Kitchen Garden Forum

I was staying with my sister. Her Christmas Roses (hellebores) flowered on Christmas Day.

A bit after Boxing Day, but a stroll round the garden yesterday in the lovely sunshine surprised me with lots of flowers and definitely some I've never seen at this time of year before like Limnanthes and purple toad flax. Also the snowdrops are flowering a month early and the early purple sprouting broccoli is in full swing. I'll have to pick and freeze it as we can't eat all of it at once and if we get a cold spell it will spoil. The rhubarb is over a foot high so we could probably have rhubarb crumble to celebrate the new year.

Other shrubs and flowers are the Mahonia, Viburnum bodnantense and tinus, one of the Pieris, Winter honeysuckle and jasmine. The polyanthus, prumulas, cyclamen and wallflowers and the iberis and arabis are all flowering as if it was spring. The next few months are going to be very interesting and hopefully not a disaster.

The white headed blue tit keeps coming back with its friends and we've had a visit from a reed bunting and a gold crest as surprise visitors this week.

I love winter Jasmine, don't have it in the garden but must make note to self to get one.

Not much bird life around today, cheeky little robin was diving into the log pile as I loaded up some barrowfulls to bring indoors, and I can hear a wren calling in the hedge by the front door. Chickens were a bit disgruntled by the wind, they were doing a sideways stagger up the path as they tried to stay upright! The wind blew up their tails so they looked like mini-turkeys.

Dear Plumpudding, i saw something that made me worry a little for you today. There were lots of potato shoots popping up from ones that had been missed. I hope your planted ones aren't thinking of doing the same thing.

OH Ditto!

I've lots of potatoes growing up as well in amongst the leeks. I was quite pleased as could dig them up & didn't really matter if the odd leek got pulled as well as they are ready, or as they are tough plants can just heel them back in. (Not to mention some leek & potato soup as the spuds were fine).

Bit of a pain when they come up in a normal year in the spring & push your baby seedlings out of their row or disturb the roots of the carrots or parsnips.

Westi

I've been thinking the same O.H. but there's no sign of them yet. I always plant them quite deeply but I'm keeping an eye on them.

Well it looks like the temperatures will be going below 10 degrees, so hopefully that will stop them.

Whilst fumbling around yesterday I found that some of the sacks of potatoes in store that were harvested from the plot this year are sending long shoots out through the hessian sacks already. Going to have to get them out of store and check them over.

Pa Snip wrote:Whilst fumbling around yesterday I found that some of the sacks of potatoes in store that were harvested from the plot this year are sending long shoots out through the hessian sacks already. Going to have to get them out of store and check them over.

The problem is that the ideal storage temperature for potatoes is 4 to 5 degrees C.
Ironically it's much easier to keep UP to that level over winter than to keep DOWN

I have potatoes growing out of my compost heap. Great long shoots. Also noticed a couple of onion shoots too. It's supposed to be a bit chilly tonight though so they'll probably perish.