We’ve finally had some quite decent weather. If not scorchio, actually hot and sunny. Hot enough to get me up to the polytunnel at 8:00am. I’m not really a morning person but in a year like this has been, you make the most of what we get.
I’ve actually got a rough method of measuring how much sunshine we get with our solar photovoltaic installation. We put the inverter online in July and it records how much power is being generated. You can actually see the power output drop when a cloud comes over.
Our new inverter is on the web and shows how much power is generated each day.
Earlier in July we were producing around 7kWh a day although on some days it was as low as 4kWh. Since the weather changed we’re up around 20kWh a day, peaking around 24kWh on a few days. Pretty obviously, the more energy the plants receive, the better they can grow. Now everything has finally moved into high gear. But will it stay there is another question.
Feeding
The strawberries were fed the other day after taking about a kilo of nice berries and snipping off the latest batch of runners. They get tomato feed weekly with S-Chelate 12-Star once a month to keep the micro-nutrients topped up.
The Borlotti and Gigantes climbing beans are starting to flower and set so they got fed with Envii Allgrow. It’s a decent all-purpose liquid feed and organic as well. I’m not totally organic but I prefer organic solutions where they do what I need.
The sweetcorn and climbing French beans in the centre bed also got Allgrow but the sweetcorn got an additional feed of Calcinit to boost them. Sweetcorn is a greedy feeder and likes a lot of nitrogen which the Calcinit will supply.
The leeks in the raised bed where the the Casablanca had been got the same treatment. Everything has been so slow this year that I’m trying to push them along.
Nitro Chalk – Nitrate of Chalk or Calcium Ammonium Nitrate
I ran out of Nitro Chalk at the beginning of the year and so thought to top up my stocks. I expected to pay more as fertiliser prices have shot up but just finding it was a nightmare. Then I found out why…
From 1st October 2023 this product falls under the Control of Explosives Precursors & Poisons Regulations 2023. Under these new regulations, it is now a mandatory requirement that a purchaser provides detailed information, (name, address and photo identification), before an order can be processed for delivery. It is now a legal requirement for the purchaser to provide a copy of a photo identification, (copy of photo page of passport, driving licence etc.), to the retailer.
I remember the IRA bombing campaigns in the 1970s and hearing of fertiliser bombs on the news. Strange how it’s taken 50 years for the government to implement this regulatory control. It’s not a surprise that most suppliers have decided it’s not worth the bother for the relatively small quantities home growers buy.
Tomatoes Starting and Stopping
First tomatoes harvested, finally!
The tomatoes have started ripening and we’ve had a small harvest. Usually we’ve got them by the bucket load at this time of year but better late than never. We’ve lost a couple to snails, bane of my life! I’ve been stopping the plants as they hit the roof. Even if we had a higher roof, I doubt I’d let them go beyond 7 trusses as the last ones to form probably don’t have time to ripen before the weather goes cold. And that’s in a good year.
Protom Fertiliser Arrives
My order of Protom tomato feed finally arrived. I know from talking to S-Chelate that it’s been a long haul to get it on the shelves. After all the formula testing they manufactured in bulk but then had to get it packed. The availability date kept getting pushed back and I know Barry at S-Chelate was tearing his hair out!
Because the product is designed to dissolve easily, it has to be kept dry and sometimes the lids weren’t being screwed on tightly enough to stop humid air getting in. So when you open your tub, it now has a seal to ensure the contents reach you in perfect condition. It’s important to always screw the lid back on tightly and preferably keep it in a cool dry place as well.
Opened tub of Protom feed. The silver foil is the protective seal peeled back. You can make out the 5ml measuring scoop that comes in the tub.
Brassicas
Cleared a lot from the brassica cage. Weeds aren’t much of a problem as there is weed matting on the ground so the weeds only grow through the planting holes where there aren’t any brassicas planted.
Calabrese, Good News and Bad News
When I harvested the headed broccoli (calabrese), I just cut out the central head. The plants then developed small heads off the side shoots. Well the good news was that I harvested a bucket full!
The bad news was that we used half of the harvest and planned to freeze the rest but didn’t get around to processing it for a couple of days. Didn’t fancy being indoors, blanching when the sun was shining. When I came to do it, the heads had flowered.
Ball White Cabbage
I’ve overdone the cabbages, we’ve got far too many. Initially they look huge but by the time you’ve taken off the outer leaves they’re not quite so daunting. One tip – once you’ve taken the outer leaves off, immerse the cabbage in salted water for half an hour or so. Any slugs still in hiding will be killed.
You can then keep the cabbage in a cool place or preferably in a fridge. To gain even more storage time, wrap tightly with cling film to exclude air.
Cauliflower
Got three nice cauliflowers but the slugs had been at them and were hiding amongst the florets. Soaked the heads in salted water, which got quite a few out and then trimmed off discoloured bits from the curd. Cut up into florets, removing yet more slugs before washing in salted water. Finally blanched and frozen. Ended up with six large portions.
We didn’t waste the outer leaves – they were fed to some very happy sheep in the back field.
Slugs
It’s really been a bad year for the slugs and snails. A mild, fairly warm winter didn’t much reduce their population and the cool, wet spring and summer was perfect for them. Picked a lettuce and found, in one lettuce remember, seven slugs and snails. Crazy!
My tomato plants have flowers and very small tomatoes growing at least,is the lack of sunshine/ heat slowed the growing completely this year & would cutting back leaves etc affect growing of fruit on the plants?
My Granddad had shown me to cut back the leaves. I have 9 different types all covered in Tomato’s. I have 6 plants s I have planted 6 bushes and just let the be.
I have hardly any fruit on those bushes at all