29 September 2016

September 2016.

The peas are setting pods and we have a small harvest ready for immediate use.  The broad beans are still a few weeks away though.
We had a great display of blossom on our dwarf espalier apples last year, and this year is shaping up to be even better.  Unfortunately last year, due to inclement weather or possibly inappropriate use of chemical pesticides by neighbours, my pollinators did not turn up for work and I lost the whole crop.  There seem to be plenty of bees around this year and I have more flowering plants available to keep them interested, so I am hoping they clock in on time.  If not I will have to sack them and hand pollinate the apples myself.
My potatoes have broken through and are growing strongly.  I had a 97.959183% success rate, in other words I lost 1 of the 49 seed potatoes I planted.  However, ever resourceful, I emptied out my bag of shop bought organic potatoes to find 1 of them, near the bottom, putting out new shoots.  So I planted it in the vacated space.
Here is my production line of mini cabbages and red iceberg lettuce.  I hope we never grow tired of their fresh, crisp tastiness, because if we do, I don't know what I will replace them with.  In the top left hand corner of the picture is a small patch of recently sown Nantes carrots under a protective covering of shadecloth.  
I think I've found the ideal plant to grow in Ecobins.  Just 4 broad bean seeds in each bin produce this vigorous healthy growth and hopefully a substantial harvest of beans.
These 9 root cuttings in the centre of the picture are taken from the edges of my lawn.  The propagator will, hopefully, nurture them so that in a month or two I will be able to randomly plant them out in my nature strip amoungst the wild grasses and flowers growing there at the moment.  It will be interesting to see if they can stand the competition.

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