The 2019 Roundup
- By Haidee Clarke
- •
- 06 Jan, 2020
- •
Today we are mostly feeling..... shocked, dazed and amazed
Well it has been some time since the last blog post.... in fact it has been an age since the last blog post. The summer holidays started not long after the last post and then went headlong into entertaining the children, followed by a manic September to Christmas with work and everything that needed doing here. But that is enough of the excuses!
So, did we have a Christmas dinner of our own making?
In part yes. Carrots, parsnips, runner beans and red cabbage. If we hadn't eaten all the potatoes then we could have had those too! AND a nice batch of runner bean chutney was circulated as beautiful little potted gifts. We couldn't have been more proud of the first attempt at growing our own Christmas dinner.
But one thing we would say is that we could not tell the difference in the flavour (or growth actually) of our two types of parsnips, but they were really tasty anyhow.
The 2019 failures were:
The brussel sprouts... they were savaged by the caterpillars, the ferocity of their attack was worse than we imagined. Note to selves: do cover the brassicas with netting as they WILL be eaten.
The beetroots ..... we just didn't keep constant water and thin properly.
The tomatoes..... they did not get enough sun and that coupled with not having the right soil just meant they stalled and only gave a small crop in later September.
The peas..... well these were not so much failures really; we ate them all in the garden and none ever made it to the house!
And now onto planning the 2020 season. Looking at growing fewer types of veg, but larger crops so there is some discussion to be had here about which ones..... but if you are the children, this means naming the millions of veggies you like, some of which will be impossible to grow here! The planning will certainly be an interesting process (although you cannot fault their enthusiasm), but in the meantime we will continue to be shocked, dazed and amazed as to how well 2019 went for us.
So, did we have a Christmas dinner of our own making?
In part yes. Carrots, parsnips, runner beans and red cabbage. If we hadn't eaten all the potatoes then we could have had those too! AND a nice batch of runner bean chutney was circulated as beautiful little potted gifts. We couldn't have been more proud of the first attempt at growing our own Christmas dinner.
But one thing we would say is that we could not tell the difference in the flavour (or growth actually) of our two types of parsnips, but they were really tasty anyhow.
The 2019 failures were:
The brussel sprouts... they were savaged by the caterpillars, the ferocity of their attack was worse than we imagined. Note to selves: do cover the brassicas with netting as they WILL be eaten.
The beetroots ..... we just didn't keep constant water and thin properly.
The tomatoes..... they did not get enough sun and that coupled with not having the right soil just meant they stalled and only gave a small crop in later September.
The peas..... well these were not so much failures really; we ate them all in the garden and none ever made it to the house!
And now onto planning the 2020 season. Looking at growing fewer types of veg, but larger crops so there is some discussion to be had here about which ones..... but if you are the children, this means naming the millions of veggies you like, some of which will be impossible to grow here! The planning will certainly be an interesting process (although you cannot fault their enthusiasm), but in the meantime we will continue to be shocked, dazed and amazed as to how well 2019 went for us.