Spring onions 10 weeks

Tender and True parsnips

parsnips 10 weeks after planting

Purple carrots after 6 weeks

Purple Carrots after 6 weeks

The purple carrots are still doing nicely - I had to thin a few out earlier this week as I noticed that there were some plants very close to others.  Reassuringly there were already nice long roots on each of the thinnings.

Last little gem lettuce

Little Gem lettuce

So this is the last little gem lettuce, and frankly I'm glad.  I've eaten so many of these damn things I'm fed up with them, and they did not turn out as the seed packet promised.  I shan't be growing them again.

On the plus side, I have today planted some more interesting plants - being japanese radishes in the place of the lettuce.

Horseradish leaves after 9 weeks

The leaves are now getting huge.

Horseradish leaves 9 weeks after planting

I'm very much hoping the roots are growing as strongly below the surface.

Boltardy beetroot at 8 weeks

Boltardy beetroot at 8 weeks

The beetroot at 8 weeks is just starting to show some roots at the foot of the plant.  I've been reading about this, and will need to thin out the plants shortly, in order to let the others have room to grow to their full potential, but I hope to get some small edible beetroots from the thinnings, rather than do it now.

Beetroot after 12 weeks

So here are the Alto F1 Beetroots after 12 weeks. I picked another few of the plants, and even though above the soil they looked promising, there was very little below the soil.

I've today planted a new variety of beetroot, being Cylindra Beetroot.  Like the Alto F1 variety, the Cylindra should produce long cylindrical roots, but hopefully the roots will turn out to be bigger than the F1.  I'll be keeping track of the progress.

Early Nantes Carrots 12 weeks in and first harvest

It's been 3 months already, and the carrots are showing nice broad shoulders above the soil, so I've been wondering whether to harvest or not.

12 week old early nantes carrots

 Impatience got the better of me and I decided to uproot two carrots to see how they are doing, and they would be able to be added to a salad that evening.  The carrots I picked were the same two shown in the photo above.  There seemed to be quite a lot of carrot there, but I had been stung by the lack of depth of the beetroot, so still was not expecting a decent sized carrot.  Below is the result.

Early nantes carrots just after harvest.

So weirdly, one is short and fat, the other longer, but thinner.  Neither were as big as I was hoping, but they were very nice.

I've left the others in the ground to get a bit bigger.  I'm coming to the conclusion that normal carrots are a bit of a waste in a small vegetable garden as they take a long time, take up a lot of space and are so cheap to buy in the supermarkets that the garden crop is very expensive by comparison.

I'm still holding out more hope for the purple carrots though.

Parsnips taking over

The Tender and True parsnips are now 8 weeks old, and suddenly the greenery has shot up and is getting very bushy and tall.

I only hope that the parsnips are growing equally as vigorously beneath the surface.  Sadly it will be months before I find out.

Tender and true parsnips after 8 weeks

 I've also this week taken out some of the smaller plants, to give the larger ones room to grow.  I've transplanted these into gaps where carrot seedlings did not come up.  I don't know whether they will continue to grow or not, but it's worth a go.

Spring onions - at 8 weeks

The spring onions are doing very nicely now, and are even resembling small spring onions.

Spring Onion Sentry plants - after 8 weeks

It still looks a while until I can eat them though.  I suppose I could pick some now, but it seems a waste after waiting this long to eat them before they really get to full size.

Last Tom Thumb lettuce

So, as with the Little gem lettuce, they have been disappearing fast.  This is the last one.

Tom Thumb lettuce

Of the two types, this has been my personal favourite, as I think it has the slightly better taste, and has given more of a predictable crop.

This will be the last of the Tom Thumb lettuce posts, as there will be no more to eat by the end of this week.

Last few little gem lettuces

We've been steadily eating and giving away to friends and family our crop of little gem lettuces.

This is one of three that currently remain.

I'm resigned to the fact that they will never grow to resemble the picture on the packet, but still have no idea why not.  They were certainly tasty enough though!

Purple Haze - after a month

So a month has passed since I planted these, and they are still growing well, but I'm a long way from taking a first harvest.

Purple Haze carrots after a month

I've actually planted a few more of these in some gaps where I have eaten the lettuces, so I'm hoping they will be tasty when I do get to eat them.

11 weeks in - Early Nantes Carrots

Here's how the carrots are looking after 11 weeks.

11 Week old Early Nantes Carrots

As can be seen, they are still growing nicely, and I can only hope that the carrot is buried deep into the soil.

The second crop, now at 7 weeks old is shown below.

7 Week old carrot seedlings

No sign of carrot tops poking through yet, but healthy seedlings nonetheless.

First harvest of Beetroot

I took a look at the Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot this morning, and while some of the roots don't look up to much, some of them were showing quite a lot above the soil, as in the picture below.

Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot at 10 weeks

It's been 10 weeks since I planted the beetroot, and I've read guides saying they shall be ready for harvest after 72 days, so I thought I'd uproot a few of the largest to see how far down under ground the roots went.  Especially as some of the leaves are looking a little worse for wear - here's a photo of the beetroot plants from above.

Alto F1 Beetroot as seen from above

You can see a lot of marks on the leaves, and some going very brown.  I thought, therefore, that it was well worth picking a few to see how they are doing.

This is the result...

Harvested Alto F1 Beetroot after 10 weeks

You can see from the picture exactly how much of the beetroot was sticking out of the ground, and how much was below.  In truth, I'm a little disappointed as I was imagining great big roots burying down, and the result isn't great.  They are about two inches long.  I'm not sure how long the beetroot should be, but I was hoping for a bit more.  I'll leave the remaining beetroots in the ground for a lot longer, as these were the biggest of the plants.  I'll next harvest in two or three weeks and hope that the roots are a lot longer.

Now I just need to decide how to cook the beetroot.  I was hoping to pickle it, but there doesn't seem sufficient to allow that.

French Breakfast Radishes - Harvested!

We had a salad this evening which meant eating more of the bountiful crop of lettuces and joining them this time was the radish crop which was finally ready ( as well as lots of shop bought bits and pieces!).

We only took a few radishes, so there are plenty more for further meals.  These are the lucky radishes who made the cut.

Crop of French Breakfast radishes

Not exactly uniform size and shape, I've no idea how supermarket produce all seem to look exactly the same! It's quite tricky to tell how long each radish is until they are uprooted, as they all looked much the same when in the ground.   They tasted very nice though, not as peppery as other radishes, but nice and crunchy.  From hole in the ground to on the dinner plate and eaten in less than an hour, you can't get much fresher than that!

So now the postings for French Breakfast radish are complete, and by clicking on the link "French Breakfast Radish" you can see the photos and growth from seed to harvest.  This one can be put down as a success I think.

Spring onions (sentry) doing nicely

The final post for this week is a catch up on the Spring onion seedlings.  They are growing along nicely and starting to look like mini spring onions now.

Spring onion seedlings 7 weeks after planting

Tender and True parsnips still going well

Just a quick post to show how the parsnips look today - still growing nicely.

The only worry now is how large the parsnip plants with grow to.  After just a few weeks, they are already a decent size, I just hope they don't grow to take over the vegetable plot.


Remember to click on the "Tender and True parsnips" link on the top right of this page or directly below here to see week by week how the parsnips have been growing from seed to seedling to fully grown plant to the date of harvest.  

Purple Haze Carrot seedlings after 3 weeks

They're coming along nicely now and a lot of carrot shoots have surfaced, so as they come up I have just tried to  ensure none are too close together.  I'll thin them properly when a little bigger, but for now I'm happy to see the seedlings just growing stronger.

Purple Haze carrot seedlings

Remember to click on the "Purple carrots" link on the right of this page or directly at the bottom of this post to see week by week how the carrots have grown from seed to seedling to fully grown plant to (hopefully) the date of harvest.

Horseradish leaves

Horseradish pant leaves

It's been about 6 weeks since I planted these, and the leaves are growing well. Not a lot else to report on the horseradish as it (hopefully) is growing well under the soil.  I may not update this weekly, but maybe monthly until harvest in early Winter.