harvest time

I don't think I've done an update on our little garden since way back in June. Our vegetable plot was coming along nicely and we were looking forward to sampling everything once it was ready.

We had mixed results with our produce in the end. The cabbage went the same way as the cucumber (devoured by snails) and although our courgette season started well with some lovely big juicy ones, the snails and slugs soon tracked them down too and we didn't see many more reach full size before being munched away.

Here are some pictures of some of the things we did get to eat...

Our first shiny courgette // One of many handfuls of beans which we enjoyed through August & September // Our tomato crop has not been quite so bountiful // Another lovely bright courgette

I exaggerate a bit with regards to our tomato crop. It has been a bit better than one green tomato, but we have had nowhere near as many as expected, especially as we had about 10 tomato plants (or more) on our patio. They just didn't seem to get going properly this year, and looked a little feeble. I hope we have better results next year.

Below is a photo of my flowering Cima di Rapa, grown from the seeds I received in the secret seed swap. Doesn't it look pretty?

Unfortunately over the last couple of weeks the caterpillars have got to it (disaster!) and now all it's leaves have been stripped away and I have very little hope for it's recovery. I think caterpillars may have overtaken snails as my no.1 gardening enemy. No Cima di Rapa for us this year anyway.

The good garden news is that the season isn't quite over yet, and we have a couple of squashes going strong on the patio. Let's hope they manage to grow big enough to eat before the weather turns wintery.

Aside from harvesting this years mini crops our thoughts have been turning to next year and we have already planted out some bulbs for the early spring months.  We layered them up (bulb lasagne!) to make the most of the space we had and I'm excited about seeing them pop their heads out of the soil when the time is right. 

Daffodil // Tulip // Iris // Snowdrop

I've also been gathering seeds from the garden, ready to plant out next year (or for future seed swaps?)

We had loads of Nigella flowers this year so I collected a bunch of seed heads up once they had stopped flowering and dried out a bit. I also collected some dried sweet pea pods, nasturtium seeds and the last of the runner beans.

All ready for next spring. It's nice how much gardening is about forward planning.