2021 Summary

A quick summary of 2021…

January

  • The year started with zombies, coffee, and cow poo. I was amazed by the sudden number of dog walkers while we were in another Covid lockdown, I had coffee in the icy cold, and I spread some manure.
  • I took photos of the frozen wasteland of the garden
  • We cut down the small cherry tree on the plot, and life have been better for it ever since
  • I ended the month off by collecting some bits for tea, in particular the “failing leeks”. At this time they were not looking good but they did pick up after a couple of months, and they were still good at this time for leek and potato soup.
  • I sowed chillies

February

  • I moaned about not having snow, while the rest of the country did
  • I pruned the hop plant in the garden
  • For a week, the temperature did not get much higher than 0c, we had a number of hard frosts. This killed off some of the broad bean plant leaves but I was confident they would bounce back (they did)
  • I finished edging the bed at home with wooden sleepers

March

  • It was “quite pleasant” on the plot, the sun was out and it was warm
  • The bed in the garden was filled with compost after my “poo alert” went off to tell me someone nearby had rotted down horse manure
  • I prepped the ground at the plot where the gooseberry bushes used to be
  • By the middle of the month, the gooseberry bushes showed me they had survived their move by gaining small green shoots
  • I did a lot of sowing in seed trays and direct in the ground in the garden
  • Bindweed started to return having been dormant for the winter
  • I planted onion sets
  • I picked purple sprouting
  • Rhubarb was ready for first picking
  • Broad beans had suffered a lot from frosts and winds but were starting to recover well

April

  • Cold weather and snow was forecast, so I made the most at the beginning of the month for a warm evening to plant two rows of potatoes
  • It did snow (a small bit) but the sun was starting to hit the garden meaning it did not stay long. With this new sunlight, I sowed parsnips in the garden with radish seed in between. I also sowed beetroot
  • I planted further potatoes in the middle of the month
  • The garden decking was replaced with composite, the old decking wood would later be taken to the plot
  • Too much rhubarb!
  • More purple sprouting
  • Over wintered onion sets suddenly sprung into life and starting to swell in size
  • Sowed carrots
  • More green shoots on fruit bushes, blossom on the cherry tree in the garden
  • Evening visits to the plot become more relaxed and less of a rush before the sun disappears, allowing me to do the over winter jobs I failed to do over winter!

May

  • Weeds!
  • Flying plastic greenhouses landing in strange places from other plots – it was very windy
  • Building a wooden frame to make a large fruit cage
  • Tidied up and repaired bits on the compost bins, using some of the old decking wood from home
  • Pulled the last of the leeks, they turned out to be not too bad afterall
  • Picked first lot of broad beans
  • Planted french and runner beans
  • Lots of rain and warm sun, even more weeds!
  • Potatoes all showing and banked up a small bit
  • Started to prep a bed for squash plants
  • Lots of growing
  • Planted out pot grown parsnips on the plot. We are yet to dig these up to see how successful it was
  • Super windy and wet – the fruit cage does not budge
  • Amazed by the growth on the potato plants

June

  • A mix of rain, cold, and then some sun and warmth. Noted that things were growing slower than last year
  • Planted out runner beans
  • Picking strawberries
  • Black fly on the over wintered broad beans, normally by now I would be picking them a lot more but this year they are still quite small pods
  • Planted out leeks
  • Planted out tomatoes
  • Planted out squashes
  • Planted out cabbages
  • Lots of heavy rain later on in the month, the squash plants loved it, the tomato plants not so much
  • After the rain came lots of weeds
  • Pulled up the garlic instead of leaving it until the longest day, the ground seemed too wet for them. They harvest was good but could had pulled them a couple of weeks earlier
  • Too many broad beans by the end of the month
  • Planted chard
  • Even more rain for the end of the month, warm and wet
  • Wondered what happened to a lot of our strawberries and found a cache of mouldy strawberries under some planks of wood, and a dead mouse. I expected death was caused by eating too many strawberries!

July

  • Storms and bad weather for the beginning of the month, it seemed to be the theme for the year
  • The tomatoes suffered from the strong winds and eventually the wet warm weather got them with blight – I picked as many green ones as a I could and made chutney
  • Potatoes dying back and were dug up, the best harvest ever with around 15kg per plant
  • Weeding
  • Mixed weather continued for the month, cold and winter one day, hot and summer time the next
  • Pulled onions
  • Tidied up around the sprout plants
  • Celeriac was not looking their best (they never did recover and probably I won’t be growing them next year)
  • Courgettes!
  • Blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries
  • By the end of the month the squash plants were taking over
  • Made a lot of jam

August

  • More wind, more cold, more rain – some sun
  • Planted out purple sprouting plants
  • Last of the blighted tomatoes removed
  • Dug up the last lot of potatoes
  • Started to remove the old fallen down wire fence around the plot and started to build a smaller ‘containing’ edging with old decking board (will finish the job in 2022)
  • Spotted rust on leeks (which for the first time in years didn’t come to anything)
  • More courgettes
  • More raspberries
  • More patty pans (we won’t be growing them again)
  • By the end of the month, we dug up the potatoes in the garden – not as good as the plot but good all the same
  • Squash planted died back
  • Stalked up sprouts
  • End of month bank holiday, cloudy and not that inviting – summed up the year

September

  • Some sun for more than a couple of days, at last
  • New garden shredder, I cut down the shredded everything that was not standing still in the garden, and the neighbours garden, and the carpark behind the house… Added to the compost, it will do really well
  • Built the second compost bin at the plot to put some of the shreddings
  • Small sprouts starting to form
  • Plot showing the signs of the shorter days
  • Planted out turnips – still trying to find ways to use them in cooking in ways that you do not notice
  • One last red strawberry
  • The end of the runner beans
  • Squash plants finished, at last

October

  • Replaced more of the old wire fence
  • Thinning strawberry plants
  • Carrots, kale and chard
  • Sowed onion seed indoors
  • Cleared the garden bed, covered in netting to stop the cats
  • Some warm mornings, I moved the strawberry bed away from the edge of the plot. I removed quite a lot of plants to thin them out further
  • Planted out garlic
  • Planted out onion sets
  • End of chilie plants at home, kept some to see if they will over winter
  • Added woodchip to paths
  • Rain

November

  • More woodchip
  • Direct sown broad beans (only three plants this year)
  • Sweeping up leaves
  • Pruned raspberries
  • Burning rubbish
  • Parsnips (some of the best from the garden), sprouts, kale
  • Planted out bare root blackberry

December

  • Drizzle…
  • Picked the last lot of beetroot from the garden
  • More work on the fence
  • Moving rhubarb

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