We harvested kale, cabbage and baby leeks this week for the Gateway restaurant at the Botanics. It may well be winter but the garden is still producing. The brassicas are looking great safely tucked under the netting. Unfortunately the chard has been well and truly attacked by pigeons. We will net this off to protect it and should still get a decent crop.

One of our big winter jobs has been completed, our new compost bays are up and ready to use. The Edible Gardening Team constructed these beautifully using old pallets. They took their time over it and the result is solid and very useable. A compost heap is a real bonus to the vegetable garden. Every grower needs a good supply of material to enrich the soil and feed those hungry plants. Composting your own garden waste is really just a way of recycling the nutrients within your own garden.

This time of year may be a bit quiet in the garden but we have just ticked off one essential winter job; the seed and potato order. We have all sorts of goodies winging their way to us including Sarpo Mira maincrop potatoes, broad bean’Crimson Flowered’ and Radish ‘Cherry Belle’.