Bountiful harvest despite the dreaded club root

A very breezy weekend.  Fairly sunny, after heavy rain yesterday morning, but very breezy.  Yesterday, was primarily a day for housework.  I did take a look in the greenhouse only to find a fat Cucumber hiding behind a leaf.  I also harvesting the Garlic from the two pots near the garage.  I should have done it earlier and I had lost 2-3 bulbs.  The remaining few looked good though so were put into the greenhouse to dry out.

Today, I focused on gardening.  To begin with, I headed to the local garden centre to find some copper tape.  No luck on that but I did blow my birthday garden vouchers on a lovely little Fig plant.  It even has a couple of fruit on it.  I also bought some Carrot and Spring Onion seeds as they were 75% off.  I was very disciplined.  

While there, I saw a lovely Red Admiral on one of the potted plants undercover.

I did find copper tape at the other garden centre, just a little further away.  I then hurriedly potted on the Fig before gathering up the spare Tomato plants and the new veg cages that had arrived during the week and heading over to the plot.  

At the plot, I erected the veg cages over Beds 1 and 2.  Just in time as the Kalettes and one of the Calabrese plants were started to stoop over.  

The next main job was the plant out the 6 Tomato plants.  I decided to put them in Bed 4 to the south of the Jerusalem Artichokes.  To do this I lifted the tiny Onion plants to use as Spring Onions.  It was clear they were not going to progress any further.

After that, I did some weeding in random places and thinned the Parsnips.  I also harvested a few more things - only a few Boysenberries but 1 Courgette, 1 Cabbage, some Perpetual Spinach and a large handful of Green and Yellow Beans.  Mark kindly gave me a large red, frilly Lettuce which took up most of the trug. I also harvested some small spuds from another very sickly looking Potato in Bed 5.  The gaps can be seen in the picture below.

Unfortunately, although the Cabbage looked small but perfectly formed, it did appear to have club root.  Ah well.  The nearby Calabrese is showing signs of developing heads.  

The Kale and Kalettes look fine in Bed 6 despite me forgetting to apply lime.  

Priorities for the coming week/weekend included transplanting the Leek seedlings from Bed 4 to Bed 6 and tidying up the ‘staging area’ which is being taken over by Nettles.

Rain at last

Very late last Sunday evening, just before the light disappeared, I nipped to the plot to do a few jobs at speed.  These included seeing if I could move the Borlotti Beans in Bed 3 elsewhere to give more space to the Celery and Celeriac.  However, on arrival, I was reminded that the Beans are developing pods already so moving would be unwise.  Plus, I had no clear idea where they would go.  In the end, I simply weeded around them all and that looks to have freed up a fair amount of space.

I was especially keen to sow Carrots and Spring Onions.  For this, I ripped out all the Radish and Turnips - the later had not come to much at all - to make space.  With rain forecast for most of the next fortnight, it made sense to get the Carrots in as germination may be more effective with the moist soil.  I sowed F1 Resistafly (Sutton) and Photon Spring Onions (Johnsons).  While there I also harvested some Potatoes from one of the plants that looked very sick.  Right in the corner of Bed 5 near the Raspberries and external path.  I got 6 or so small-ish tubers to take home.  It does look like there is some blight on the nearby plants but it is not visible on any stems yet as far as I can see so I won’t take action at this point.  I will need to watch for this with the wet, humid weather set to linger for a time. 

On the way home from work on Thursday evening, I popped by the plot for 5 mins, mainly to check on the potatoes.  I harvested a bowl of Boysenberries and the first 2 Courgettes.  

At home, I spotted a couple of large slugs who had emerged in the rain.  One was sat in the Onion pot and had clearly munched its way through them all.  A complete loss.  I am going to consider buying some copper tape, as per my Dad’s suggestion, to put around some pots before sowing some seeds at the weekend.  Obviously, it won’t help with any slugs already in the pots but we’ll see.

Getting a tad crowded

A cooler weekend which is welcome.  There had been a bit of rain/drizzle later in the week so plants are not looking so desperate.  I even closed the greenhouse door last night as it felt cool yesterday evening.

On Saturday, I had 2-3 hours at the plot so I picked the last of the Broad Beans and weeded around those as well as the Brassicas in Beds 1 and 2.  I had a think about netting for the said Brassicas and, having spoken to another plot holder, will make it easier on myself and invest in Gardening Naturally cages and netting for those.  I think some of the Boysenberries are getting eaten so I draped some netting over those to make a little trickier for winged thieves but so they can still get to some without getting trapped hopefully.

At home, I tidied up the 3 Tomato plants in the greenhouse and potted up 6-7 of the sideshoots I had rooting in other pots.  I will probably take those to the plot unless I can find some space for them at home. I gave the remaining 10 or so Florence Fennel seedlings to my in-laws as they sowed some in the week so clearly have an interest (and space I don’t have currently).

On Sunday, I mainly focused on turning all the compost bins.  At home, the bin on the right had broken down pretty well (as shown below).

The bin the left had only recently been emptied so I filled it with material from my in-laws.  Later in the week I received two further bags so it is now completely full and heating up nicely.

While it was less hot than previous weekend, I took the opportunity to turn the compost bins at the plot too.  Bin 1 is full of material that should be ready for spreading in Autumn/Winter along with half of Bin 4.  Bins 2 and 3 are now full of fairly fresh/recent material so I could turn and mix them together in a couple of months perhaps.  

Before leaving, and after harvesting Lettuce and Perpetual Spinach, I planted out some Swede seedlings among the Sweetcorn.  I reasoned these might appreciate the shade in the next couple of months.  I also planted two Brussels Sprout seedlings in Bed 1. 

Beware: Mange Tout incoming

A hot weekend so gardening is largely confined to the shade at home (seed sowing), quick dashes to the greenhouse and evening sessions at the plot.  

On Saturday, I had a good couple of hours at the plot during which I focused on weeding, especially the large Poppy in the centre, Comfrey in the top right corner and around the Carrots and Parsnips.  I harvested some more Broad Beans (Bed 6) as well as the entire Garlic crop (Bed 0).  Around half a dozen had rotted off but there were some small-medium bulbs to take home.  I also harvested the Elephant Garlic on the edge of Bed 1.  Most are still rounds so will need to be replanted.  Meanwhile, the Garlic at home is still looking good so still in the two pots (now by the back gate).

In place of the harvested Garlic, I planted the 12 modules of Leeks.  The nearby Dwarf Beans are looking content.

I’m continuing to pick Mange Tout regularly to enjoy that while it lasts and gave a handful to my in-laws yesterday.  One of the two Courgette plants at the plot has started to produce flowers while the one at home is being eaten by a slug or snail so unlikely to pull through.  

While in the village yesterday, I saw some Tobacco seedlings for sale at the charity shop for £1 each so I bought three (although one pot contained 2 little seedlings).

Back at home, I picked my first cucumber which was delicious with some homemade carrot houmous.  I also spotted an error on my part in the greenhouse.  I had tied up some metal grids (shelves from a mini-greenhouse) at the far end for the Melons and Cucumbers to climb up.  What seems to have happened is that a Melon flower has grown through the grid and started developing into a fruit on the other side.  It was therefore between the polycarbonate and the grid and starting to develop a shallow groove from the metal.  I quickly untethered the bottom of the grid section which can now swing out as the fruit grows.  

On Sunday, I tidied up and topped up the pots in the greenhouse, using spent compost from other crop-less pots on the patio).  I gave them a good water before a busy working week ahead.  

In the afternoon, it was still hot so I sat on the bench in the shade with a glass of crisp white wine and sowed some seeds.

• More Borlotti Beans to replace the Mange Tout
• More Dwarf French Beans for the plot or a pot at home
• 2 varieties of Purple Sprouting Broccoli
• Savoy Cabbage
• Basil
• Lettuces
• Rocket
• Sweet Williams

At the time of writing (six days later), only the Sweet Williams and Dwarf Beans are yet to show anything.  

On Monday, after work, I gave everything a water at the plot as I wasn’t convinced about the reports of drizzle later in the week.  Before a couple of days away, I picked over the Mange Tout.  Six days later, I picked a whole punnet of it with much of it possibly tough/stringy.  I am leaving a handful of the ones that are past it to develop for seed saving as it has worked so well.

Worth noting that on Sunday (I think), as I was weeding a little in the back garden bed, a sudden gust of the wind caught the top-heavy Mange Tout plants and pulled their tendrils off the netting.  It was lucky I happened to be there when it happened - they almost fell on top of me.  I tied them up with twine.