A round of Christmas doos, a nativity play, excessive amounts of shopping (and we’re still not done) alongside the general management of life has meant not only has the garden been neglected, but so has the talking about it!
So in summary – the grass is longer than ever, there are more weeds than veggies, my spuds got blight and we have continued to eat zucchini every day.
I know I need to make time for the garden as it needs to be in tip top order before we go away or it will be unrecognisable as a much loved garden when we get back and the poor house sitter will be bewildered.
But whatever happens there will still be things to eat. Some plants are just reslisent. I found a pumpkin plant growing in the middle of the lawn today!
Come again soon – I hope I’ll be able to post at least one more update before Christmas.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
I’ve already failed … so busy in the kitchen and garden. I BUT I WILL Do my best to visit your blog and LOVE what you share! Great to connect with you! Bren
Bugger on the blight :(. If we don’t see you before Christmas, have the BEST time with family and friends and see you when you get back :). Gotta say, I only just planted out my spuds yesterday in a last ditch effort to get some spuds about april next year ;). Maybe I will miss the blight? All of those blighty little bollocks will be completely satiated on everyone elses spuds by then and won’t have time for my humble little crop? We can only live in hope 🙂
I know copper powder helps blight on tomatoes, wonder if it would work on the spuds? It’s organic allowed but you can’t use a ton otherwise it’s toxic.
Yum!
Sarah, if you cut the foliage off but leave the tubers in situ you may still be able to salvage some of them depending on how far along they are.
Google it but I seem to remember reading that the potatoes need to remain in the ground for about 10 days after removing the stems but if you get the foliage off before the blight goes underground then all may not be lost.
Hi Elaine. That’s what I’ve done. Hopefully I’ll be able to salvage a decent harvest after the holidays.
The sun is out today so I’m hoping the humid weather is behind us. I’d hate to lose my tomatoes!
Thanks for the advice.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I just found this and thought of you straight away 🙂
http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2013/07/zucchini-streusel-bread.html
Hi Fran. I have been giving away zucchinis and marrows to anyone who dares set foot around our place, but once things settle down again I will definitely try out your recipes – I can’t wait.
Thanks for thinking of me.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I am actually terrified at our prospective zucchini harvest. I wasn’t going to have much of a veggie garden this year as we finished studies very late and headed straight into the Christmas season but my “friend” decided otherwise and lugged stacks of leftover veggie seedlings to Serendipity Farm and acted as “overseer” (with a whip) as I planted them all out. Her haul included both yellow and green zucchini plants and patty pan squash. They are all finding the new fully enclosed veggie garden conditions “smashing” to say the least and are going great guns to produce a tonne of fruit. I am going to have to start tucking entire zucchini’s into my daughters veggie baskets…in fact they might just get zucchinis for a while! Time to get inventive girls! 😉
And this would be amazing with soups 🙂
http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/2013/12/zucchini-cornbread.html
I’m SO glad that it’s winter here at Christmastime! The thought of all that gardening as well as shopping, mince pie making, Christmas cake baking, card writing, gift wrapping….it makes me feel weak at the knees!
Christine
Happy New Year Christine. I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you, however having Christmas and all it entails – and the summer holidays at the beach has kept me well away from gardening and blogging. So now we are back home and things are beginning to return to some kind of normal, I have been chasing my tail trying to get on top of things again. It takes a lot of effort to have a normal festive season and a large garden, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Unless someone decides Christmas should be the in the Autumn… now that would be nice…
Cheers Sarah : o )
Merry Christmas to you! You will be enjoying yours just before we have ours. I love looking at pictures of your fresh vegetables and garden fresh meals when my garden is now under snow (and after this weeks ice storm, several inches of ice). Enjoy your holiday.
Happy New Year Heidi. I’m sorry this reply is well overdue, but things have been a little crazy around here lately – something to do with Christmas…
Reading summer blogs in the middle of my winter keeps me going through the cold days. Sometimes you can almost feel the heat jump out of the pictures. But we never really get that cold and snow is a rarity.
Stay warm and take care of yourself.
Cheers Sarah : o )
What fun to find a plant in the middle of the grass! I know that mid-summer feeling oh so well, that rush to pick and at the same time the thought that there are so many other jobs to do! Happy New Year, Claire x