This last week has been a bit of a wash out, really. I was so convinced we were going to have a blistering summer and here we are, July monsoons again. The plus side is that it’s warm enough to encourage growth with plenty of water but the flip side is that it’s encouraging the weeds as well.
Onions, Shallots & Garlic
Having brought all the damp onions home we’ve had them spread out in the shed, kitchen and the lean-to greenhouse. Most of them are fine but some had started to rot so have been thrown away.
I hate wasting anything I’ve grown but they won’t keep once they’ve started to rot and we’ve probably enough to last until next year’s crop. Val’s been busily stringing them and hanging them in the shed.
Brassicas
I did manage to get the rest of the brassicas planted out on the raised bed on plot 5. By the time I’d finished, despite a kneeling mat, my jeans were soaked as were my socks. Val’s insisted I invest in a new pair of trainers. A whole £10.00! At least they don’t let the water in.
Tomatoes and Cucumbers
The Sungold are, as usual, the earliest tomatoes. It’s an amazing variety – prolific, early, long-lasting and the sweetest tasting tomato I’ve ever eaten. The others are developing but the Sungold are ripe now.
In the small greenhouse I’ve a cucumber in the border that’s doing it’s best to occupy the house on its own. I think it’s Burpless Tasty Green but I got a bit mixed up with the labels when potting on so I’m not 100% sure.
Forum member Haz had kindly sent me some Egyptian and Romanian cucumber seeds and it might be a Romanian one. Anyway, checked it over and despite lots of flowers, no fruit to be seen yet.
In a large pot on the bench I’ve got an Egyptian cucumber. This doesn’t seem to have put much foliage on but I suddenly realised there were three nice fruits on there. He told me to harvest them when they were quite small, 3″ long, so off they came. They’re delicious, really good flavour. One had grown to about 5″ and seems a bit seedy but the smaller ones are fantastic. What’s more, unlike a large cucumber, you can get through one in one go.
Potatoes
The rest of the early potatoes need to come up but it’s not fun when it’s so wet. If, as may happen, it’s dry tomorrow, I’ll be digging them up.
Weeds
Plot 5 is falling behind but the hoe was just pulling them in the wet soil. When it’s dry you can hoe off so quickly but the way it is now it’s a real job. Never happy, am I?
Brassica Bed on Plot 5
Wet also not good as far as risk of potato blight goes!
Had potato blight here; disappointing when you put so much effort into your plot. Trying late potatoes for the first time.
pulled first stonehead cabbage where the mesh covers them
they are fine pidgins get at the outside ones but other wise
should be alright stil have 30 or so to go at
Hi John
Can’t sleep, its nice to know that we all get weeds.I have just taken my onions up and they are the best i have grow.I know i got them from the rep but I know the Variety.
I am going to get the rest of my early potato up tomorrow.
Talking about plants that try to take over the green house, this year I tried four climbing French Beans. The theory was that since these are self-fertile they might produce a first crop of ‘runners’ well ahead of outdoors crops. And so they did, but I had to hack through them before they completely overwhelmed the tomatoes. They had even found the gaps between the glazing and started to cover the roof of the greenhouse! Having had many pickings I was astonished to find in the jungle-like foliage enough pods to fill a supermarket hand-basket.
When they are grown outside they can be left to ripen into ‘haricots’, but alas this was not possible under glass.
The experiment was successful, but next year I will only plant two seedlings and keep them under control.
Meanwhile I have left one plant to regrow to see whether it will yield beans in late autumn (there seems to be little information about the use of greenhouses to produce late as well as early crops?).
And a PS: I have Enorma runners that are 19 inches long and still tender. They like the rain of course.