We are having a bit of a hungry gap at the moment. Well, there is still plenty of salad and beetroot, but most of the crops in the ground are not ready to harvest yet, and the courgettes are really almost over. And frankly, a girl can get tired of salad and beetroot. Clearly, I should have sown stuff earlier in the year to tide me over, although I'm not sure where I would have put it.
Last weekend I put in the raised bed that will house the raspberry plants, eventually. This means that about two-thirds of the plot is now Under Cultivation; I am quietly proud. I have a large collection of empty compost bags that will be covering the bare soil between the latest beds very soon. Unfortunately the last third of the plot is the part infested with nettles - digging this over and putting in raised beds is my long-term Autumn job.
One of my particular successes this year has been the endive ('Bianca Riccia da Taglio' Salad Endive (Chicorium endivia) from www.realseeds.co.uk). It's very tasty as well as growing in pretty, f
rilly rosettes; slightly bitter, like radicchio, but softer to eat and very pleasant in salads. Also, the slugs don't seem to fancy it. The Pe Tsai has also done rather well despite the depredations of the gastropods.The latest batch of seeds, sown rather hopefully in September, have all put in an appearance - the turnips and winter radish are looking especially vigorous and have now been thinned. Cavolo nero and red mustard are also looking good after this week's rain. The fennel has come up with less vigour, but I don't really need hundreds of fennel bulbs. I put in Texel greens yesterday, (young plants from www.organicplants.co.uk), a vegetable I've never seen, let alone eaten. Apparently it is high in Vitamin C; comforting to know that scurvy will be averted this winter, provided the Texel greens thrive.
