Next Year's spuds and onions ordered

We've placed our order for next year from Thompson and Morgan.

We've opted for these potato varieties:

Potato 'Kestrel' - 10 seed potatoes (Second Earlies)

Potato 'Orla' - 10 seed potatoes (First Earlies) We found these to be good for mash and baking too this year

Potato 'Belana' - 5 seed potatoes (First Earlies) These should produce lots of small new potatoes

And we've ordered the following onions and shallots:

Onion 'Santero' F1 Hybrid - This is an early cropper which is apparently resistant to downy mildew

Shallot 'Golden Gourmet' - Our favourites for making pickled onions They won't arrive until Jan-mid-May. We've ordered less than we've had this year, as they just keep going on for too long really. We got a bit fed up with the new potatoes this year and it's a shame to let them grow big. We've still got a Congo and a Kestrel plant in the ground at the plot at the moment. We're really hoping the onions will be happier next year so that we get a full season without them succombing to mildew...

Halloween

We had a lovely Halloween dinner: Layered beetroot, potato, carrot and tofu chunks in a cheesy sauce - so delicious and colourful (we used purple spuds).

The next day the pumpkin went to the compost bin - not a home-grown pumpkin this year; they take up so much room, but next year we may grow some small jack-o-lantern squashes...

More Tidying

Another sunny morning meant more weeding and tidying up on the plot. No signs of life in the broad beans yet.
I ventured into the sprout cage, weeded and pulled off all the yellowing leaves at the lower level of the sprouts. Masses of white fly under there, while some of the sprouts look really healthy - others look really awful!

We actually weeded Plot 8A as well - it was a state! Filled a compost bag with weeds. It looks so much happier now.

And we went home with another trug full of purple Congo potatoes.

Sloe Gin

As expected there weren't enough sloes in the hedge by our plot so we picked ours from Hungerford Common where there were loads. Some of the berries were pretty small but we filled a jar and made a litre of sloe gin in 2 kilner jars half filled with sloes and with about the same weight in sugar. We'll just give the jars a shake every day and in a few months we'll have a lovely drink.

Enjoying the sunshine

And it was lovely being able to sit in the sun with a coffee again! Look at that blue sky - gorgeous!

This bee was enjoying warming itself in the sun too