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 Veg Journal - 2012

Welcome to our Veg Journal for 2012 - an ongoing diary recording all the day-to-day observations we make about our veg plot.

We hope you enjoy browsing through our Journal entries using the menu on the left hand side of the page or the links in the Month by Month section below. Don't forget to browse the Related Pages links in the right hand column of each page as you go.

You can also go straight to our latest entries.


Month by Month

Our first savoy cabbage of the season

January - Although we had one or two sharp frosts, January was reasonably mild for the time of year, so the beetroot and calabrese were still cropping. The kale was still suffering from the earlier aphid attacks (and probably from pigeons) but the savoy cabbages were ready for picking and in good shape, along with the carrots, parsnips and swedes which are doing well. We took advantage of the quiet time in the garden to plan what seeds we wanted to buy for this year, and we also acquired a small chest freezer which we hope will help with storing the inevitable glut of vegetables later on.

February - This was a month of contrasts, weatherwise at least. In the first half we had snow and temperatures well below freezing, but in the last week it was almost like summer! Consequently we spent a lot of time protecting the plot from the snow and hungry pigeons, but we were also able to start planting and planning for the rest of the year. This is the first time we're rotating the beds as they were intended to be rotated, and it means that some veg (e.g. the chard) is having to be pulled up before it's really finished, so we may have to rethink once more for next year's rotation.

Purple sprouting broccoli

March - Strangely the weather in March was similar to the previous month in that it was very cold to start with and then lovely and warm in the last week - warm enough to put the tomatoes, peppers and aubergines outside during the day. We sowed lots of seeds and planted the onion sets; because of the warmth, some of the seedlings seemed to come up more quickly than usual and the germination rate is very high. The asparagus plants started sending shoots up and the flowers opened on the broad beans and peas. We were also able to harvest our first ever purple sprouting broccoli, and it was well worth the wait!

April - After the very warm weather in March, April was a bit of a shock and very cold. For the first half of the month we had heavy showers, but not really all that much rain to speak of, and then when the area was declared to have drought status, it never stopped raining! We were busy sowing and harvesting as usual in April, but due to the cold, wet weather, germination of many of the seeds we sowed in the second half of the month was very slow and ultimately quite poor, particularly the carrots, peas, spinach, turnips and beetroot. On the plus side, all the new potatoes have come up and are doing well and the broccoli harvest continues to be excellent.

Experimental tomatoes in the greenhouse

May - The weather is definitely continuing to be rather weird this year, so far, as it was very wet and cold at the beginning of May. We're sure that this is the cause of the poor germination rate for many of the root vegetables and peas - in fact none of the peas in the latest batch have come through. It has therefore been quite discouraging to continue with the sowing plan, and we've sown none of the seeds that we should have in the middle of the month. Hopefully we'll be able to make up for it in June. On the plus side, the month ended with a very hot spell, and the crops sown or planted last year (asparagus, peas, broad beans & broccoli) are doing well. We also planted out the tomatoes which we bought from Pennells into the greenhouse border - this is an experiment to see whether they do better than the ones we've previously raised from seed.

June - Our latest journal entries are here...

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