too much rocket

the family’s well and truly fed up of rocket pesto :) and I’ve harvested less than a quarter of it…

Luckily the rhubarb’s coming to an end. I have grand plans for transplanting it this Autumn.

In other news, a BBC story about the desert rhubarb (Rheum palaestinum) — a plant that waters itself.

The rocket starts

Nice family trip to the plot today — a low impact way to spend the bank holiday Monday.

The rhubarb’s still going strong and now the rocket and spinach are ready for harvesting. It’s nerve-wracking, really, ensuring that the food’s not wasted. And I can see the blackcurrants swelling but still green, the garlic strong, the beans in flower; more picking and preserving needed throughout the Summer.

Today’s work: weeding, weeding, weeding; planted a row of peas with the girl; planted 25 French beans around the tepee.

Planting peas with gusto

Today’s haul: 1.8 kg of rhubarb that’s gone straight into the freezer in 300 gramme bags; 125 grammes of spinach that’s maturing in a dahl sag for tomorrow night’s tea; 250 grammes of rocket that she who knits made into a jar of pesto.

Picking rocket with the girl

Rocket pesto - we put it through the hand blender next

Back to cookery…

I am more at home with cooking, so today we made jam. Well, I made jam and the girl helped with the labelling.

Three jars of jam. An apple and roses in the background

Three jars of rhubarb and ginger jam, each with two labels

We now have 7 jars of rhubarb and ginger jam in the understairs cupboard. In a moment of clarity, I’ve realised that I’ve used up perhaps 10% of the rhubarb. The last jar from 2008 is dated 15 June, so that means I may have to make jam every day I look after the daughter from now until the holiday on 5 June…

tidying up the plot

The warning letter says I’ve got to get the plot tidy before 26 March, so I’ve been down to the plot twice this weekend.

Yesterday: mended the broad bean supports; dug over the bed for leeks; rooted up the bramble on the side of the plot; cut back the oregano; and cut the grass on the paths. Made it back home in time to watch the Scotland-Ireland match, ordered take-away curry, had a bath and was in bed by 9:30.

Today: finished digging the bed by the compost bins (it’ll probably get peas), and dug in a barrowful of manure; answered a master composter question; cut back another bramble; weeded the rhubarb and put manure around the crowns, which are just starting to poke out off the ground.

That’s 5 hours of work this weekend, and I suspect I’ll sleep like a log again tonight. But for now, I’m going to brew some coffee and listen to the Food Programme on Cuba and Urban Gardening.

Almost the last of the blackcurrants

When clearing out the freezer over the holidays, I found 300g of frozen blackcurrants from last July. I threw in a handful when I stewed some apples over the weekend, and tonight I’ve stewed another tablespoon and had it with vanilla ice cream. Adds a touch of Summer zing to the Winter, and I’ve still got enough for one more dish…

Another find: I’ve also got 2 jars of rhubarb & ginger jam left.

And with the light levels returning, I’m feeling more optimistic about getting down the plot and spreading some lovely manure on these two areas.

Cold and honest

It was cold when I got to the plot and when cold blooded invertebrates appeared as I dug over the rhubarb bed, they just sat there with no energy. No wonder the birds were friendly! After half an hour the sun had warmed things up slightly, but I decided to work elsewhere and clear more of the path at the East side of the plot. Discovered a place that would work as a den, and found some honesty which I brought back home for the vase of dried stuff.

Sticking out of my pannier, the honesty shed a few seed pods but not as many as I feared. I would have thought that once the seeds were viable, a plant would want to shed the pods as soon as possible. Maybe it’s better to release the pods over a prolonged period, so the plant gets a chance to sample various conditions of wind and weather.

In other news: this blog rates highly on a google search for “permaculture edinburgh”. Surely there are better practitioners out there…

If I were to start listing resources in and around Edinburgh, it’d go like this

• Edinburgh Transition Network organised the Intro to Permaculture 2-day course I attended in April
• It was there that I met people from Sustaining Dunbar, and they were extremely knowledgable and sympathetic
• I believe the author Graham Bell lives South of Edinburgh
• Why not visit The permaculture association of Great Britain?
• Watch Graham Burnett’s videos on You Tube
• Watch Bill Mollison videos on You Tube

First rhubarb of the year

new herb bed and my bike

horsetails of doom

First planting of broad beans (Claudia Aqualdulce)

Quite chuffed about the beans, but I do need to get a slug trap set up. Last year I lost a lot to slugs, and the nibble marks on these tiny bean plants are goading me into action. It also means I need to get some more beer for the plot …

Two horsetails from Hell have appeared by my blue shed, and I spotted the first standard horsetail. Made up for this by pulling my first rhubarb. Still small and awfy green, but tasty.

Was called an holistic gardener by a neighbour … kinda nice but also a bit sarky. Anyway, I’ve taken down the crappy chicken wire fence and added some subtle boundary markers: a small raised bed (30cm x 40cm), some red and white bricks to emphasise the corner and a few pieces of wood that’ll be made into the edges of a longer raised bed. Planted two rows of coriander (variety for leaf) in the small raised bed, and in the nascent one some parsley close to the lavender, and transplanted several crocus (?) bulbs.

Have decided where I’ll put one of the French Bean tepees: where the larger raised bed is languishing. Just need to dig the area and make a bean trenche. The comfrey’s coming along well and a few nettles are poking their heads up, so I’ll dig a hole, put down some newspaper then some comfrey and nettles, and cover it up. Still need to think of where to put the second tepee, and am in two minds about putting it between the blackcurrants and comfrey, as it’ll cast some shade on the blackcurrants.

Turf houses

Must be something in the air … A low impact woodland home in Wales plus an article on building it, and this week’s Big Issue Scotland headlines a £4000 straw and turf house in Dumfries. Wayne Hemingway’s opinion piece is a little po-faced. He’s right that duplicating the £4000 house will not solve a housing crisis, however he fails to laud the recycling and community aspects of the build.

In allotment news: planted the remaining 21 beans. The first lot didn’t look like they’d germinated, and I wonder whether I planted them too deep. Rhubarb stalks starting to unfurl on all three crowns.

Dug up the comfrey that was growing near my blackcurrants; almost a bucketful of roots. I’ve come to recognise the brittle tearing sound of comfrey roots, and the ensuing search for slivers of root that have broken off in case they regenerate. Am waiting for the horsetails to spring up soon, and then I’ll know Spring is really here.

The chives have growing again in my garden — didn’t spot these down the allotment.

manure on rhubarb…

…not a recipe but an action! Two of the three crowns are showing a little life, so I put a good pile of manure around each one.

• Cleared up after the winds: the wheelbarrow was upturned and bits of corrugated metal had been blown around
• Blackcurrant leaves continuing to unfurl, and the layered branch is coming along OK.
• Redcurrant bushes aren’t, in fact, dead, but I’m not hopeful that they’ll produce anything worthwhile. If they don’t, they’re out
• Neighbour’s Winter heathers are look resplendent. Vibrant colours against the soil.
• Tidied up the path on the West side, created a long habitat pile and mulched around the strawberries using the dried grass.
• Cleared the larger of the raised beds (it’s still small, at 4 foot square). Will take cardboard down and start to fill the bed with that, manure and then soil from excavation around the plot.
• Broad beans not germinated yet. Decided not to plant the remainder of the beans because the ground was a bit wet.

Not bad for an hour and a half this morning

manure and rent

Monday … took possession of 10 bags of manure from Gorgie City Farm. Lovely rotted-down stuff and plenty of worms in there. It’s enough to fill my empty compost bin and should go across a few of the beds.

I had wanted to spread it on Tuesday, but the weather was crap: heavy rain and wind. It’s probably worse today. I need to dig it in pretty soon and get on with other stuff.

And last night I got home to find an invoice for the year’s rent of the plot. Very happy to see this after all the hassles last year. This year, I promise to spend more time down the plot … no, really!

Costs:
Manure: £30. 10 bags at £3/bag (min order for delivery; £2/bag if self-collected)
Rent for the plot: £48/year

Next up:

• break down very old compost bins
• prune off any broken and diseased bits off the blackcurrants
• weed under and around blackcurrants
• put manure under the blackcurrants

• weed around rhubarb
• add manure to the rhubarb

• decide which beds are going to have which plants in, and manure where neccesary.