Monday, June 24

It actually stopped raining

Last week saw an improvement in the weather. We actually had some rain free days where the temperature rose to a pleasant level. We managed to carry out quite a few jobs both in the garden and on the allotment. What's even better is that we seem to be edging out of the hungry gap.

In the garden we planted up several tubs which of course necessitated a visit to the garden centre to 'fill in gaps'. 
With blackbirds moving in on the ripening cherries it was also time to turn the cherry tree into the ghost of summers' past. Sleeves of fleece were secured to the branches with clothes pegs. It doesn't look very pretty but, if we are to have a chance of tasting a cherry, it is definitely necessary.
Next to our allotment shed we have a tayberry and the first thing that I noticed on our first visit of the week to the plot was that it was swarming with ladybird larvae. Unfortunately, these are larvae of the Harlequin ladybird and not our native species. The larvae of the Harlequins are more spiky. Anyway at least they are still aphid munching machines.
We erected supports for another defence against pilfering blackbirds. Although our blueberries are not yet ripening we wanted to be ready to cover the blueberry bed with netting as soon as there are any signs of the berries turning from green.
 The first lot of brassicas are now coming into production.
The heads of calabrese - Aquiles were forming thick and fast and needed harvesting before they blew. The one below went into a turkey and broccoli risotto which was based on this recipe. The plants quickly went into side shoot production so many of our meals next week will have  a broccoli bias.
I mentioned in my last post that, Martyn managed to dig over the old strawberry bed and that we had hoped to plant it this year. A couple of warm, dry, sunny days put paid to that idea as the lumps of soil have turned into rocks which we have no chance of breaking down. Plan B has now been enforced and the bed has been covered with weed control fabric topped off with a wood chippings mulch. At the end of the year the fabric will be removed to let the winter weather work on the hardened soil. The mulch will be left to be incorporated into the soil.
We continued to plant up the winter brassica bed adding broccoli - Rudolf, Cauliflower - Clapton and cabbage Kalibro to the Crispus Brussels sprouts and Kilaton cabbage that were planted last week.
Our second sowing of Onward and Sugarsnap peas have been provided with supports. The first batch of peas are just starting to flower/
Annual flowers that had been growing on in trays in the garden have been planted out to fill gaps both in the garden and on the plot. I've planted zinnias, ageratum, statice and gomphrena
We harvested our first lot of overwintered onions. These were, Radar. The bulb sizes are variable but most are a useful size. The gap created by their removal has been planted with young lettuce plants.
We harvested our autumn planted, hard neck, Casablanca garlic from the same bed.  Having had little success in the past, we'd given up on garlic but last year we decided to have another go at it and this year we have had success. Most of the bulbs are a good size and have formed cloves but one or two have grown more like shallots. Has anyone any idea of why this is?
 Last week's total harvest was a bit more varied than of late.
18 June
We're not expecting many redcurrants this year as we haven't managed to get around to netting them. The blackbirds are already having a field day so we have decided to share. No doubt, the lion's share will go to them.
20 June
As well as calabrese we have cabbages ready for picking.
23 June
We emptied the final potato crate on Sunday and the two tubers planted in the crate produced a good crop. We can only hope that our open ground planted potatoes don't let the side down. Once the potatoes had been removed the compost was refreshed with some fertiliser and I sowed some beetroot seeds.
23 June
Considering that our strawberry plants are in their first year they are producing a good crop of delicious berries. At the moment the variety Sweetheart is producing the majority of berries. The two largest punnets above contain the Sweetheart harvest.

You may notice that three broad bean pods made it into last week's harvest. The pods need to swell a little more before they produce a serious picking but we couldn't resist trying one or two in Sunday's vegetable stir fry.

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.


This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres


By the way, Walton's are running a competition to win a shed which you may be interested in entering - if so it can be found here.

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25 comments:

  1. It's all or nothing thanks to the weather these days. Glad everything is going well, hopefully winning the battle against elements and pests. We are under a blanket of thick fog this morning.

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    1. The wood pigeons are a huge nuisance, Deborah, they’ve now taken to snipping flower heads off ourbdahlias.

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  2. Isn't it sad that "some rain-free days" are noteworthy, in June! Same here btw, though we have had a lot of dull muggy days this past week or so.

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  3. I know where your rain has gone - it has headed north. Great to get your detailed notes. Having branched into flowers this year I am always on the lookout for recommendations. Zinnias, statice I am growing but ageratum, and gomphrena I have yet to try! Are they for bedding or for cutting? Will look up. Also you have reminded me to net my soft fruit and harvest the garlic assuming the bulbs haven't rotted... Separating cloves can simply be a sign that garlic has exceeded its prime harvest time and is setting off for another year's new growth(?).

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    1. The ageratum are a tall growing variety called ‘Timeless’, Mal They can be used as cut flowers unlike the short bedding varieties. It’s our first time growing gomphrena. I’m expecting a small globular flower with straws petals that dry well.

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  4. Wonderful harvests - I can't wait for our strawberries to ripen up! We have had a very rainy start to the spring/summer & are now having to deal with worst mosquito season I have seen in a long time.

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    1. The strawberries are a bonus, Margaret as I wasn’t expecting much from them this year.

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  5. It has been great to have some dry weather Sue after so many wet days. Having said that it poured again last night and more is forecast for tomorrow. I wouldn't mind as much if it just fell in the hours of darkness :) I chuckled at your ghost cherry tree. Do you have to keep removing the fleece protection or do you harvest all the cherries at once?

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    1. The dry weather didn't last long did it, Anna,The fleece is just held on with pegs at the bottom so you can just remove a peg and slip your hand in

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  6. Sue,
    What is the brassicas? A cover crop? I'm always so impressed with how much you harvest and your careful recording of your plants success rates. You guys sure get a lot from your garden.

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    1. Brassicas is the family name that covers cabbages, cauliflowers, kale, sprouts, broccoli and a few other things, Bonnie.

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  7. I'll bet those first strawberries were delicious. The rains here have made our blackberries taste watery. It's a shame you have to put up so many barriers against the birds. Our biggest pests are the deer, and permanent fencing keeps them out of most things. The birds do eat our cherries though.

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    1. They were, Dave. Now the pigeons are even attacking the dahlias. The mesh protects from butterflies and whitefly too and in the case of the carrots, carrot fly.

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  8. very impressive Sue
    What energy you too have

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    1. Thanks, Roger. You have to go full pelt when it isn't raining this year,

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  9. I'd prefer rain to drought. Just thrilled to see your garlic, and other harvest too. You always have so much to harvest all year round, it must only be a few weeks when you have nothing. xxx

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    1. That's true, Dina but we could do with a rest from it now. We were looking at a video taken at the end of last June and with the exception of potatoes everything is much further behind this year.

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  10. Oh such harvests! And such variety. You must be very busy these days.

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    1. Yes things are coming thick and fat, Sue

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  11. It's so good to be able to compare my plants with yours! I'm following Mark's Veg Plot blog and his beans are so much bigger than mine, I'm rather jealous! I'm glad there's somebody Up North I can compare with so I don't get too disheartened.
    Our soil in York is so much sandier than yours, though - it dries out so quickly and blows away so easily we're having to water every day at the moment. I'm glad we're not metered! Soil improvement top of our list for this winter.

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    1. Location does make a huge difference Dodoqueen. As for soil - oh for the perfect loam. Mark has more control over his soil as he uses raised beds so that also makes a difference.

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    2. By the way do you have a blog?

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