. Shook away nearly all of the old compost from the root system.



Repotted the plants into single large pots with new compost and added some slow release 14:14:14 feed just in case.



Put some old bubble wrap on the cold greenhouse stageing, wrapped up the pots with more bubble wrap. Gave all the chillies a final small watering then covered the whole lot up with some garden flease.

 

So hopefully now next year, they should get off to a head start over the seed that i'll plant next year.