Proof that vegetable growing can be done by anybody. From a couple of under 30s – one who grew up growing and one who has just got going…
We wanted to spend a bit of time reminiscing about 2020 and the three favourite crops we grew. Despite 2020 being what can only be described as a bit of a peculiar year for all of us, it did also have some upsides for me personally. Working from home and the various lockdowns throughout the... Continue Reading →
After our trial brassica update last week, we've got a further update. The Graffiti purple cauliflowers that were just starting to form have got much bigger over the past week. And yesterday we enjoyed this one in our turkey teriyaki stir fry! We find that the purple cauliflower can look a little unappealing if boiled... Continue Reading →
As you may remember, we sowed some "trial" brassicas back in March to test open packets of seeds that we had left over from last season. We sowed three of a variety of seeds: cauliflowers, broccoli and romanesco cauliflowers. The first cauliflower variety is now ready to harvest. These are Barcelona. Not the best looking... Continue Reading →
Compared to some of the vegetables we're growing, brassicas are much more of a long game. Although these were sown back on 22 March, they're still not ready to harvest. Fingers crossed they are worth the wait, they usually are! As you can see, they're much larger than they were when we planted them out,... Continue Reading →
Hopefully you've been finding our "trial brassica" journey interesting and helpful so far. And this is where it really begins - the planting out! Before planting out, we gave each plant the usual treatment - a good soak in some diluted Maxicrop seaweed. We find that this gives the plants a good start when they're... Continue Reading →
Different seeds have different shelf lives, with the shelf life typically decreasing once the sealed packet has been opened. But we always think it's a shame to just throw the remainder of a packet of seed from one year away the following year if you didn't finish it. Therefore, early on in the season we... Continue Reading →
This time last year, we made a plan for the growing season ahead. So we thought it would be a good time to look back at that plan and see how we got on! Potatoes We'd set ourselves the goal of three sowings of potatoes for 2019, to harvest in May, July and December. Well... Continue Reading →
We asked a gardener friend of ours that has experience of growing Romanesco cauliflowers to recommend a variety for us to try when we decided we wanted to give them a go this season. At the time, we were advised that Romanesco cauliflowers are an "autum" cauliflower, i.e. they grow best when maturing during the... Continue Reading →
Our Purple and Romanesco cauliflowers are growing nicely since we planted them out a few weeks ago. These are starting to get a few weeds around them now, so we'll need to clear these soon otherwise they'll be taking over the place. It also won't be long before the plants bulk up really rapidly and... Continue Reading →
The weekend before last, our Romanesco and purple cauliflowers were ready to be planted out. We had five plants in total, as unfortunately we'd lost one of the purple cauliflowers between pricking out and planting out. It's stem had rotted off for some reason, so we'd had to throw that one away. We dug... Continue Reading →
It's Sow Simple 