Winter Veg

I've been slack again with my posting so here is a quick run down on what's going on in the veggie garden. To date I have in some Broccolini, Brussel Sprouts and Cavelo Nero. I've been eating the Broccolini for a week or so now so all the little main heads have been eaten so I'm now looking at all the little side shoots. I've also been eating the Cavelo Nero which for me is maybe the best winter veg you can grow.

There's also some Radicchio, which I've never grown before, that is just starting to form hearts. My garlic went in a while ago and is going well along with some leeks and red onions. The white tubes are an effort to
blanch the stems of the leeks. I'll be interesting to see how this turns out. I've got some more leeks in a pot without tubes so I'll be able to compare the results.

Last weekend I put in my potatoes in two trenches. These will be filled up as the potatoes grow and will end up being mounds. After a futile search for some Royal Blues I ended up finding some King Edwards at Zanthorrea Nursery that I'm happy with. They are a floury potato so great for roasting and mashing which is all I really use potatoes for. It's really hard to find interesting seed potatoes in Perth and the guys at Marmalade Cottage just use interesting varieties that they find at markets. Everything you read tells you not to do this due to the risk of bringing in disease but they've never had any problems.

Onions

I've never grown onions before and while I'm happy to have a crop I'm not sure I'll bother again. They take up bed space for such a long time so eat deep into spring planting time. I planted out two varieties from seed what seems like an eternity ago back at the beginning of April and pulled the majority of the crop today. I chose the two varieties at random, Hunter Valley Brown and Early California Red. Most of the brown ones, which were the majority of the crop, bolted to seed but despite Peter Cundall’s advice I kept them anyway. This is supposed to affect the keeping qualities. The reds seemed less inclined to bolt and, because of this, and they're a bit more versatile, they may get another run
Like garlic you're supposed to wait until the tops die off completely to improve the keeping qualities and the red ones clearly haven't. I just had to get them out of the ground though.
Now what to do with all these onions that may not keep so well? I suppose I could make a big batch of onion soup and freeze it. Then I could..um..eat a lot of onions I guess. I've already given half a dozen away and there's another half a dozen growing in an old styrofoam box.
They're pretty variable in size, between tennis ball and softball.



Quick Overview

Just a quick overview on the rest of the winter veg.
The broad beans are coming along but still no pods setting even though I planted them later than last year and they're about 80cm high.

The garlic is going well. Some of the onions have have bolted to seed though. I removed the flower heads but according to Peter Cundall they're knackered once they've done this. I'll just wait and see.

And the broccoli have done their thing and gone to seed. I've pulled these out now to prepare the bed for this year's tomatoes.