Early Winter bits & bobs?

[peter]

Overnight snow here in Hertfordshire, one cold pawed dog

[oldherbaceous]

Been over the allotment having a little dig, and i have to say, that North wind has a real chill to it, even thought about rolling my shirt sleeves down at one point.

[donedigging]

I was stripping off today , lifting parsnips . They were long and hard work

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Donedigging, trust me to miss all the fun.

I was starting to worry where you had got to....

It's nice to have an exta hour for work today.

[alan refail]

It's nice to have an extra hour for work today.

Lucky you! We just get that extra hour of rain

No work here till tomorrow.

[Ricard with an H]

Lucky you! We just get that extra hour of rain

It's just started raining here in North Pembrokeshire after a dry week in which I was able to repair some conservatory windows with new putty-beds. You don't see putty these days.

Anyway, I got all excited yesterday when I went to the cow-pile in the barn and found the farmer had scraped all the dried poo from the concrete floors. This dried poo was very much like a dark soil, it doesn't smell and has a very soft-crumble consistency. Why was I excited, because when the poo is piled-up you get a very sticky core with a hard crust. Either way it's very difficult to handle.

The dried stuff has been mixed with soil from the cattle hooves when the pens were being used and of-course it was sticky but after four years under cover it looks and feels like black-soil so as soon as my windows were done I was trying to beat the rain by barrow-ing this stuff to my beds along with a mix of sand.

That claggy-clay soil is looking good already for next years crops.

I wish I had a decent days work in me but I have got it all sorted before it started raining about 30 minutes ago.

[oldherbaceous]

Oh dear, Alan, i would imagine you will be rather glad to see this growing season out of the way.

Now next season, might be one to treasure....

[alan refail]

Oh dear, Alan, i would imagine you will be rather glad to see this growing season out of the way.

Now next season, might be one to treasure....

At least the polytunnel is all planted up with cabbages, kales, winter lettuce, chicory and endive, spring onions, rocket, cress, parsley, coriander, pak choi, Japanese mustards, watercress and miners' lettuce - so I reckon next season is well under way.

[Ricard with an H]

Coriander during winter ? I would love to grow coriander, will it grow in my cold-frame with the winter salad-stuff ?

Any I ever grew, just bolted.

[alan refail]

Coriander during winter ? I would love to grow coriander, will it grow in my cold-frame with the winter salad-stuff ?

Any I ever grew, just bolted.

Surprisingly hardy, won't bolt over winter. Give it a try in the cold frame.

[Ricard with an H]

Presumably I must not use Asian-Store coriander seed I buy for cooking, any recommendations ?

[alan refail]

Coriander.PNG (201.58 KiB) Viewed 9139 times

I always use this from Real Seeds http://www.realseeds.co.uk/herbs.html

But I suspect even Asian-Store coriander seed will perform OK over winter. You could give it a try.

[donedigging]

First parsnip harvest was really well enjoyed by all.
Worth all the hard work excavating them

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Donedigging, with most root crops, it's that element of not knowing what's under there until they are lifted, that makes it all the more exciting.

[oldherbaceous]

Forgot to mention while i'm on about root crops. Had a email from, JBA Seed potatoes, that they have lost a lot of their heritage varieties this year, and also normal stock is low. And on G.Q.T yesterday, Bob Flowerdew was saying seed potatoes will be in short supply. So where ever you get your seed potatoes from, it might pay to get them early.