Veg Patch

To read the story of my Veg/Flower Patch in chronological order use the links in the Blog Archive

Sunday 29 April 2012

The Sprouts are on for Christmas!

Well maybe not on, but certainly in! About an hour after my last rather brief post on Friday, the rainclouds cleared and for the first time in a week the sun came out. 

I waited until after lunch because the weather lady on the BBC was certain that we were in for another drenching. Nothing happened, and as the garden began to glow in the sunshine it was time to get outside and get the seedlings, that were desperate for a bit more space, into the beds. 

My brussel sprouts were suffering from serious overcrowding so they were first. I was never a great fan of the over boiled pulp that was traditionally, the way to serve sprouts .I think generations of women were taught in domestic science, that if you couldn't suck them up a straw, they weren't cooked! 

Luckily as I taught myself to cook, I became a disciple of Delia Smith. If Delia didn't make it we didn't eat it! once I had found her recipe for Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts  we never looked back. 


So it was with pleasure that I planted my two rows of sprout seedlings.




I have no idea how many sprouts we will get from each plant, but as I have 24 plants in I don't think we will go short! 

Another row of broccoli joined the sprouts, and I managed to finally work out what was a weed and what was a parsnip, so they got weeded as well. 



Last week I planted my first three tomato plants in a grow bag. Well now all three are flowering. 


Not too long now and we will have tomatoes. 

It was only an afternoons respite, overnight friday the rain returned and its still here now. 

The poor chickens have been trying to stay dry but even their house has started leaking. The wind has been blowing against the nesting box at such an odd angle that somehow the water was getting in. Two of the three boxes have been soaked overnight for the past few days and I have managed to get through a lot of straw. 

Jim, ever inventive, made use of a piece of left over roofing felt from the shed, A few quick tacks and once again the chickens are dry.


It does the job nicely and when this awful rain has passed we can easily take it off again. The chickens looked very comfortable this morning when I went down to check on them, dry as a bone!

And talking bones! the puppy. He has been growing at an amazing rate all week. For him today though it has all got a bit much. He really didn't fancy his walk this morning, after seeing Jim take 5 minutes to get dressed for the outside. He rather fancied another sleep, so thats what he did!



Happy Sunday, don't get wet!


9 comments:

  1. I once made the mistake of buying some sprout and chestnut siup as it sounded Christmassy and it was foul. Like you I like sprouts to have some bite. Have you tried chopping and stir frying them? With 24 plants you should have more than enough!

    Those tomatoes look well on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The delia recipe is for a stir fry of a sort, its very nice give it a try

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lorraine - good to see that at least your sprouts are growing - my allotment seedlings are still hiding!
      Family Cross ( nee Goddard from the cadet days)also have a farm, allotment and chickens in Dorney, Eton.
      Good to hear from your lovely life and thank you for keeping ties from the past.
      Really happy to catch up - Love all to family Pullen
      Lesley x

      Delete
  3. the only way to eat sprouts is to give them to the dog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You're having fun digging about I see. My digging is put on hold with this weird weather - but I'll soon be joining you! I've never grown brussels sprouts...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I actually like Brussel Sprouts - especially stir fried with fresh garlic and ginger! You're right about the weather - it has rain non-stop here all day and my chickens don't look very happy. The driving rain is making our hen house leak too and they hate having wet feet. Your puppy has certainly grown!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Lorraine, you've certainly been busy this week and in my opinion, you can never have enough sprouts (I'm in the minority on this one in our house). By the way, your post notification came through OK to my Blog Catalog feed, so I'm looking forward to more gardening news.
    The pup looks relaxed; I'm jealous of course - lying on the couch or taking the boys to rugby, hmmm that's a tough one!
    Have a great week, you should get plenty of water for those new plants!
    Ps Don't take Niki B's advice, unless the pup lives outdoors ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Grooving some thing aggressive i am so inspired here.
    Thanks for sharing....



    Garden centre in Leicester

    ReplyDelete