Indoor winter veg progress report

These are the lettuces growing on the kitchen windowsill - a bit spindly compared to the ones I left in the greenhouse:

These are smaller but look healthier. I think the light must be better. I might try putting some bubble wrap around them to keep them warm at night.

And these are the carrots. ... well - I suppose I might get some in late spring??

Up at the allotment, when I went up to get some leeks and carrots, I spotted a large footprint, which couldn't have been one of mine as it was right in the middle of the over-wintering onions - one of which had been squashed. It's unlikely it was another plot-holder, which can only mean one thing: foul play. But there is no other damage, and only the one single footprint. MOST mysterious. Especially after the leek incident a couple of weeks ago. The 'PLOT' thickens !!!! Ha ha

Soggy and Grey

Needed a walk this afternoon so went up to look at the allotment to see what was going on, and to throw some toilet rolls etc in the compost bin and everything looked very soggy and depressing, but on closer inspection......


...if you look very closely, right in the middle of the picture you will see an onion with a little green shoot coming up! There were two or three like this. I only took the little camera, and I don't know how to zoom in and save it like that.

The other thing I noticed was a leek that had been uprooted and chucked on the ground. Although it was on my plot I'm not sure if it was one of mine - there was no evidence of any other damage, although some of my bamboo canes had been moved. Suspicious, but not alarming. Anyway of course I brought the leek home for tea.

Garlic and Broad Beans IN !

Still no photos - I did take the camera today, only to find the batteries needed recharging, but there wasn't much to photograph anyway. I have put in two rows of garlic and four rows of broad beans. I have also ordered next year's potatoes! 20 Mimi (1st early) 20 Charlotte and 20 Anya (2nd early) and 20 Sarpo Mira. I am doing twice as many as last year, so maybe I can save some for the following year and save a bit of money?
Tonight I have made celeriac gratin dauphinoise - it was a Gordon Ramsay recipe from the Saturday Times magazine, except it was supposed to be hazlenut and celeriac, but I left the nuts out. It was delicious!

Dreadful drizzle and colourful compost

I was hoping to get to the plot this week to plant the garlic and broad beans. I really don't fancy it today though as it's drizzling persistently and I just can't face it. The rest of the week doesn't look much better. No photos today because I haven't been for a while and last time I went I WISH I'd taken the camera but I'll just have to describe it to you instead:
I emptied the bin with the finished compost in, then set about transferring the contents of the current bin to the empty one, by way of turning and aerating it. So. I slid the black plastic container up and off the contents, and was left with a perfect cylinder of stripey layers! Bright green on top, then getting darker and more decomposed as it went down, interspersed with layers of white/beige of shredded paper and cardboard, and one or two rather lurid layers of rotting bokashi bin contents. Very very exciting!
The finished compost went onto next year's potato patch, having first turned and dug in the weeds that were growing there, and I have also covered it with a tarpaulin for good measure, to stop any reappearing.
We have eaten the first two leeks! They were the only two that were big enough to dig up, the rest are still quite small and skinny.