Winter Washing

Yesterday, I harvested the last of the Leeks. Now the ground is ‘really’ clear and ready for those heaps of manure I plan to buy any day now. I also brought in my plant tags in order to give them a Winter wash. They came up really well with a bit of a scrub and now they’re drying off in an old clay plant-pot just waiting for the sowing to commence.

I took the opportunity to take a photo of the cleaning process (tags and Leeks). Don’t they look neat in their separate compartments?

Category: Cleaning and Clearing, Vegetables     Tagged:

15 Comments on “Winter Washing”

  1. MTP Amazing photograph as ever. Only you could make a few leeks and a few labels look as good. I aspire to do better in 2009.

  2. I think they look delightful! I will be reading your blog even more this year as hoping to pick up some practical tips … no more dreaming – this year we will be helping our hosts sow real seeds :-)

  3. That is a really nice picture. And yes your tags scrubbed up pretty nice.

  4. What are your plant labels made out of? Wood painted white? Did you paint the names on too? I’m never satisfied with the durability of my plant labels.

  5. Hi Gill

    Er wouldn’t it be better to snip the roots off over the compost heap – requires then less water/effort in cleaning ’em.

    Would not make such a pleasing pic though – you designers, huh.

    Good (and cheap ‘n green) plant labels can be made from old aluminium toothpaste/tomato puree tubes. Snip them open, wash and you can “emboss” plant names on with an old biro.

  6. Mark said, “Good (and cheap ‘n green) plant labels can be made from old aluminium toothpaste/tomato puree tubes. Snip them open, wash and you can “emboss” plant names on with an old biro.”

    Won’t they be rather sharp and so potentially dangerous, Mark?

  7. Hmmm, look more like spring onions to me! Experienced gardeners use labels to distinguish cultivars from each other, rather than different species.

  9. Lovely site..ta muchly! I live deep in the forest now and miss my garden (boo hoo!) which I gave up because of dark and deer. So your blog has cheered me up no end. I especially love your stencil work (I thought you must have burned it in, it looks so pro).

    One tip for plant labels is an old Venetian blind. One blind provides sufficient labels to christen every single leaf in the garden. (I think we might call them ‘mini-blinds’ in the U.S.)

    I get my nomenclature muxed ip all the time, I’m one very confused old ex-pat!

  10. Wow, Elizabeth, so good to have someone with your experience joining the blog. So charming. mtp, I think your photo is wonderful and hope you enjoy eating the last of your leeks!

    Lyddie

  11. Experienced gardeners would expect spring onions to be more bulbous I should have thought, Elizabeth. Not that I have grown spring onions recently or have ever grown leeks so far. I have had some rather thin organic leeks in veg boxes, but any spring onions I have seen anywhere are definitely more bulbous and the leaves grow in a slightly different way, plus they are rounded with pointed tips. Take another look next time you get a chance. ;)

    I like to mark where I have planted carrots, beans and onions etc, mostly to stop hubby digging them up!! I often use sticks and bamboo canes but would love to have some swish looking markers like the author of this blog. If I grew more than one variety of the same plant I would want to distinguish between them, but in tiny plots that probably doesn’t happen too often.

  12. GardenGrrl – yes my plant tags are just shop-bought wooden tags, painted with Weathershield white paint and then I wrote the names myself. It’s a bit time consuming but it definitely adds a little personality to your garden when they’re all out in summer.

    Mark thanks for the tip – I’ll stick with my wooden ones though as I’ve spent so much time on them.

    Elizabeth – thanks for contributing.

    Everyone – thanks for the comments. Hope you’re all as excited about the coming year as I am.

  13. I took some of our leeks round to a friends house for their Christmas dinner. They were talking about putting them in a salad because they thought they were spring onions. Don’t they say small ones are more juicy? Our leeks certainly tasted great, I’m sure yours did too.

  15. I make soup with my leeks it tastes excellent with them being grown organicaley.