Friday 13 July 2012

Haddock's Mid-July 2012.



Mid-July is always a danger point in the annual life of Haddock's. It's the time of year when Summer guests start to arrive, and normal everyday weeding duties tend to be forgotten, or put off till maƱana. If I'm not vigilant it can become swamped by weeds.

However, everything is flourishing. Piles of Courgettes are restricting movement in the kitchen, and the Tomatoes are almost ready. We are eating Swiss Chard, Kale, Beans, and Red Onions; and we've not had to buy any salads since March (I grow the red oak leaf ones).   


Why am I so surprised when something grows so well! Just look at this Red Cabbage, ain't she a beauty.  And I have 5 more, all equally beautiful.


There are a few Black Fly on a couple of the bean plants which I treat with either diluted washing-up liquid or nettle juice, but very few other bugs. Even the Cabbage White butterflies don't seem to have been laying their usual amount of eggs.


Any day we're going to have one huge Tomato glut. I have about a dozen plants, all of which are fully loaded. My 2012 preserving campaign will soon need to be en route. 


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26 comments:

  1. That is looking good.
    Everything here is in need of sunshine..the earth is warm, we have plenty of rain.....

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    1. It did actually rain during the night. Our allocation was seven drops!

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  2. Food parcel would be appreciated. Last month, in our winter, it was the driest for over 40 years!!!

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  3. Your vegetables are stunningly beautiful!

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  4. Morning Cro - What a fantastic sight - Haddocks in full throttle is wonderful - I am so envious of your perfect plot - everything is struggling here - oh for a longish spell of decent weather.

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    1. The honour, this year, goes to 'Horse Manure'. I put about 10 sacks into the soil, plus the usual compost. The results are wonderful.

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  5. Oh yes, horse manure is magic. Very impressive, Cro!

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  6. That's looking good Cro. (Tried our swiss chard for the first time last week - wilted with garlic and butter - delicious. Definitely on our list for next year.)

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    1. It's a great standby. I've just had some in my lunchtime 'compost soup'.

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    2. Swiss chard, known as Silver Beet here, was a staple long before I arrived in 1965.

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  7. Everything looks great! Especially the cabbage. How will you prepare it? I am getting tomatoes daily now, and loving it.

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  8. It all looks wonderful, most especially to someone who has no gardent this year.

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  9. Stunning! what a beautiful garden . . . I hope they're not courgette flowers on the compost heap ;-)

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  10. The color of your red cabbage is exquisite! I'm going to try and reproduce that in the dye pot and spin some inspired yarn.

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  11. Looks lovely! We've had so much rain that my tomato and pepper plants are stunted. Not sure that they'll produce any fruit before the season ends.

    I'm sure that cabbage will be delectable!

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  12. Looks like a victory garden for sure.

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  13. Your garden is gorgeous, especially that cabbage. The last time we grew it, nasty little white worms got more of it than we did. Our tomatoes are slow to ripen this year, for some reason, so we'll probably get a kazillion of 'em ripe all at once.

    I read a news story about a fellow in France who's been feeding cattle wine (one to one and a half liters a day!) and supposedly producing exquisite, and very expensive beef. (Talk about "happy cows", eh?) I was wondering if you'd heard about it, or tried any of the meat. (Maybe they call it bo-vin?)

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    1. No I haven't heard about that. Sounds a bit neo-Japanese.

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  14. I am so jealous Cro. No honestly, it all looks fantastic. My Brussel sprout plants are about 4" high and the slugs polished off my outside runner bean plants and I had to plant some more.

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    1. Molly, our Sprouts are the star of this year's show. I have two varieties and they're both looking wonderful. There'll be no shortage of Sprouts for Christmas. I love them.

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  15. Just beautiful...and that cabbage is stunning Cro...

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  16. Really pretty. I love all the different shades of green.

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