September 2015

This is Romanesco Broccoli, and this is the first year I have grown them.  They have a very large single head (no follow up side shoots) more like cauliflower than broccoli and they look great on the dinner plate.  They have a mild taste and we like them steamed seasoned with salt and pepper and a few herbs.  We planted 3 of them and they dominated the Ecobed for a while.  They have all been harvested, and this one was cut up and preserved in the freezer (large zip tie bag).

I built this removable pest exclusion frame after losing my dwarf Mayer lemon tree a couple of months ago.  I decided to grow brassicas in the bed while I worked out what I should do about a permanent replacement.

It nearly died 2 years ago when an old style overflow pipe got blocked, and the bed it was growing in was flooded by heavy rain.  Although both my dwarf citrus trees have grown well in Ecobins in the past, they outgrew them and were transplanted into these smart new Ecobeds last spring.

Both trees struggled all year, and I'm not sure whether they had been moved too often or are not suited to the constant moist soil they live in.  I will concentrate on the orange tree's recovery this year, and leave any decision about a new lemon tree until next season, meanwhile I will grow brassicas in the bed.