It’s been a poor year for weather and the harvest so far is pretty mixed. Anyway, in classic style I’ll start with good before the bad.
The shelter of the polytunnel has proven its worth. We’re still getting flushes of strawberries. Not quite the volume we were getting but still respectable pickings. Quite a lot in the freezer that will be turned into jam come the winter.
The climbing French beans are in full production, about a heaped colander every couple of days. They’re lovely fresh but they also freeze well. We do them in portion sized bags which is really convenient. I sowed both Cobra and Blue Lake. Cobra is far superior; better germination, faster growing plants, larger beans and lots of them.
The dwarf beans in the tunnel will be producing soon. They’re Beurre de Rocquencourt, a productive French heritage variety whose yellow waxy beans are delicious. The Borlotti and Gigantes are doing well but a fair ways off harvest.
Sweetcorn Bad
The bad in the polytunnel is the sweetcorn. It’s a new to me variety Pot of Gold but poor growth and patchy germination has not impressed me.
Sweetcorn Good – Maybe
Outside the Earliking sweetcorn is doing well despite being a bit shaded. The choice was a shaded, sheltered spot or a sunnier, more exposed spot. Looks like I may have called it right.
Red Cabbage
Harvested red cabbage with the outer leaves trimmed drying off in the sun for an hour.
After all the slug damage to the cabbages and cauliflowers, I wasn’t expecting much from the red cabbages but they’ve done quite nicely. Lots of slugs in the outer leaves but the hard hearts seem to be free of the pests.
After removing the outer leaves, allowed them to dry off in the sun on our bench prior to putting them into the net bags we get kindling sticks in (waste nothing!) hanging the bags on hooks in the store after removing the outer leaves. It’s dark and fairly cool, so they will store for couple of months.
Red Cabbage in Net Bags in Store
When we get chance we can pickle some to keep another couple of months. See this recipe: Pickled Red Cabbage However, my favourite way to have red cabbage is in this recipe: Spiced Red Cabbage with Apple.
Axona Potatoes – Awful Result. Really bad.
Axona are one of my ‘bankers’ – you can bank on them – but not this year. Not sure what’s gone wrong but a low yield and huge amounts of slug damage haven’t helped. Even some rat or possibly rabbit damage. Most likely rats as the rabbit population has been badly hit by myxomatosis this year. Horrible disease, I wouldn’t wish it on a rabbit.
Anyway, two thirds of the Axona harvest are inedible. Hollowed out by slugs and gnawed at by rats. My last hope are the remaining volunteers in the walled vegetable garden.
Well I Never!
Repairing Tomato Plant
I caught a heavily laden developing truss of black opal tomatoes in the Vitavia greenhouse and broke the stem. It wasn’t broken off but split about half way through. I thought I’d lost the truss but Val suggested we bind the break around with sellotape. Much to my surprise, it worked and the tomatoes matured. I think the stem must have mended somewhat. Anyway a new one on me.
Repaired Tomato Truss Stem
Tomato from Pepper
In the Eden greenhouse I noticed a tomato plant behind the peppers in the Chilligrow. Turned out that it was growing out of a space between the pot and the nutrient reservoir.
You go to all that trouble to get tomatoes to grow from seed and then one randomly appears. Probably from a seed remaining in the potting compost I used to plant the pepper in. Once seedlings have been moved on, I don’t waste the remaining compost.
Very virtuous of me.. or just a bit of a skinflint.
Thinking about it, I remember finding a strawberry plant growing out of a crack in the concrete path by the house. I tried growing strawberries from seed once but failed. Somehow nature manages.
Wow John the red cabbage look amazing. I too have been very successful with the tomatoes in the polytunnel and also my carrots outdoors. However Galia melons in the polytunnel have been a bit of a disaster. Only 4 fruits about the size of a tennis ball, which rotted on the plant. I think they were hit by spider mite.