It turns out that rhubarb is actually pretty strong stuff. Recently while my back was turned on a business trip all the leaves from one of our plants – the Champagne variety – were stripped and the stalks were eaten. I’m not naming names but as I was away on business at the time I …
After my efforts back in February with forcing rhubarb it is very pleasing to report that both varieties have yielded a small crop. As both these plants are only just into their second year I didn’t want to push my luck but I did want to get some to try so that we will know …
Rhubarb Forcing Both rhubarb varieties seem to be doing well – the Stockbridge Arrow is lagging slightly behind the Champagne but that may help to spread out the (limited) harvest. I don’t want to force these excessively in case the plants suffer as a result so I won’t be picking too much from each plant. …
The rhubarb that I planted in pots before we moved last year has overwintered safely in a corner of a barn. This probably wasn’t essential but for our first winter in the North Pennines I wasn’t sure what to expect! Both the Stockbridge Arrow variety and the Champagne variety are looking quite healthy considering the neglect …
Slightly surprisingly we’ve been in our “new” house for 6 months now so it seemed a good time to take stock and assess the situation. It’s also a good point to take the time to appreciate everything we have and how lucky we are to have it. Over this period there have been a good …
The two rhubarb crowns I bought and planted in pots at the start of the year are looking really good now so I thought it’s a good time to post a general update on their progress. They had to go into pots at the time because we knew we would eventually move house even though …
The recent period of rain has been very welcome and luckily we’ve not had quite as much here in the North Pennines as some other areas of the UK. The time is flying past and given all these excellent growing conditions I knew it was probably time for another general vegetable update Watching the rainwater …
Continue reading ‘Time flies, carrot flies and cabbage white butterflies’ »
We’re still at the stage of keep track of how long we’ve been here although I’m sure that will change eventually. For now though, we’re doing the counting in weeks rather than months and it’s flying by! This is the sixth week now and there is certainly never a dull moment… Meadows The 2 meadows …
There are a couple of areas that have obviously been set aside for vegetables in the past The main veg bed must have previously been a set of raised beds but now the framing has gone so I decided to level off the soil and convert it back into a single bed divided by paths. …
Continue reading ‘Slow and steady progress with the vegetables’ »
After checking up on the older posts I realised that a rhubarb update was long overdue and now I’ve also finally remembered to take some decent pictures to accompany this. It’s hard to believe that it is now 2 months since the first signs of growth and my initial concerns that one variety was taking …