Goosberry Fool

The frost over the past couple of days has killed off the chinese gooseberry so I checked how large the berries in it had become.



By the size of the lantern things that covered the plant, I was hoping for something a bit bigger :-(.

On the plus side, the garlic that I planted a couple of weeks ago is already starting to come up in places.




This gives them about 5 months more to grow than the last lot, so with a bit of luck they should form bulbs this time rather than single cloves.

I also found out that the jerusalem artichokes need cutting down to a foot above the ground until I want dig them up, so some swift pruning endeth todays lesson.

Addendum: That font of knowledge, wikipedia, has just pointed out that a chinese gooseberry is a kiwi fruit. The things I've been failing to grow are cape gooseberrys. You live 'n' learn.

Spinachy goodness

There's nowt to do in the allotment now so I popped up there briefly today just to check it was still there.

The spinach has done well in my absence so I harvested a load of it to take in to work to stop it going to seed.



The sprouts are also firming up nicely ready for Xmas.


The overwintering onions also look to be overwintering nicely so I should have a good early crop to tide me over when the ones in the garage run out.

And the Jerusalem Artichokes are now dying back. Now I've just got to work out what to do with them ;-).

And finally, the fennel. It's just not putting the effort in! 9 months after I planted it, it's still not swelling into bulbs. I'll give it another month or two, but this may be one to miss out next year.