Dry Heat

Stuck indoors today because of the rain (hurray)  gives me the opportunity  to review recent progress.  The garlic crops, both winter and  spring plantings have been a bit underwhelming.  The autumn planted Elephant Garlic and home saved Early Purple Wight and Doocot I feel more forgiving toward. The spring planted Mersley Wight and  Solent Wight  got all the room and feed they required but turned yellow in early July. Digging them up they were small, showed signs of white rot and in many case developed as two stems intertwined below ground level.  While I will continue to grow my own Elephant garlic I don't think the return on the traditional sized garlic is worth it on my plot. Lesson learnt.  The picture shows the portion of the harvest that  justified storage.  Elephant garlic on the left, other autumn planted middle and spring planted on the right. The more fiddly smaller bulbs are still drying off in the greenhouse awaiting assessment for rot and suitability for cooking. 

Despite the heat and dry conditions the brassica patch seems to be full and ready for the coming (cooler) brassica season. The thin row is Swedes.  To the right are the winter harvested kales.  Now that we have had rain I am confident that they will survive to maturity.

Although a bit out of date this last picture is indicative of what is harvesting now.  Broad beans have been great and I have staggered further sowings.  Courgettes are now harvesting in torrents. Peas have been great this year, and again I have further plantings to come. Raspberries have been ripening daily. That is one days worth of ripened berries.

 So all in all I have been very happy with the produce so far this year, even though drought conditions have prevailed until yesterday.  

Lessons from 2019 - So Far

I know it is a bit early to review the year but I guess all the rain has given me time to reflect.

.  1.  No two years are the same  - Admittedly this is a proviso that undermines all the rest.  Draw from your experience but realise that the current experience is just one of many possibilities.  (how Zen!) Rainfall in particular is hard to predict.

22.  The wider variety you plant the more chance that something will succeed.  “It’s been a good year for ______.  “  - Blueberries this year.

3.      If something works, try it again next year. Your ratio of success should grow year on year. – Elephant garlic, cavolo nero, fennel, sweetcorn. These novelties  have all become bankers for me.

Elephant Garlic - Now a banker

4.    Try something new every year. You will never run out of possibilities and some will enrich your repertoire.  This year I have been growing chicory as an experiment (yet to be evaluated). The Zebrunne shallots from seed have been another novelty.  One that didn’t work well.  New varieties of familiar crops can also add novelty and excitement.  This is the area seed catalogues, TV programmes, magazines and word of mouth excel at.

The hopefuls!

 5.       Timing is everything. Once missed a window of opportunity becomes a bolted door. Here poor germination or predation by birds or slugs can upset the well balanced applecart.  After initial sowings parsnips, leeks , carrots have all missed the sowing boat in years gone by.  Multiple sowing by way of insurance is a good idea. There is also an optimal time for planting out seedlings as anyone with left over brassica seedlings will appreciate.  The leftover plants are a sorry bunch before they are finally consigned to the compost heap. Timing is also important for weeding:  The earlier the better.

Current crop of carrots -  sown at the right time.

6.  Don't stop sowing once summer arrives.  That first flush of salads will pass and where will you be then. Autumn and Winter can be the most rewarding times to be growing your own!

7.      Don’t go on holiday in July!

I'm Happy When It Rains

 Before the flowers on our Wisteria get washed away I just wanted to record it in all its glory.  

Almost as if it was waiting for the change of month the first significant rain in weeks arrived yesterday in Edinburgh.  I recall that April 2017 was exceptional in that we got 3mm of rain in the whole month. Well May 2018 will not be as low as that but was exceptionally dry.  In addition Edinburgh traditionally gets its last ground frost in May. There was none this May - so the last frost date will either be in April or June. We certainly have had hail showers in the summer before. Hindsight is a wonderful thing because if we had known this was how it was to be in advance we could have started our courgettes and sweetcorn a month earlier!