A month ago I planted various courgette and squash seeds into modules (in the waxing gibbous moon, supposedly good for plants with internal seed-bearing fruits). On Wednesday they looked like this:
(Defender, Tondo di Piacenza, Jemmer (yellow) and Black Beauty courgettes - the latter a new variety for us.)
And this:
(Five butternut squash and three Tromba di [...]
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I noted on 18th March 2007 that globe artichokes were the first seeds we sowed last year. After surviving a slug onslaught and a long winter, one of the two remaining plants has at last produced an artichoke, some 14 months later.
My plan to plant according to the phases of the moon is proving tricky [...]
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Still no proper internet access from home, but spring goes on and so does work at the plot. (I am fortunate enough to be able to use another computer occasionally.) As a result of not having chance to play around with the new WordPress photo uploader, some of these pics could be better placed: I will edit [...]
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Although you can’t see it, this photo of blossom on a plum tree was taken during a snow shower yesterday.
This sudden burst of late wintry weather would be called takatalvi (back winter or the return of winter) in Finland, where I lived for a number of years, the difference being that takatalvi means snow in [...]
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We put a second batch of late beans, borlottis this time, into the plot last night after starting them indoors a couple of weeks ago.
We also planted seeds for some greens brought back from Italy in April, Cima di rapa quarantina. Known in English as ‘broccoli rabe‘, they look like sprouting broccoli and are served [...]
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I picked the first courgettes today (Defender and Tondo di Piacenza), small as they are, to try to encourage more growth in the plants, also bringing home a couple of onions and some raspberries (the raspberry canes are growing so vigorously that I struggled to get to them).
A rather large radish to the left of [...]
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The courgettes were more than ready for planting, so we gingerly took them down to the allotment in their trays (not having a car, this was a precarious exercise) and spent the afternoon preparing the courgette bed. We grew tomatoes and runner beans in this bed last year, but it had become overrun with couch [...]
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The rain finally stopped.
Our afternoon on the plot was hard work: the damp soil was easier to dig but tougher to hoe than usual. We were rewarded for our efforts with month-old radishes, three sticks of rhubarb - both the first of the spring - and good old spinach beet.
The cherries are ripening nicely.
The cherry [...]
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Due to computer mishap I’ve been unable to record any of our weekend progress until today. The never-ending rounds of weeding and tidying up continued as J completed a tricky strimming operation around the little fruit trees at the top of the plot.
And a bigger, more straightforward one by the side.
Having given up on [...]
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Earlier this week (Tuesday, I think) J planted fennel seeds - Wadenroman, yet another Italian bargain from Gubbio market last summer - in the seed tray at the front on the right. They’ve joined the courgettes, butternut squash and the few little artichokes that weren’t ready to go into the plot. We are complete novices [...]
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