And then the heavens opened

After months of drought and a record breaking sunny Saturday (worthy of a Sun 'what a scorcher' story) Sunday and Monday broke the trend in dramatic fashion.

Non stop rain gave the garden and allotment much needed water and saved me a job. Unfortunately it also discouraged me from leaving the sofa and buying seedlings of sweet pea, French beans and sweetcorn. Next weekend...

An update from before the rains

1st June (excuse the mixed timeline but I also updated this on the 16th)

The Maris pipers are flowering but are they ready? They are a main crop after all. (I harvested 940g of pentland javelin on the 12th and made salmon and potato salad - yum) I think I'll leave them till I need the space and the other varieties have been harvested.

The peas are nice and fat as are the broad beans. I am always disappointed by the yield of peas once you shell them. The beans on the other hand a great and filling and mashed with some spring onion on sliced ciabatta rubbed with garlic made a delicious pre meal snack. A fortnight later and mangetout are the stars.

I am so enamoured of the beans and mangetout that I will try a second sowing at the weekend. When clearing the old plants I will leave the nitrogen fixing roots in the soil. I will also plan to sow more beans this autumn.

A couple of plants are bolting and going to seed - sorrel and chard. I've pulled up the chard and resown and keep snipping the sorrel spears off.

I am lucky enough to have a surfeit of strawberries way ahead of my birthday. I harvested even the slightly soft ones and lightly boiled them down with sweetener into a sort of jus. Then you can make a pretty healthy pudding. Cut sponge fingers in half line bottom of a medium bowl, pour over half the jus, add more sponge, then the last of the jus, cover in natural yoghurt. Leave to let the flavours mix. Light but tasty. A fortnight later and the raspberries are coming into their own but rarely making it back home - they're just too tempting.

Beetroot is doing well and I can see tiny kohl rabi seedlings.

I still have two spare patches. What to do with them? I am considering maybe planting sweetcorn among squash. A bit like native Americans who traditionally relied on Squash, beans and corn for food.

Preparations for neglect

With holiday plans afoot I prepared my plot for a little more neglect (though to be frank, an extra week of it won't make much difference).

Next to the tomatoes and courgette/ squashes I pushed on some upended plastic bottles with their bottom cut off. The idea is that these provide reservoirs of water in times of drought. The thing is that I don't think I've buried them enough as they fall over with a little water in them. Looking at a good tomato growing plot they have buried the bottles half way. Perhaps a job for Tom to do.

The plant fair at Kent house gardens got me a few new plants to try without the fuss of germination. 10 runner bean seedlings (st George because of it's red and White flowers) went in to the base of a cane tunnel Tom built (incidentally, what's the difference between a wigwam and a teepee?). A large (pink) fruiting brandywine tomato also went in with a slightly sturdier stake than a cane but I might need to replace it with something longer later.

Two cherry tomatoes (totem) went into pots on the steps at home. The name seems to suggest cordon but the tomato expert lady said it was tumbling and tastier than garden pearl. Must look it up.

Roast homegrown beetroot and feta salad

Tip: keep trying with different ways of preparing vegetables if you're not sure about them at first. This combination almost made beetroot acceptable to Tom.




I mean the beetroot was home grown not the feta. That's a whole different level of self-sufficiency.

Wrap the beetroot in foil and bake on a low heat.

Once soft to the touch peel if you want to (I kept skin on in hope of increasing healthy fibre content). Chop and toss with a mixed salad. Sprinkle with feta and seeds.

Make a dressing with blackcurrant jam, vinegar, chopped garlic and a touch of mustard gently heated together in a pan. Drizzle (or pour if greedy) over the salad. Hey presto - gastropub salad.

Challenges of planting out

10/5
The weather has continued to be amazingly warm and dry. Lovely for street parties and sunbathers but not so good for plants.

Emboldened by the warm weather and listening to the old farmers guide that if the soil feels warm when you sit on it (I skipped the bare bottom bit) I decided it was time to plant out my tiny tomato (Gardener's delight) and mystery squash seedlings. I say mystery squash because once again I didn't label properly. So I will have to wait to see if a striped courgette comes out or mixed gourds.

Almost 10 days later and they seem to be doing ok.  I perhaps should have incorporated more organic matter into the soil as they are hungry plants and I should have created the little walls that help retain water in times of drought but it is what it is.   I made do by scattering slow release chicken pellets (a bit stinky) around the place and hope for the best.

On reflection I think the majority are a striped courgette but  also planted some butternut squash. I also need to start off a spectacular pumpkin that we bought in France.

Bean beasts and other pests

My broad beans are under attack from an aphid invasion. I thought I had escaped but no. Even though I have plenty of ants and they are supposed to clear them I have also heard that they farm them and so don't really decimate them as I would want.

In order to control them I had the rather gruesome task of squashing them in their thousands with my fingers and pinching out the tops to remove the soft fleshy growth they love so much. Perhaps I should have planted some nastursiums as a distraction?

Tiny brassica seedlings

The brassica seedlings are up but I have been mistreating them.

They are stressed from the delay in potting on that my laziness has created. Leaving them out int he garden hasn't really helped as there are also thirsty for water.

At least the good weather meant they are acclimatised but I had to quickly find space for them. I didn't want to use up all my allotment space on these slow growing plants but equally I can't bear to let them die and, in the winter, I am grateful for their harvest.  So I have tucked them into my home veg patch which is in shadow and also popped a few among my raised bed.

They like firm roots so make sure the soil around their roots is well tapped down.

The temporary plantings of shallot in peat pots were doing so well that I transferred them onto the plot where the other shallots already seem to be dividing themselves - exciting.

I finally planted up the free potato kit on the royal wedding day - maybe a little late but we will see if this second attempt at growing potatoes in containers will work. They are already putting on good top growth and I have earthed them up a little more.