We still have not planted any overwintering broad beans, but will do so next week.
Most of the parsnip foliage has fallen over onto the ground, but is still green and fresh. No doubt the roots have swelled quite a bit in the last few weeks of relatively good weather.
Most of the beetroot that we sowed at the far end of the bed has come up, but apart from two well developed seedlings, there is no trace of the two patches of carrots that we sowed. We suspect slugs have eaten them. We will have to plant something else instead.
The flat leaf parsley is growing well, and we have harvested several handfuls already.
The remaining calabrese plant in the foreground continues to send out bright yellow flowers.
In this photo of a sprouting broccoli plant from above, you can see the lean to the right, towards the light, and away from of a few trees to the north-east (top left) and the side wall of a house to the west (towards bottom of photo).
The Brussels sprouts plants are short, but healthy and are starting to produce the small buds that will form into sprouts in the next few months.
The three kale plants are relatively small as well, but seem healthy and will produce greens through the winter and into the spring.
The area in the foreground has been cleared a circular pattern of all that kale seedlings and loose soil, and a number of hairs were found, identifying this spot the favorite place for a neighborhood cat.
The two sprouting broccoli continue to develop, but have grown in a particular direction, leaning out towards the sun.
The Savoy cabbage (left) and the red cabbage are both starting to firm up, indicating that they could be ready for harvesting, but we will wait a bit longer.
We harvested the largest of the Cour di Bue summer cabbages. Once the outer leaves are pulled off, many of which had suffered slug damage, the inner 'heart' is crisp, bright and delicious raw!
The winter radish that we sowed as a cover crop is growing very quickly, and was in need of thinning.
We do not expect to get large crop out of this crowded bed, but we will clear out most of the seedlings from a few areas to get some larger roots. We are going to try steaming the thinned greens for dinner.
Some of the greens in this bed are doing well, but others have disappeared, like the rows of lettuce in the foreground. We suspect slugs are responsible!
The rocket/arugula (below) and purple mustard leaf (above) are growing quickly.
The Rhubarb chard is growing more slowly, but is in need of thinning.
The peas have finally finished producing. The few bods that remain are covered with mould and the peas are starchy and inedible raw.
The dry vines and leaves form quite an attractive autumn screen.
The unseasonably dry and mild weather that we have had for most of October has allowed the plants in this bed to continue to produce, though not as quickly as they would have in the warmth of the summer.
We have not been in the garden for 3 weeks and the few climbing french beans (or pole beans) that grew have produced a number of beans that are now too large to eat the pods. The Blauhilde variety above has beautiful purple pods, which unfortunately turn green when cooked.
The Eva climbing bean variety above produces a wide flat pod. We are going to leave the handful of beans to mature and harvest them as fresh plump seeds which are still tender and have not begun to dry, referred to as either flageolet or shelling beans.
There are quite a number of runner beans, but unfortunately, they too have grown large enough to become tough. We harvested them anyway in hopes that another crop would develop.
One fo the courgette plants has produced a number of reasonable size fruit. The slower growth of the late season has prevented any of them from turning into enormous marrows. The fruit is edible, though not be as tender as those that grow quickly n the heat of the summer.
The plants in this bed are coming to an end, both of the remaining courgette plants have been struggling with disease for some time now.
We probably should have pulled this diseased plant out a while ago but we were interested to see how it would develop.
The fine weather over the past month has allowed the sweetcorn to continue to grow.
The cobs seem to be ripening, but we don't expect much.
We harvested all of the carrots from this bed and will remove the leeks, and in a few weeks we will plant some overwintering broad beans in the empty spaces.
The carrots are delicious!
The parsnip foliage from above - still growing strong.
A healthy bunch of parsley, that will form part of a pasta dinner tonight.
The carrot seedlings have just emerged, it will be interesting to see if they can grow to a harvestable size in the next few months under the polytunnel.
The same goes for the beetroot seedlings.
The one remaining calabrese plant continues to send out flowers, so we have decided to delay pullng it out.
The kale seeds have sprouted, but there is a curious bare circle in the middle of the patch! It looks as though the topsoil and seeds were brushed away, perhaps by a cat playing in the freshly tilled soil.
The centre of each cabbage has a different shape and texture, but each is beautiful, especially the savoy cabbage above with water from an earlier rain shower still caught in the leaf ridges.
The Italian ryegrass has sprouted and is growing quickly, and there are a few vetch seedlings (centre-right), but there is no sign of the crimson clover yet.
The peas plants continue to turn brown, but the tops are still producing young peas.
This is the harvest from this week, not enough for dinner, and despite the mold most of these pods contain delicately sweet peas that are delicious raw, and best eaten right in the garden!
The frost that hit much of the country this past week did not affect this back garden - one of the benefits of growing food in the city. If it had, everything in this bed would have been killed.
There are very few beans, and we are leaving a few to grow to produce seed.
A fine crop of runner beans for this week.
The Genovese Courgette plant is still small but ...
... each week produces a few small courgettes.
