Peas this year have been exceptional - a large harvest of 8 to 10 peas per pod (more in some) and no sign of pea moth or other damage, except in the very last ones. This is because I covered the peas until they had just about finished flowering with a very fine mesh. As they are wind pollinated, not insect pollinated, this had no effect on the size of the crop, but the quality was outstanding. So I have planted some more, in pots. It's too late really (next year I will get my second sowing in earlier) but if we have some decent weather in September they may do OK. They will have to go in the space vacated by the first row of peas, as there is no room elsewhere!
Broad beans too have done very well. Again, they were covered with a fine mesh until they had flowered. They are also under a coarse mesh, which lets the insects in but keeps the birds out. Despite this, they have no blackfly at all, yet three yards away, in an uncovered plot, the broad beans are half the size and covered in blackfly. I am still picking broad beans, and have put a lot in the freezer despite eating lots as mange tout, and lots in salads, but the peas have finished.
French beans are looking and tasting good. Again, from one short row, there are so many that lots have had to be frozen. Next week it should be runner beans. Courgettes also are very good - we shall have to make plenty of chutney this year! And I have been digging potatoes - no sign of slug damage or disease, and a good harvest - and pulling up the garlic for drying. Lots of lettuces and beetroot too, but my first sowing of spring onions is finished and the next set has some way to go. Summer purple sprouting broccoli is prolific, but despite being grown under a fine mesh has caterpillars, so I guess a butterfly must have found its way in. And of course there is some slug and snail damage to all of the brassica crops, so I have put down some more slug pellets. As they are all under the same fine mesh, the birds cannot eat them.
No comments:
Post a Comment