Not All Weeds are Weedy

This one certainly isn't - Horsetail (Equisetum arvense). It's an interesting plant which has been around since prehistoric times and will likely be around on Plot 3 (our new one) forever! It grows through spores from cone-like tips, earlier in the season, and through its creeping roots (rhizomes) now.

You can see that the blue-black stem looks dead but left in the ground a shoot will soon appear ...

...followed by green growth. The resultant fairy forests really are very pretty, but not in the middle of our vegetable plot. The weed has ~2m deep roots and pulls nutrients from deep down in the earth, so doesn't actually cause a whole lot of problems to other plant growth (hmmm...watch this space).

The 'leaves' break into sections. These leaves are silica-rich and can be used for strenghthening your nails and hair and stopping bleeding. All this information may be tested at some point...though probably not through ingestion (at least not by me!). More likely It's used in Japan for polishing wood and metal - I did use it once to polish stainless steel - but I think the vinegar and bicarb were doing most of the work!

We got about 2 bags of weed and roots out of that area and then dug a couple of barrows of manure in. That should encourage the worms to do their bit and then we're going to plant some broad beans on that part of the plot.

We found a lot of these tubers - they look rather like oca. I think they belong to a weed, but not sure what sort. It looks like forget-me-not but I don't remember the roots looking like that.

Fresco Como una Lechuga!

(Corrections are expected and appreciated!!)

Este blogpost es para mis amigos de curso de español. Hablo siempre de mi huerta tan aqui lo es! 

Eses nosotros dos huertas; de 125m² en total

Hace el sitio en Hungerford desde 2009. Jamie, mi pareja, y yo hemos cultivido vegetales aqui desde el principio. Hay mas que 100 otras jardineros al sitio.

El Marsh Lane Sitio

Este año hemos comenzado una huerta nueva - otros 50m². Es muy dificil cavar.

Huerta Numero 3

Aqui cultivamos nuestra ajo y ensalada.

Estan las patatas de Tenerife. Le parece frio si hace mal tiempo! Son mas pico que los otras patatas.

Papas arrugadas

Estoy esperando este año cultivamos muchas vegetales y podamos hablar de las! Cebollas, tomates, ajos, habas verdes, pepinos y calabacíns. Delicioso!

Si teneis suerte habéis unas fresas pronto!

Signs of Things to Come

So after catching the sun yesterday (naughty - I didn't put any suncream on) I was quite relieved that it wasn't so sunny today (that isn't something anyone would normally hear me say, but I've got transplant clinic on Wednesday!!). We had a lovely few hours on the site this afternoon and enjoyed chatting to other plotholders.

We sowed some wild flowers at the back of Plot 8 and Jamie sowed night stocks at the front, by the bench, so hopefully we'll have some warm fragrant evenings on the plot this year! Maybe eating strawberries - look at that little beauty! (PLEASE don't let there be another frost!!)

Not so busy today. Though I did plant out a few asparagus pea plants - along the front of the plot as the flowers are so pretty and they need to be accessible to get all those delicious pods picked when they're still small and tasty.
Also, rainbow chard (a couple of plants of each colour: yellow, pink, orange & red) which are the other side of the same quarter, again for easy access as I like chard raw in salads so eat it regularly. And it looks really stunning if the sun catches it right.
The remaining seedlings I've potted on as replacements if the planted plants disappear or as spares for fellow plotholders if they want them... They're looking a little sad immediately after transplanting but they should cheer up in a couple of days.

This is our Tiger Nuts pot - known as Chufa in Spain. They make a lovely drink called Horchata which I really enjoyed in Tenerife. Hopefully in the late Autumn we'll get some chufa and be able to make our own... The grass-like plant has to be kept wet, hence the green trug-thing...with the escape route for the insects which are always drawn to water then drown in it! I saw a frog today too so perhaps he'll fancy a dip.

Our rhubarb is still going strong, giving us plenty of stalks whenever we want it - these raspberry red plants are definitely worth growing as the rhubarb stays red after cooking.

Sow Far Sow Good

We didn't expect it to be so hot today but it was lovely and mostly sunny. A great day for getting a lot of our seeds sown...Here goes...

Scarlet Empire runner beans, Oarsman leeks and Revenge sprouts in modules.

Best of All swede direct into the ground.

Albion Parsnips and 3 varieties of carrot (Purple Sun, Eskimo & Primo) direct into the ground. The parsnips have bottle cloches for protection and, as usual, are sown 3 per station - we'll only keep the best seedlings. The carrots are in 2 rows under enviromesh.

American cress (like watercress, but doesn't need running water (apparently)) into a pot, which will stay behind the greenhouse, as it likes a bit of shade.

Some Empress of India Nasturtium  and Radish Rats Tails in an empty spot near the compost bins.

Paris Silverskin onions in the raised bed with the beets. And, the beets I planted out last week are Cylindria, not Boltardy as I've been thinking!

Tenerife spuds

Here's a timelapse of part of our day ...

Wrap Up Warm

Tonight it would seem we're going to get a frost. The sky is completely clear and it does feel a bit nippy, so, better to be safe than sorry...
That's our potatoes completely earthed up. The little Tenerife ones have an additional fleece covering - we could hear them shivering already :-{

We had some more fleece so covered the strawberry plants which have the most flowers. The other plants may get frosted, but it's only the flowers that will be affected at this stage.

Aw, and my poor little lettuces - not sure that this cloche will help. But surely it won't be a harsh frost...

Hopefully the seedlings in the greenhouse will be ok...