Lovely weather, so spent most of the day in the garden catching some rays in between work in the veggie patch.
The tomatoes were looking very sorry for themselves. The cold wet weather meant very few tomatoes growing and all 59 outdoor tomato plants had blight. The handful of tomatoes growing were tiny and some were rotting. Some plants had no tomatoes at all.
Meanwhile, we had 46 brassicas (broccoli and kale) in small pots, desperately needing to move into bigger pots.So we took the difficult decision to abandon all hope of outdoor tomatoes this year and use the buckets for the brassicas.
I picked all the tomatoes and they're now in trays. They're almost all green, apart from a couple of Sungold that are turning yellow. We have to leave the tomatoes in the trays for a week or so to see if they start rotting from blight. If they don't, we can make green tomato chutney.
All the tomato plants are now bagged up for the council to take in their green waste collection.
At least the buckets are going back to productive use now!
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Winter Brassicas
Brassicas are quite big and take up a lot of space, so we can't plant many in the veggie patch. Even with all year round growing and harvesting, there isn't anywhere near enough space in the veggie patch to keep us fed with brassicas.
The simple solution is to use all the tomato pots and buckets in the summer, and for winter brassicas in the winter. We'll use the compost from the potato sacks and tomato buckets for the winter brassicas.
So last week I sowed another 4 trays of brassicas:
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
12 Cabbage Kilaton
12 Kale (Black Tuscany)
12 Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Rudolph)
12 Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli
8 Cabbage (Durham Early)
8 Cabbage (?)
8 Cabbage (?)
The Black Tuscany Kale is winter hardy so can live outside without a problem. It produces large black leaves that can be used like cabbage. The leaves are "cut and come again", so we can pick what we need when we need it. We can also pick, chop, blanche and freeze leaves if we get enough.
There are 4 varieties of cabbage, all of which can live outside, and should mature at different times. With some luck, we should have cabbage throughout the winter. But my luck says that they'll all come at the same time ....
The AYR cauliflower is probably best either in the greenhouse or a coldframe / cloche. I have a greenhouse heater and I'm planning to run that throughout the winter. However, there is only so much we can keep in the greenhouse, so we won't get many cauliflowers in there. I'll have to look for some clear plastic sheeting to build a cloche.
There are two varieties of PSB which should give us PSB from December through to May.
The simple solution is to use all the tomato pots and buckets in the summer, and for winter brassicas in the winter. We'll use the compost from the potato sacks and tomato buckets for the winter brassicas.
So last week I sowed another 4 trays of brassicas:
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
12 Cabbage Kilaton
12 Kale (Black Tuscany)
12 Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Rudolph)
12 Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli
8 Cabbage (Durham Early)
8 Cabbage (?)
8 Cabbage (?)
The Black Tuscany Kale is winter hardy so can live outside without a problem. It produces large black leaves that can be used like cabbage. The leaves are "cut and come again", so we can pick what we need when we need it. We can also pick, chop, blanche and freeze leaves if we get enough.
There are 4 varieties of cabbage, all of which can live outside, and should mature at different times. With some luck, we should have cabbage throughout the winter. But my luck says that they'll all come at the same time ....
The AYR cauliflower is probably best either in the greenhouse or a coldframe / cloche. I have a greenhouse heater and I'm planning to run that throughout the winter. However, there is only so much we can keep in the greenhouse, so we won't get many cauliflowers in there. I'll have to look for some clear plastic sheeting to build a cloche.
There are two varieties of PSB which should give us PSB from December through to May.
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Chillies and Peppers
This is another crop failure this year. We sowed dozens of seeds, loads of varieties, but it looks like the weather ruined any chance of a crop this year. The biggest chillies and peppers are about 6in tall, still quite thin, and no sign of any flowers.
We currently have 5 sweet pepper seedlings, the biggest of which is about 2in tall. We have about 15 other chillies and peppers, the tallest of which is about 6in tall, thin, and no signs of any flowers or peppers.
We'll overwinter these indoors in the back room. With some luck, they'll produce a nice early crop next year.
We currently have 5 sweet pepper seedlings, the biggest of which is about 2in tall. We have about 15 other chillies and peppers, the tallest of which is about 6in tall, thin, and no signs of any flowers or peppers.
We'll overwinter these indoors in the back room. With some luck, they'll produce a nice early crop next year.
Tomato Blight
It looks like almost all of our tomatoes have blight, and we haven't had a single tomato yet. Very disappointing.
The one tomato plant that's safe at the moment is the Shirley, which is in the greenhouse. There are plenty of good looking tomatoes on it, so hopefully we'll have some tomatoes from it soon.
The other 59 tomato plants are all outside. We've stripped all the damaged leaves and sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, but it's probably too late. At best, we'll slow the blight down and we might get a few tomatoes, but as there aren't many tomatoes yet, it's not looking good. There are hundreds of flowers, dozens of tomatoes, nothing anywhere near ripe - the poor weather this year meant everything is very late.
But got to think positive: this year's weather has been the worst on record - next year is unlikely to be this bad, so we should do a lot better.
The one tomato plant that's safe at the moment is the Shirley, which is in the greenhouse. There are plenty of good looking tomatoes on it, so hopefully we'll have some tomatoes from it soon.
The other 59 tomato plants are all outside. We've stripped all the damaged leaves and sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, but it's probably too late. At best, we'll slow the blight down and we might get a few tomatoes, but as there aren't many tomatoes yet, it's not looking good. There are hundreds of flowers, dozens of tomatoes, nothing anywhere near ripe - the poor weather this year meant everything is very late.
But got to think positive: this year's weather has been the worst on record - next year is unlikely to be this bad, so we should do a lot better.
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Fruit - Trees
The apple tree is loaded as usual. The pear tree seems to have quite a lot of small pears, but they're dropping off.
The cooking apple tree by the shed has just two apples on it. The tree isn't in good shape since the fox dug underneath it and partially uprooted it, so I think I'll just remove the tree.
The old plum tree (Victoria) seems to be alive, albeit with only 2 plums on it this year. The newer plum tree (Czar) that was planted a few years ago to replace the old plum tree, seems to have died of some sort of fungus. I'll cut that down soon. If the old plum tree doesn't produce anything worthwhile next year, I'll cut that down too. In any case, there are plenty of plum trees out in the streets.
The new cherry and peach tree seem to be growing well, plenty of greenery on both trees.
We managed to pick enough elderflowers to make some elderflower wine and elderflower cordial. The only thing that stopped us picking more was the lack of sunshine: elderflowers should be picked on a sunny day (apparently). There will be plenty of elderberries this year, so hopefully that will give us several gallons of elderberry wine.
The cooking apple tree by the shed has just two apples on it. The tree isn't in good shape since the fox dug underneath it and partially uprooted it, so I think I'll just remove the tree.
The old plum tree (Victoria) seems to be alive, albeit with only 2 plums on it this year. The newer plum tree (Czar) that was planted a few years ago to replace the old plum tree, seems to have died of some sort of fungus. I'll cut that down soon. If the old plum tree doesn't produce anything worthwhile next year, I'll cut that down too. In any case, there are plenty of plum trees out in the streets.
The new cherry and peach tree seem to be growing well, plenty of greenery on both trees.
We managed to pick enough elderflowers to make some elderflower wine and elderflower cordial. The only thing that stopped us picking more was the lack of sunshine: elderflowers should be picked on a sunny day (apparently). There will be plenty of elderberries this year, so hopefully that will give us several gallons of elderberry wine.
Fruit - Canes & Bushes
The soft fruit is looking good. We've picked several pounds of raspberries, loganberries and gooseberries, with plenty more to pick. It's all in the freezer ready for winemaking.
The bed with raspberries, gooseberries and loganberries is heavily overgrown with weeds. The weeds have loved the wet weather. I managed to clear most of the weeds from the raspberries the other day, but they're coming back with a vengeance. I really do need to keep the ground sheeted over, but that will have to wait until autumn / winter when everything dies back and I can see the ground more easily.
We've had a handful of strawberries, but the slugs seem to beat us. Regular slug pelleting seems to help.
Blackcurrants are doing well. They're big, fat and juicy, and are turning black. We weren't expecting any blackcurrants this year as it's a new plant, but they're coming. Likewise the reducurrants are doing well. No sign of any whitecurrants yet, but the bush seems to be growing well. No sign of anything from the blueberry either, although it's growing slowly, so that's a good thing.
The rhubarb is good, plenty picked, sliced and frozen. The rhubarb behind the greenhouse seems to have almost died off. That's the second lot I've planted there and it just does nothing. I'll dig it up and see if it comes back to life in pots.
The bed with raspberries, gooseberries and loganberries is heavily overgrown with weeds. The weeds have loved the wet weather. I managed to clear most of the weeds from the raspberries the other day, but they're coming back with a vengeance. I really do need to keep the ground sheeted over, but that will have to wait until autumn / winter when everything dies back and I can see the ground more easily.
We've had a handful of strawberries, but the slugs seem to beat us. Regular slug pelleting seems to help.
Blackcurrants are doing well. They're big, fat and juicy, and are turning black. We weren't expecting any blackcurrants this year as it's a new plant, but they're coming. Likewise the reducurrants are doing well. No sign of any whitecurrants yet, but the bush seems to be growing well. No sign of anything from the blueberry either, although it's growing slowly, so that's a good thing.
The rhubarb is good, plenty picked, sliced and frozen. The rhubarb behind the greenhouse seems to have almost died off. That's the second lot I've planted there and it just does nothing. I'll dig it up and see if it comes back to life in pots.
Hosepipe Ban Lifted
After an extremely wet start to the month, with serious flooding in some parts of the country, the hosepipe ban was finally lifted a couple of days ago.
We had some sunshine on Sunday, sunshine again today, more sunshine forecast for this weekend.
Hopefully the veggies will start to catch up ....
We had some sunshine on Sunday, sunshine again today, more sunshine forecast for this weekend.
Hopefully the veggies will start to catch up ....
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
More Carrot Sowings
The fox dug up all the carrots last week. I'm not going to let the fox beat me, so I've sown some more.
From left to right:
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
We're hoping these will give us a carrots from September to November. It's almost a last chance thing, although Nantes Frubund can still be sown into autumn. We still have some Purple Haze and Rainbow seeds, but we won't sow these until next year.
 |
| 12 troughs of carrots |
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
We're hoping these will give us a carrots from September to November. It's almost a last chance thing, although Nantes Frubund can still be sown into autumn. We still have some Purple Haze and Rainbow seeds, but we won't sow these until next year.
Weather Update
So ... hot on the heels of the wettest April on record, we've had the wettest June on record. We've had twice as much rainfall as we normally would. Not only that, but we've had the second dullest June since records began.
And we still have a hosepipe ban.
It's raining out there again and rain is forecast right through to Saturday.
It'll probably rain right up to the day they lift the hosepipe ban .....
And we still have a hosepipe ban.
It's raining out there again and rain is forecast right through to Saturday.
It'll probably rain right up to the day they lift the hosepipe ban .....
Monday, 2 July 2012
Carrots
Over the last couple of months, we've pulled up and scoffed some of our carrots that we sowed at the beginning of October last year. They were still quite small at 6 months, but quite good at 7 months. They were Early Nantes and I didn't think they'd take that long to be a reasonable size.
Last week, the local fox raided our carrot tubs, probably looking for slugs. Carrots everywhere. Most of them were tiny, having only been sown on March and April. Many were too small to even be classed as baby carrots. Very disappointing as it will be several more months before we get any more carrots.
Anyway, there was no chance of replanting them all, so we decided we'd use them for carrot wine. We got a total of 1.5lbs (after topping) from 9 troughs, a mix of Early Nantes, Autumn King, Chantenay and Purple Haze. This wasn't enough for a gallon of wine so we had to buy more cheap carrots to have enough for a couple of gallons.
We still have a couple of troughs of carrots down in the veggie patch. One is Early Nantes, sown in mid-October last year, the other is Rainbow. Both troughs are less than half full - many seeds just didn't sprout in the poor weather we've had.
Back to more carrot sowings later.
Last week, the local fox raided our carrot tubs, probably looking for slugs. Carrots everywhere. Most of them were tiny, having only been sown on March and April. Many were too small to even be classed as baby carrots. Very disappointing as it will be several more months before we get any more carrots.
Anyway, there was no chance of replanting them all, so we decided we'd use them for carrot wine. We got a total of 1.5lbs (after topping) from 9 troughs, a mix of Early Nantes, Autumn King, Chantenay and Purple Haze. This wasn't enough for a gallon of wine so we had to buy more cheap carrots to have enough for a couple of gallons.
We still have a couple of troughs of carrots down in the veggie patch. One is Early Nantes, sown in mid-October last year, the other is Rainbow. Both troughs are less than half full - many seeds just didn't sprout in the poor weather we've had.
Back to more carrot sowings later.
Brassicas
After seemingly endless rain, we're now getting a mix of wet and dry days. As the forecast was for a dry day and we had loads to do in the veggie patch, we cancelled our day out to spend the day in the garden instead. And it rained.
Luckily it wasn't heavy rain, just short showers. And the ground had dried out enough to make it diggable. So I dug over the whole brassicas bed and planted it out. I had recently dug over about half the bed anyway, so it wasn't too bad.
After sheeting over, I planted through. I will be covering the bed with an old gazebo frame and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off. Brassicas are quite large plants, so I've planted away from the edges where the netting will go.
I was a bit disappointed with the variety of brassicas, especially the lack of cauliflowers. We had wanted lots of coloured cauliflowers, but have only 1 Romanesco and 1 Purple Graffiti and a few Violetta. Many other brassicas had cooked in the greenhouse on the handful of hot days we've had. We will need to sow a lot more for the winter.
The total planted out in the brassicas bed is:
5 Cauliflower All Year Round
1 Cauliflower Purple Graffiti
1 Cauliflower Romanesco
7 Cauliflower Violetta
2 Red Cabbage Kalibos
3 Broccoli Summer Purple
4 Broccoli Belstar
4 Broccoli Green Magic
Other brassicas have been potted on into 5in pots. Later on we'll move them into the large flower buckets. The list so far is:
28 Kale Dwarf Green
12 Broccoli Summer Purple
3 Broccoli Green Magic
5 Broccoli Belstar
More sowings later.
 |
| Brassicas bed, greenhouse is to the right. |
After sheeting over, I planted through. I will be covering the bed with an old gazebo frame and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off. Brassicas are quite large plants, so I've planted away from the edges where the netting will go.
I was a bit disappointed with the variety of brassicas, especially the lack of cauliflowers. We had wanted lots of coloured cauliflowers, but have only 1 Romanesco and 1 Purple Graffiti and a few Violetta. Many other brassicas had cooked in the greenhouse on the handful of hot days we've had. We will need to sow a lot more for the winter.
The total planted out in the brassicas bed is:
5 Cauliflower All Year Round
1 Cauliflower Purple Graffiti
1 Cauliflower Romanesco
7 Cauliflower Violetta
2 Red Cabbage Kalibos
3 Broccoli Summer Purple
4 Broccoli Belstar
4 Broccoli Green Magic
Other brassicas have been potted on into 5in pots. Later on we'll move them into the large flower buckets. The list so far is:
28 Kale Dwarf Green
12 Broccoli Summer Purple
3 Broccoli Green Magic
5 Broccoli Belstar
More sowings later.
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