Wet, cold, sun......

    What can one say? Rain, frost and sun all in a couple of weeks. As I sit typing this the sun is shinning and the sky is clear. The forecast is for more of the same. The days are short and I find that I do not get going until about 1100hrs, that is when the sun gets over the ridge! It is gloomy by 1700hrs and dark by 1800hrs. I am just looking for excuses not to do work!
   The ground has just about come back to being workable after torrential rain. I have sown another row of the pea variety, Plein le Panier (Fill the basket), a round pea, good for freezing and early! The packets says the seeds can be sown in October, November, December and January! It will be interesting to see how they do. The first sowing is now about 4" high.

Plein Le Panier peas November 15th 2012

    Outside the poly tunnel the battle of the nettles continues.Only a few square feet cleared. The weather has not been kind, however, I have strawberries that are ripening! I keep thinking that a frost will do for them but nope they are still going.

Mara Bois strawberry taken on 15th November 2012

   Seems to me that the garden has a lot going on at the moment. Cabbage, leeks, sprouts, celeriac, swede, carrots, peas, garlic, broad beans,shallots and even some celery growing! A critter has taken a fancy to one of my leeks. It ate all that was underground and it was only because it was wilting a little that I investigated and found a big hole under it and the white part of the leek eaten! Must have been the same critter that ate my carrots last year with same result - all top, no root! A cartoon would not have been any funnier!
    In the poly tunnel I have transplanted the last of the Kohl Rabi. I have sown broad beans with the aim being that these will be my "seed" crop. Cauliflowers have been harvested and the brassicas are growing and are looking ok. The lettuce looks good although not big and "winter leaves" are up and coming along. I have put up a fleece door which is covering one entrance and at the other end I have fitted some draught excluder on the edges of the sliding doors and that has closed the gap. Hopefully both will help keep the temperature up.
   So, despite it being the middle of November I am still busy sowing seeds and pulling up weeds! Bonfire to light and far too much to do. The apple trees need pruning but the leaves have not yet all fallen so that job will wait a while!