Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

I planted a bulb of Solent Wight garlic back in April, in very small wicker baskets (each big enough for a clove) that were picked up cheap from the local garden centre. The leaves have long since died off, leaving just stumps, so i decided to investigate.  I was expecting rotten small cloves, but the garlic had grown, albeit not to the size predicted. It had split so the cloves can be separated.

That should keep us in garlic for the next few months. I think it was so small due to being Spring planted, and that to get larger cloves it needs to be Autumn planted. I’m going to split the largest clove, plant it and see what emerges come next summer…

We planted about 10 seeds of Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (2 c 1 l!) back in April in the Brassica bed. They grew nicely, so we thinned out a few and gave them away. We left 3, which is really 2 too many for the metre square space they are in. However, they have grown nicely and are now ‘uge! They have taken a bit of a battering by the wind lately and have had to be staked to stop them falling over, but just to take the weight…no string or ties. As this is ‘early,’ it will start producing tasty florets around March time. The ‘later’ variety starts, as the name suggests in April.

As the Brassica bed will be used next April for the carrot, parsnips, leeks and onions, it will need to be clear, so that will probably mean sacrificing the plants before they have finished producing.

To compensate for this next year we will be planting ‘Extra Early Rudolph’ next April so it will be ready by Feb and we’ll have it for a lot longer!

The perils of trying to grow all year round in a small garden are huge! I’m not looking forward to trying to get the manure into the maze at the base of the plants in a few weeks!