Last Years Brassicas and Beans

This is last years beans and brassica area. At the rear left corner was a compost heap which has now been leveled out and to the rear right are the remains of the purple sprouting broccoli. There is one remaining cauliflower and a couple of celery like plants left in the bed, the celery will get fed to the guinea pigs as they are a bit scrappy. About half a dozen rows have been sown with beetroot (Boltardy), carrot (Nantes Early), Parsnip (Hollow Crown) and for the first time this year Hamburg Parsley which has a root like parsnip but has a flavour slightly reminiscent of Kohl Rabi.

South African Suga Beans - Update

Now that we are getting to the back end of the growing season some of the pods on the Suga beans have turned a bright red and are starting to dry out. So, I have collected the ones that have turned red and started shelling them. I will save some beans for next year and try growing them again and then use the rest in some sort of bean casserole. There is probably a similar quantity as seen in the photo still on the plants maturing.

The runner beans are also producing some large pods for seed collection although they are still flowering and setting fresh pods and we are getting the occasional picking off for a meal.

I totally ignored the planting instructions on the coriander (cilantro) that suggested mid July as the latest planting date and planted several rows during the second week of August. These sowings have been providing us with loads of fresh succulent tasty coriander that we have used as additions to salad and also in a few bhuna curries. It has been well worth doing the late sowing. My attitude to the late sowing was that if came up and was quickly frosted I would just dig it in as the seed was fairly old I did not expect such good results. I am not sure whether it will survive through the winter months and set seed next year but I am hopeful that it will.

I also ignored the planting times for beetroot as well putting some in during the second week of August. It has made quite a bit of leaf and the roots are starting to bulb up and we should get a good crop of baby beets in the next week or two at the point the leaves get hit by frost.