Minding your peas and cues

Well, you'll have to wait till next year for anything on cucumbers because I forgot to sew them. Peas, on the other hand, have got to be the pick of the crop, as the saying goes. Peas, as you probably know, have a bit of a thirst and work best in a cool climate, toiling away to their utmost at 15 to 18 degrees in damp soils. At the first sign of high summer sunshine though, they pack up and head for the beach to top up their tan. Still in the green here, some have even made it as far as the plate. These ones have blue and pink flowers and purple pods - yet to find out what they taste like but they look the part. Couldnt possibly be confused with sweet peas though, Al.

How shallow are thy onions?

Just to show what can be achieved with these pesky bulbs, even without the luxury of autumn planted sets. These are my "Purplette" variety, sown from seed en masse in a pot in mid March and transplanted into the ground at the start of May. The advantage of seed is a much wider range to choose from and... err thats probably it, oh and smugness of course. Most are now at a respectable 5cm diameter, no pests (apart from one which succumbed to cattle hoof squash syndrome) and no bolting. Once you get the depth right (top of bulb always visible, remember) the key things are meticulous weeding in the early stages and then adequate water when they are swelling (and weve had plenty of that!). I then clear away the soil to expose them to the sun and to make them more blogogenic. Now another decision, when to pull? I need a sunny day and ideally a dry spell to leave them out in the sun, otherwise they will hang in front of the window in the shed. This is preparation for storing of course - if you can't want to make a big vat of onion soup you can skip this phase.

Village Show

Hello DSB - lovely looking beetroot. Poor crop on our patch this year I'm afraid. Although we did not retain our Dwarf Fench Bean crown this year Lucy S and I managed to get third place with our 'any other vegetable not on the list' entry and third place for the beans (to be fair last year there was only two entries so destined to win - more entries this year!). Onions and runners didn't place (i did have high hopes for the onions - oh well) See attached photo showing the lovely pumpkin! I hope you are cleaning up on the award front up there! I hear there is a plot inspection at the end of October! maybe it will even tie in with the Oxford V Cobblers match!

Beetroot Generation

I am sure you are all congratulating yourself on your beetroot this year. I don't wish to burst your pride, but it is probably the least demanding of vegetables. Now you've mastered it, perhaps try the yellow variety. It is a little fussier, more subtly flavoured and has the added advantage of you not looking like you've severed an artery while skinning it. Also available in white and concentric white stripes; and, to those who care about looks and contrast on the plot, there is a variety with a beetroot-coloured leaf.

Common wisdom is that beetroots are best eaten at golfball size. That is easier said than done of course with, by September, your early sowings more the size and texture of crown green bowls. The trick is successional sowing which requires a discipline alien to most novice growers with limited space. Three week intervals works well for beets. The other thing, also difficult to bring myself to do even now,is to thin the seedlings. This applies to most crops but, for beetroot, you sow not a single seed but a whole cluster. I thin to about 3-4cm and harvest alternate roots when young allowing the others to grow on.

For our southwest contingent once rumoured to frequent this blog: note the way the leaf rib is the same colour as the root. In the root identity parade shown in the picture, the impostor radish is second from the left.