Peas please!

I have picked LOTS of peas recently (Hurst green shaft) and they have been delicious. Too many to eat fresh, so we have made soup (plus mint, and frozen it) with some, have frozen others after a quick blanch, and may be making some chutney, as I now have a glut of courgettes (!) as well. The only problem has been pea moth, which lays its eggs on the flowers. The maggots hatch and burrow into the peas, and on average I have lost 2 or 3 peas per pod. I shall cover them with fine mesh next year. You can spray, but why bother when you can keep the culprits off altogether? Especially if you are trying to be organic.

Loads of excellent cabbages still - all covered with fine mesh to keep off the nibblers - and lettuces. I have given away lots of lettuces in the last couple of weeks, but despite planting them out in 2 tranches they all came at once because of the hot weather. Now they are all going over together.... Also picking French beans, broad beans (still, but I shall take the plants out this weekend) and potatoes. If I take out a whole row, there will be room for my chard seedlings. 

For a change, we have had some rain in the last few days, and very welcome it has been too! It's still 20+°C, so growth is still strong. 

Heatwave still!

The Meteorological Office defines a heatwave as 'five consecutive days where the temperature is at least 5°C above the average for the time of year'. Well, the maximum daytime temperature has been at least 30°C for rather more than a week (high by our standards) and there is no end in sight. Neither will there be any rain in the forseeable future, which means daily watering. I dug a root of spuds yesterday - the ground was like concrete, and the spuds were not nearly as big as they should be.

The weather has however helped quite a few things - peas for instance, which I started picking this evening. Broad beans are coming to an end, but I have just sowed some winter cabbage seed in my seedbed, so when the beans come out, the cabbages will go in. Likewise, when the potatoes come out, chard will go in, which I am also growing from seed. In the meantime, there are summer cabbages (in truth, it's been so hot that all we have eaten is salads recently!) lettuces - which are all coming on at once despite being planted at different times - runner and French beans, and courgettes. Beetroot and carrots soon.

Heatwave!

When I got back from Denmark on Monday night, the south of England was enjoying a heatwave (by British standards) and still is. As a result, things have grown very quickly. I dug a root of potatoes last night - Valor, very clean and tasty when boiled lightly with some mint - and also had a lettuce. These will ALL be ready in about 3 days! The sweetcorn are also looking very good, and there should be peas in 2 or 3 days, and as for the cabbages ....
Perhaps my courgettes will start growing sometime?
Of course, with the heatwave comes the daily watering, but at least it's too hot for the slugs!

The concrete slab has now been put down for our 10 000 litre water tank, to be filled with the aid of runoff from the roof of our containers, and topped up from the mains. Plus as I have already mentioned we now have electricity on site. There will be a community area in front of the containers. This has been seeded with grass, and picnic benches and tables are on order.

Here's a question though : my broad beans have been quite good, with many large pods. However, half of these have been empty - no beans in them at all - why?

Holiday time

 For a change, I think I'm more or less up to date on my plot. The sweetcorn are doing well, and I've fed and watered them, and more slug pellets inside the plastic collars. The potatoes are looking OK as well, and it will be time to try a root of the earlies in a week or so.

This is another of my mini-plots, with runner beans on the left - I have planted African marigolds in between to keep off the blackfly - and peas to the right, which will also be ready to pick in a week or so. In the middle is squeezed a row of beetroot. Rain is promised for this evening and tomorrow, which will hopefully remove the need for watering, which is just as well as I am having a few days in Denmark (a niece's wedding) and will not be able to water etc.



So everything is planted for the summer (with the exception of some leeks which are still too small to plant out), the paths are covered with a thick mulch of chipped bark etc, and there are boards round each plot so that the soil level inside can be raised. Lots of things are slow this year (like the courgettes, which have hardly grown since planting them out) but the pace is picking up. I have already picked lettuce, broad beans and cabbages, and in the next month there should also be peas, beans, beetroot, potatoes, spring onions and carrots - plus courgettes, maybe!