Thursday 3 November 2011

The Fruits of My Labours

A little while ago I shared the fruits of our Silver Wedding Anniversary August Bank Holiday planting.  You may recall that there wasn't a great deal that was edible other than the lettuces and tiny tomatoes.  Well we are still enjoying lots of great salads (remarkably slug free still) and although we are down to the last half dozen teeny, tiny tomatoes, there are still plenty of (not so) Little Gems and a few Lollo Rossos in the pipeline ... well a plastic cloche actually!


I decided to play safe with the majority of the remaining lettuces in case the frosts appear.  Next year I must remember to leave enough space between rows to accommodate the cloche as several lettuces were a bit squashed when it was deployed!  I must also remember to plant fewer seeds at once as there are only so many salads you can eat in October/November.

Meanwhile the pea flowers have produced lots of pods ... I'm wondering just how long to leave these before trying to eat some peas - they are just tiny bumps at the moment, barely visible through the pods.


Today we harvested the first three raspberries (one each) ... delicious!  There are still flowers being pollinated and loads of raspberries ripening very slowly on the canes ... who'd have thought we'd finally be eating them in November!


And finally I also pulled up the first half-decent carrot.  It was remarkably straight (the hours spent extracting builders' rubble from the soil seems to have paid off) although still pretty small  - a bite each and it was gone!
I did wash it first ;o)
P.S. That finger is for scale, I'm sure you can tell which one is the carrot!

9 comments:

allie.duckienz said...

Congrats! I can't wait unti I am at this stage in my journey and able to grow some food to eat! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

How fab - and how weed free:) The carrot may be small but the raspberry is huge! Your cloches remind me of those fold away pac-a-mac hats that my mother made me wear as a child - oh the horror!

Beverly said...

I did think "oh look, the carrot" when I saw you pointing lol How nice to still be gathering from the garden :)

Mary B said...

Well done you labours finally have come to fruition and vegition too enjoy the fruits and vegges of your labours

Lynn said...

How satisfying to eat stuff you have produced. We had some success with tomatoes this year.

alexa said...

Lovely to have some fresh produce - you're doing well to still have edible greenery in November. The peas may not get enough warmth to produce much more in the way of peas inside but I tbhink the pods will be edible like mange-tout ones are. (Check first!).

Alison said...

Looking good...especially the raspberry!
Alison xx

Sian said...

Wow! There is nothing like a bit of "Grow Your Own". Your lovely photos really show off the freshness of your "produce". What a fantastic gift.

Missus Wookie said...

Yeah for fresh veg! Peas will go to first frost usually - but go tough when it gets cold :( carrots will stop growing but can stay in the ground covered in fleece. Wookie has promised me some poly tunnel/cloches to go over my raised beds... one day ;)