November 2013 .... what's up doc??

Got a shock yesterday I had ice on the car window screen at 09.00 hrs.

 Thankfully I've got all the frost tender pants lifted and in the glasshouse ready for over winter potting up.
 We still have three red strawberries on the barrel of strawbs  which for the fifth of November in the UK is incredible .
600 miles north of here  up in the  North of  Scotland they have had their first snows and several sharp frost .

 This time of the year has seen me plant 60 onion sets @ 20 each of reds, white balls and normal over wintering ones in a full sun bed .. This last year seasons were a bit too shaded and went onto make fabulous tops but not much bulb . possibly too much auto watering .
 
The first 12 cloves of my garlic is in the beds for this year.
 I'm trying 4 inch spacing's and again  in a full sun bed for this last seasons garlic's set at 3 inch spacing's  gave loads of delicious scapes & greenery  but only  lots of small to medium sized hard formed bulbs .

 There are all sort of harvestable things ready now and for later in the gardening year.
 
 We have the following crops available :-

Swedes  aka rutabaga.

Parsnips long and ball rooted ones .


Loads of leeks

Turnips .. purple topped Milans

Massive  kohlrabi

Carrots  in the forms of long roots , short roots, ball roots and several large long over wintering varieties
 
Celery grown from seed and also some the now famous " Stumpletts " 

Kale broad leaf bitter and sweeter curly kale .

Brussels Sprouts  ( looks to be a good crop coming in time for Christmas day meal  )
  Cabbage ...  ball type tight packed dark green outer's and almost white inside.
 
Chou d' au Benton ( perennial kale )  

Green sprouting broccoli

Red beetroots

I took out the last five Zebune Eschalot onions this afternoon and set my eye on the last butternut squash but failed to harvest it as visitors arrived ( guess what we'll likely be having tomorrow night for tea? ..

 Various herbs ..some of which grew like billy-o and had to be culled or transplanted elsewhere .
 


I've  done the final collecting & sorting of dried seeds for  cabbage , bean, pea , dill ,onion and various flower seeds then  heat sealed them in vac pack bags .
 I have finally managed to totally clear a couple of beds ,. add a few buckets of my home made compost and turn it in ready for sowing some over wintering broad beans for an early crop next year .


 The flowerbeds finally got trashed in the 99 mph blow we had this weekend 3/4 November  so I spent Sunday afternoon using the secateurs snipping off all the tall stalks  and dead plants cutting them into 2 inch long lengths ready for the composting bins. 
 Before I top up the flower beds with a 50 /50 5 mix of compost and composted coir I'm going to cheat and use a small paint brush to apply some jellified  Round Up weed killer on several perennial weeds  such as bindweed creeping butter cup  docks and nettles  that I discovered lurking in the dense undergrowth of the beds .

Chou d' au Benton ( perennial kale )

Never heard of that ... does it look like other kales I've seen in that it keeps growing taller and taller?

No
It is a kind of straggly Kale  that keeps pushing out twig like branches which develop into leaf
 After a year it gets really leggy and  when at this stage you break off a twig so it has a " heel " at  point of severance  make sure it has  a few small leaves about 2 inches long then dip in rooting compound and pot up . 

Mist water it every few days so the soil is just damp and not wet , after about 18 days small hair roots will have developed .  Leave in the pot till it is about 10  inches tall then plant out giving about 2 foot of space app round the plant .
 
 I'll take a picture and put it up later tonight ( I'm off out for the day )

Wow, Plantoid, what a winter garden.  An inspiration.  As to the "Chou d' au Benton (perennial kale)," what does it taste like?  Can you eat it raw in a salad or is it best sautéed or braised?  Nonna

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Wow, Plantoid, what a winter garden.  An inspiration.  As to the "Chou d' au Benton (perennial kale)," what does it taste like?  Can you eat it raw in a salad or is it best sautéed or braised?  Nonna

OK .... I got side tracked down the hospital yesterday .( I started the  DVT treatment & had an hours advice course ) It's also been chucking it down with rain most ofl today so no pictures so far.

 The kale grows well in cool moist conditions not a hot weather pant as it goes a bit  leathery .. Grown like that we boil it , in slightly salted water for 6 min,  once the water starts to boil , reduce to a simmer and put a lid on .9 use a timer )
 Drain well add a small knob of butter ,a couple of turns of the pepper mill & turn it over a few times to take it throughout .
 When picked at its most tender stage and dome as above  it is like a soft dark green chamois leather that melts in your mouth.. also partly sweet not too bitter like most dark green cabbages.   It is one of my favourite vegetables.  

Serve it whilst piping hot along with meat /thick minced meat / sausages  , carrots  mashed or simple boiled spuds & thick gravy made from meat juices .

 Sometimes we have it as a veg with a meat or vegetarian  lasagne

gee plantoid....    too bad about the DVT.  Hope that turns out OK
Sounds like we have similar weather   RAIN RAIN RAIN