Starting to Harvest

8 May 2016:

The lettuce that I planted out a few weeks ago are now growing madly and I’m starting to pick leaves for our lunchtime salads. The plants are not big yet but because I planted out lots I will be able to pick individual leaves for weeks to come, then eventually some whole lettuce. I also planted out my next succession of little plants and also another batch of seeds. Hopefully we will now have sufficient lettuce for salad most days without buying any for the rest of the summer.

We have also been picking radish to go with our salads. If they are picked when reasonably young the leaves can be eaten too. Later on the leaves start to look a little moth eaten. The leaves have a peppery taste similar to rocket and make a good addition to salads.

Rod, my husband, as usual planted out the potatoes too early which means that they started peeping through the surface when we still had frosts. It’s always a bit of a gamble – planting early not only means earlier potatoes but also a plot which is free for more planting, but it does have its drawbacks. We have had to keep an eye on the weather and earth up the potatoes when frost has been forecast. So far they have all survived.

Last year’s chard which was being eaten by pigeons is now ready to pick after we covered it with netting. It will keep us in greens until this year’s new plants start producing by which time it will be going to seed. It’s so good to be producing off the land again but also to know that the crops are organically grown and eaten within hours of picking.