Frostbite
Dead pepper tree
The first frosts of winter have been genocide to the plot. While the sprouts may only improve with some extreme chilling, the dwarf French beans, the pepper plants and all but two of the squash plants have been killed off.
It’s left it in a sorry state, and at the same time revealed how many peppers were hiding among the foliage. I reckon I could have picked two dozen if they’d had another couple of weeks to mature.
The squash, which I thought would be hardy and easy to grow, are turning out to be quite fragile. There are no fruits on any of them yet, and only the ones growing in the trugs, which I thought would have been more susceptible to the cold than the ones in the ground, are doing anything that looks remotely like growing.
Obviously the theory that the residual heat in the ground would help didn’t work out. I guess all that heat has well and truly gone by now. Perhaps covering the soil with black plastic would have helped, but it would be pig ugly.
So we need to have a big clear out of anything forward of the leeks, which won’t take too long, but is a shame nonetheless.
The cabbages, meanwhile, remain something of an enigma. They’re quite leggy, rather than round but I’m still hopeful they’ll fill out around the middle in time for Christmas. As things stand, though, they don’t really look all that appetising.
If you liked that post, then try these...
Sprouts on December 24th, 2007
Last of the beetroot, end of the squash on November 22nd, 2007
Squash and Dwarf French Beans on August 3rd, 2007
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On Saturday morning, we drove up to Stebbing for our lesson on chicken keeping, and to pick up the first three members of our little home flock: Margot, Gerry and Barbara.
As energy prices rocket, anything that simplifies cutting down on waste is a boon. Bye Bye Standby does just that, by putting control of every plug in your home in the palm of your hand.
The weather is doing a pretty good impression of winter right now, so I’m glad I was able to pick the first tomatoes this morning. The first tomatoes always feel a bit summery.
A good lettuce is so much more than just limp green leaves. This year’s specimens have been a particular success, which we’re putting down to the fact that they’ve been grown under glass, rather than out in the garden.
The cat is turning out to be a first-class mouser, which is having benefits we hadn’t initially considered. Could he be the ultimate self-sufficient accessory?