Carrots, carrots and more carrots.

Mentioned the carrots yesterday. Well, today, I started to harvest them.
The first one I got (which was a bit of a sad start) was mutant carrot.
It had these fab little arms and legs, and a very stubby body. It was not an altogether glowing start to the carrot harvest, but they did get better and better from there in.

Here's a shot of some of them having just been harvested, and they're not looking bad at all. (That's mutant carrot in the front there, but he's lying on his tummy, so you can only see one arm and one leg).

And of course, you can't harvest carrots without the help of a garden gnome (a.k.a Joshua). He was very useful indeed (in that he harvested one carrot and then let me get on with it!)
And yes, he is still in his pyjamas for this. Shocking, I know.
Here's the proof of the amount of carrots - over 1kg! Very pleased with that, especially given how many more are still to come up. I think I'll probably dig up one row over the next week or two, and then plant some baby carrots we got free from the National Trust. That should mean that we've got carrots for a while yet! They take about 7-10 weeks, if the book is correct...
Apparently, the Table Queen should be ready in about another month, but maybe I'll be lucky and have some sooner. They are supposed to be about 6in diameter, according to one place I looked! So they've got a little way to go yet.

We have harvest!

Very exciting day today. Got back from a two week holiday and had a look at the garden. Here's some photographic evidence:
Raspberries (sadly, this photo shows ALL the raspberries currently on our 12 canes...)
Pumpkins - Table Queen, if you're wondering. Not quite sure how to tell if they're ready to pick, but I'll look it up :)








Pumpkins (or maybe these ones are squash, come to think of it) Turks Turban. So named, because they end up looking like a turban. Although this one looks a bit flat, so I'm not sure if it actually will...





This is sort of the pumpkin/squash patch generally, which has come a fair way since the last photo. Also, the rhubarb in the middle is doing a whole load better than it was a little while ago. I think it's mainly recovered from it's long wait to be planted out.





These are the tomatoes. They're most (if not all) beef tomatoes, so we're going to have to consume a fair amount of tomato, basil and mozzarella salad... Sadly, the basil seeds I've sown inside have taken exception to not being watered for a fortnight...




Here are the potatoes. You can hardly see the bins now, which is slightly ridiculous. Again (as with most things...) I don't actually know when I'm supposed to be digging them up. Man, there's a whole lot more reading to be done.







Red cabbage. They're doing ok. Thankfully, the ones that were sown at the wrong time (i.e., when we were going to be heading south before they were ready to be planted out) have also survived, so will be planted out in due course. Note the nibbling that's happened on the far end. Not sure if that's slugs or caterpillars, haven't investigated properly. Note also the vast number of weeds that have flourished in our two weeks away.





I thought this was quite exciting. This is the carrots and parsnip bed (as you'll recognise from previous posts!) They're pretty immense. I also saw (though the camera phone wasn't up to the shot) a real carrot-looking thing at the bottom of the vegetation. Ok, so perhaps this isn't a big surprise, but it's EXCITING!







Here's the intercropping (pumpkins in rose bed) I mentioned before. They seem to be doing ok. Not sure that there'll be much pumpkin action in time for October, but hey. It's all a learning curve. Thankfully, there has actually been some rain up here while we've been away. This has help avoid a mass die-off in the garden. However, not everything has fared quite so well...


The tomatoes in the boxes, and the sweet peas with which they are planted, have not done quite so swimmingly. They don't really get much in the way of rain. They are outside, but probably get a bit of shelter from the patio roof, which means that the boxes can get pretty dry. Next year, I might have to line them with plastic, so that they keep the water in. The problem then, of course, will be waterlogging! There are, however, some tomatoes (they're cherry ones) on these plants.


And finally, the thing that actually came in from the garden today. It's tempting to make this a massive photo, but I'll resist. Unfortunately, these have actually grown a little too much. They're supposed to be courgettes, but have rather outgrown the tubs and are more marrowish. There were two like this, so we've kept one and given the other away. There's also a more normal size one, which we'll have at the weekend... Will also probably get some carrots up and maybe spuds and parsnips... Who knows!

In other news (roundup). Beans are doing much (well, it's in the singular, not plural!). PSB sown earlier is ok, but nothing impressive. Marigolds wilted in kitchen but not dead. Peppers in kitchen dead. Agapanthus growing. Pansies still going despite being uprooted (trying to find more seeds!) Haven't checked lavender. Plums beginning to redden slightly. (Still a way off though). Apples all doing well. Most roses over now. Loads of weeding to be done. Other rhubarb fine.
Will probably do a flower update tomorrow (or soon, anyway.)

Another rose...

Found this in the garden.
Very nice indeed.
But sadly the only one to come of that bush!

And while I'm on here, I may as well mention that I planted 5 pumpkin plants during half-time of the World Cup Final. One's been a bit nibbled and will probably not make it, but the others are doing ok. I've got a couple more to go in with the hope that they'll produce pumpkins for carving in the house. Though they might be rather ... uh ... small!

Weeded the beds under the boxes ... Weeded bed near the carrots and parsnips. Carrots sown recently seem to be showing themselves.

Burial.

Well, today we have:
Planted some agapanthus in pots by the door.
Put up galvanised wire rather than green garden wire for the sweet peas, and then tied the tomatoes into it too.
Dug a whole load of holes in the rose bed (finding lots of ants in the process) ready to put some pumpkins into.
Watered the boxes.
Watered the veg (main garden)
Dead headed the roses.
Taken marigold seedlings from the miniplug thing and put them in a 5x8 seed tray insert (there were 39 that had come up so far!)
Buried a bird. I think it flew into the window. A timely reminder that we could buy some of those bird stickers for said window...
Had a conversation with Joshua about the bird, including:
J: Is it dead?
Me: Yes, I think it flew into the window
J: (Looking intently at bird lying on ground) I think its legs have fallen off.
Me: No sweetie, they're just underneath him, you can't see them.
J: His eyes have fallen out.
Me: No, he's just closed them (I don't actually know about this one - do they shut them when they die, or what?!)
J: What shall we do?
Me: We'll bury him in the garden.
J: Are we going to bury him now?
Me: In a minute, I'm going to get my gloves first.
J: Why are you getting gloves, is he prickly?
Me: Uh, no, it's just that sometimes dead things aren't very clean, so it's better to wear gloves.
J: Why do we bury things when they're dead?
Me: (thinking, yeah, jolly good question) Uh, because it's nicer.
J: After a while, he'll come back to life.
Me: Uh, no sweetie, I don't think that the glorious hope of the resurrection extends to animals.
J: Who does come back to life?
Me: Well, people. Do you remember what happened to Jesus?
J: Yes, he died.
Me: And then what happened?
J: He came back to life again.
Me: And because he did that, we can come back to life too, after we've died
J: Is that why people pray to him?
Me: Well, yes, it's one reason.

I've also unplanted the pansies from the pot by the door, and moved them into a seed tray, where I'll keep them moist ish and harvest seeds. I hope.
Yesterday, I got a few seeds from the pansies, and some from a nice pink wildflower down the end of the orchard.
All the corn has now been eaten. Officially not doing corn ever again.
I planted a couple of the beef tomatoes into the bed at the weekend, as they kept wilting in the black plastic pots. Three more to do. The tomato from Paul and Penny has been dug up (again!) and I don't think will make it this time. (A moment's silence...)
The lone runner bean is doing its best, but is somewhat stunted by its attack earlier in the year.

Went to Calke at the weekend and was encouraged to hear that a volunteer in the garden (and oldish boy, so I figure he knows what he's doing) had had a bad year for parsnips, so I don't feel too bad now...
There might be some carrot seedlings from the latest sowing showing, but it's early to tell what they are...
The red cabbages planted at the weekend are doing ok, though one's been nibble a bit despite the netting ... slugs? Who knows!