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Monday 5 September 2011

Back to school

As summer draws to a close, I realise that it’s been a while since I posted (probably lots to tell so maybe I’ll catch up on some in later posts). Ha, nothing new there I hear you say and you are, of course, quite correct. It’s been so long in fact that I either can’t remember what font I normally use or it has somehow disappeared from my laptop. Uh! If I spend too long faffing about, trying to choose a new one this’ll never get posted at all so I am going with ‘autumn’ – quite fitting I thought.

I don’t really bother much with new year resolutions but I do find myself trying to re-focus a little as summer winds down. I was tempted by Shimelle’s ‘Learn something new everyday’ but I knew that it just wouldn’t happen, so I passed for the time being. But, I am determined to get back crafting in one form or another – I just need to clear my area of our office first that is currently masquerading as a tip lol.

Of course at this time of year, in addition to the girls returning to school – Grumpy into sixth form and Tattyhead into year 10 – it is also harvest time, or should be.

Onion Harvest Sep 11 copy

At home we’ve had potatoes, onions, lettuces, sweet corn, carrots, rhubarb, tomatoes and courgettes on the go. The jury is still out on the sweet corn and carrots but the rest have been somewhat disappointing, especially the potatoes and onions. I think our prep and poor soil were to blame and so all my hopes were pinned on the potatoes at The Hovel. After we’d planted at home we had a few left and so we bought a pack of three potato sacks (green plastic tubs) and threw the remainder of the seed in. . Because these were planted into compost, had received plenty of water in the form of rain (we are talking Wales here) and had been able to develop good deep root growth in the tubs I really had high hopes. One bag contained the ‘earlies’, one the ‘maincrop’ and the last a mix of the two. Over the weekend I harvested the bag of ‘earlies’ as the tops were beginning to die off.

Potato harvest Sep 11 The Hovel edit

Ok, there are perhaps a couple more potatoes per seed than at home but really, is this all I get? I had been working away convincing T’hubby that we ought to get some raised beds in place over the winter so that we could grow more potatoes given that they were obviously doing so well – they DID look like they were – but even I am no longer convinced. I will try again next year. At home we will double dig and make sure we enrich the soil. At the Hovel we will try the bags again. In both cases though I will research and make sure I buy a reputable seed as I now presume this was my mistake.

Ah well, we live and learn ……

Thanks for dropping by and please feel free to leave me a comment, it is nice to hear from folks.

Wendy xx

6 comments:

Jimjams said...

Never had much luck with potatoes and rather missed the boat with our newly prepared veggie patch - but we've planted peas, salad onions, carrots and lettuce to see if we can squeeze an Indian summer crop out of it. A winter of research beckons though as we have ZERO expertise here.

debs14 said...

We have mixed success with veggies here (I blame the British weather)- last year the broad beans were amazing, this year poor. Last year a bumper crop of tomatoes, this year, not many and far too green for too long. The only thing doing well is the runner beans - yum! Nothing quite like the taste of home grown produce is there?

Alison said...

They DO look pretty good though!
Alison xx

Sian said...

That's what happened to us with potatoes too. We had grow bags which promised much, but delivered little. As Alison says, though, you did get a lovely "Country Living" photo out of it!

Gem's Crafts said...

Wow it sounds like you've been busy growing vegetables this year! I've never had much luck with fruit and veg!

Miriam said...

I don't had any luck with veg either, i suspect I don't put enough time in! I missed you, can't wait to catch up!