Pimento de Padron

La pasada semana en Madrid compré un paqueta  de Pimiento de Padron . . .Last week in Madrid I bought a packet of Padron a Pepper seeds to see if they will work in England's 'sun'.  Looking forward to grilling them for tapas and to see if we get the random super-hot one.

Here we go again - Year 4

Lots of rain at his time of the year but managed to get things sorted out a bit.  Reglazed 4 sheets in the greenhouse - 3 after the door blew off!

Now planning what to grow this year.

Garlic planting

Last post of 2015 (but only added in 2016).  Garlic planted with help from Elisa.  30 cloves in 4 rows, and for the first time using cloves from last year's harvest.  Might try and plant a few more when it dries up again.

Will we ever have to buy garlic again?

2015 summary report

What's been good and what not so good.

Garlic.  -  brilliant.  Easy to grow and comes up a cracker.  Self sufficiency beckons.

Broad beans. -  shaky start but pretty good in the end.

Courgettes -  again a bit shaky but a good crop in the end

Potatoes. -  good but we don't eat enough of them.

Strawberries.  -  OK but not as good as the first year.

Tomatoes. -  disappointing compared to last year.  Trouble ripening.

Sweet peas. Brilliant   Pity you can't eat them.

Sweet corn.  Waste of time.  Need to start them earlier and keep them in the greenhouse for longer.

Artichoke. Nice plant.  Never tried to eat them, let them turn into flowers

Rhubarb.  Good

Blackberries.  Brilliant.  Freezer full of them.

Leeks.  Not so good but still time I guess.  Reports of leek moth but I don't think that's the problem.

Manure

Been quiet for a while but it's all kicking off with the arrival of manure.  Sharing a pile with Alan again, although a 'half' is still a massive amount.  Did a shift of 10 barrow loads early on in November to break the back of the job and then realised that was a barely a scratch on the pile itself.  Digging it in rather than just spreading it - on Alan's advice.

No pictures here, as it's just too unpleasant - not smelly, just mucky!

15 barrow loads yesterday (OK, OK, 14 - I just couldn't face the last one) and 5 today in the wind and rain.

I estimate about 25-30 barrow loads left (sigh).  Started a sub-pile on my plot as I can't face digging it all in.

Ripening tomatoes (continued)

Picking and ripening as we go and a get a nice tone scale from green to red

How to ripen tomatoes

Trying out the banana trick here. Bananas cause other fruits to ripen quickly because they give off a gas called ethylene (apparently).  So you put a banana next too fruit you want to ripen and, hey presto! (apparently).

We'll see.  If these look like working after a couple of days I'll try it with a load more of my green crop.