Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

The winter field bean was planted early November and the beans quickly sprouted. We planted them in the bed that previously had the courgettes etc in it and in the legumes bed.

They have grown steadily to the height they are now and have even survived having a few barrowloads of manure dumped on them - they grew right through it.

The plan is for the green manure to be dug in, in February. This will give it a good 4 months to grow. Next year the ground will be a little more used but it seemed sensible to plant something so the soil didn’t break down and lose all its nutrients.  I specifically chose this as it doesn’t leave horrid seed heads in the soil like other green manures when dug in that will be a pain to remove in future years.

I don’t think the green manure on its own is all the soil needs, so we’ll be adding some more manure to the beds that need it when i can get hold of some.

The Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli we planted back in March is still growing, somehow surviving a battering from the wind and an invasion of cabbage white butterflies - it should by rights, be dead. However, it will hopefully produce spears around February time. Considering our small space though, it’s a lot of nothing over a long period of time.  So this is the plan for next year

Summer Purple - Sow March to April.  Harvest June to October (this is very early!)

Rudolph (sometimes spelt Rudolf) - Sow March - May. Harvest Nov to Feb

Cardinal - Sow April to May. Harvest March - April

This way we can have an early variety for eating June onwards, and a maincrop that can be grown in a large pot and transplanted in late August time, and can grow into the space previously occupied by the first plant. The third variety (Cardinal) will be planted out in the next bed, Legumes, as by the time the broccoli needs the space, all of the beans, peas and sweetcorn will be coming to an end, which it means we can have broccoli all the way from June to April….and not pay those extortionate supermarket prices. That’s 10 months a year!

During the summer, we will have to cover the brassica bed with either a large frame covered in enviromesh or fleece this year to protect it a little better.