Back in April I had a look through the vegetable garden, bed by bed, talking
about what I intended to grow in it. So I thought
now we're here we are, middle of August, 15 weeks later, we'd have
another look and see how it's done.
I'm Liz Zorab and this is Byther Farm.
So in these first four beds, this is the asparagus fern, it grows so rapidly you
can almost see it grow inch by inch each day. So we had has some nice asparagus,
not a huge amount from it because it's still early days in terms of life in an
asparagus bed, which can be there for 20 plus years.
There's some more asparagus on this side and I've also put in Taunton Deane kale
which is perennial kale and some walking onions, which are fascinating. I'm really
impressed with how they do, so the little bulbils form on the top, they get very
heavy and bend over and where they hit the ground they'll then roots there.
So it's almost like they walk around the vegetable bed.
These are the strawberries.
They've been amazing this year again. Now I was I was of a mind to lift all of
these out, sort through them decide which ones of the plants I wanted to keep and only
keep the strongest or the youngest. I haven't done any of that yet
I may well do before the end of the year and what I do need to do is remove any
runners and either pot them up or give them away. And luckily I've got a friend
coming next weekend who's going to have some of those.
The raspberries have done
really well, they were cut down to the ground in the autumn, so they've put on
this growth since autumn. They're really heavy croppers they are very sweet
they're very lovely and they've seemed to have enjoyed the very wet conditions
that we've had it's been warm it's been wet which is a whole host of problems
were lots of other plants, raspberries seem to be loving it!
In the next four beds,
I put in alternate rows of parsnips and carrots in this bed and as I have
harvested the carrots it's left a bit more space for the parsnips to spread out.
I can actually just see one of the parsnips is going to seed, which is
unusual given the amount of rain that we've had, that's hopefully we shall have
some nice parsnips this year and this bed is covered with netting at the
moment it's covered with netting more to keep or to just distract carrot root fly
so this has had salads in it it's had turnips it's got some Chinese cabbage at
the far ends at the moment and plenty of carrots it's got a few parsnips in it
not that I put them in there but they're self sown and so that beds doing very
well this is a Brassica tunnel it has got its what cabbages it's got
cauliflower in it it's done very well in terms of keeping out butterflies slugs
on the other hand I've been having a field day in there
and it's certainly time I started harvesting some of those and on this
side are the Greek gigante beans, really pleased with these again.
Previously in this bed there was garlic and before I'd even got anywhere near
harvesting them I got the cane support structure in for the Greek
gigantes beans and I started those growing so that that is literally I was
lifting from the garlic from in between the beans.
I haven't planted as many plants per cane. Usually I put in two or three, this year
I thought I'll put in just one plant per cane and already there are some
really big beans growing. We don't pick these and we wait until the end of the
year and harvest them all at the end of the growing season because I don't want
them for their green pod but for the white bean on the inside. Which has got a
very creamy, very potato-y, they taste like potato loaded with butter.
They are very lovely and they're great for soups and stews.
We don't tend to eat them just as a vegetable on their own but in soups and
stews during the winter they're fabulous.
And these two beds have been a great success as well.
So this is the one that had potatoes and peas in it and these
were a purple podded pea, which I didn't really enjo,y so next year I will
go back to progress no.9 or I'll have a mangetout, something like Oregon
Sugar Pod. And then the potatoes have just been wonderful, they've been in for
15 weeks, I'm really pleased to say we're getting great harvest from them.
This has been a real successful bed.
aAd over this side has
been carrots I've harvested most of those and then I've put in beetroot some
turnips and French beans and chard so that's a real mixed bed
I've also pop some parsley in there and then all of its own accord it's this
very huge squash which obviously grown from a seed that had dropped in there so
it's a volunteer self sown and it's a pink banana squash and I can tell that
just by looking at the fruit they're going to be very long, very thin they are
definitely pink banana squash so I'm really pleased about that
because well I really like them.
And these are my runner beans which we put
onto a very sturdy frame in my attempt to keep their beans upright this year
when the heavy winds came in August which they always do what heavy winds
arrived last week and we have had a week of strong winds
forty-five to sixty mile an hour gusts of wind and this has stood up to it
really well now I'm not sure if it's coped really well because the beans are
so much later getting going this year and I was so much later planting them so
there are actually there's not so much growth on each cane or whether it's
because likewise I've only put in one plant per cane so there's just less top
growth to catch the wind but whatever it is I'm really pleased with how this has
held up and the beans are already starting to give us a harvest
this bed had potatoes in it and a row of peas down the middle and those were the
Oregon sugar part Mars two which really enjoyed and now it has got purpose right
in broccoli which will be ready for us next spring
and actually forgotten but remember the edges of it had also sent some carrot
seeds and a few beet roots and I can see those are coming up as well and then
over here this has got sweet corn in it and also some yellow French beans and
there are three squashes and those squashes aren't doing very well
French beans have been great and the sweet corn have flowered they're forming
nice cobs of corn here and really looking forward to these now this bed
also I'm going to use it this year I had covered it over with the tarpaulin to
kill off the huge weeds that were underneath it when I checked it done
really well it had cleared the ground so in if I put some basil some squash and
plenty of beatrix a lot of beetroot in our house we have it roasted how I make
it into chutneys and we also use it for wine and then hon this site and this is
where we had our broad beans and I'm really pleased these are the perennial
runner beans so these are the ones I left in the ground not on purpose
because these are the ones from two years ago so this is their third year in
this spot and
I've got beans coming already I'm really excited so there's a a small
one down here a slightly bigger plant here and then to here that are doing
really well producing beans I've has several
pickings and these already I'm really excited that that is working so well but
just here did have broccoli in it that was a can of Reis
so really nice green heads of broccoli that's come out now and I filled it with
squash and courgettes and I've put three purple sprouting broccoli
not because I'm expecting them to grow those are sacrifice plants so that we
are still supporting the butterflies in the garden this is a strawberry beds
these ones I am gonna lift I'm probably going to put these in the very long bed
in front of the polytunnel so this bed will then be available for
me to grow in and this little bed has got
roots parsley it's a Homburg parsley you can eat the leaf as well as the roots
beetroot and dill and courgettes and this is the best that I designated
as grow a gift and in the end I decided just to put in extra right through the
garden so that I'm already gathering food to go into my basket for grower
gift later in the air this bed had broad beans and it's how when I harvested
those are replacing with Swedes and with lettuce now the Swede will be in here a
bit longer than the less as well so as they as the lettuces come out it will
make more room for the Swedes to be in there and at the end here this is some
spirit this is going to be here for a couple of years before a harvest it's
quite pleased to see the flowers which pollinators
in love and so I will be collecting her these when the flowers become seeds so I
can sow some more and over this side Wow this bed had potatoes in it it's now got
courgettes and squashes it's overflowing it's got yeah corn in the middle of it
and then I thought I had some dwarf beans I pop those in they turned out to
be climbing beans like that lift up the bog full and so far this year I've been
really pleased with everything for you we've been really pleased with how the
gardens been there's still a couple of months of growing yet and I think I can
say that this year feels like it's been a success