Weekend on the Plot

Well there’s not a lot to report on the plot for the weekend. Things seem to be doing well, especially the potatoes. The maincrops are looking very good indeed. The Jerusalem artichokes are about four feet high, doesn’t seem that long since I was concerned that nothing seemed to be appearing. The sweetcorn looks very good as well. Better than Larry’s miniature sweetcorn. They’re very cute, his bonsai sweetcorn. (Told you I’d get you, Larry)

The weeds are doing brilliantly – obviously loving the warm rain. If there were prizes for weeds, I’d probably win one.

I’ve kept the greenhouses in order, tying in the tomatoes, feeding and watering. It’s pretty ironic watering things in the pouring rain. I suspect the plants in the borders don’t actually need watering too much as there is probably enough coming in the ground from all the rain.

The carrots in the large greenhouse are really good. I harvested a full carrier of rather nice carrots. Not too big, but big enough. Although you can store them these will be frozen, the smaller ones just topped and tailed for blanching. I left the smallest in the ground to continue growing

Managed to do some more weeding on plot 5 around the outdoor San Marzano tomatoes. The barn cloches have come off them now, I think they were about to push them off anyway.

The good news is that the soil is far easier to work since I added all that compost so hoeing is a joy. I can glide the hoe just under the soil cutting off the weeds instead of trying to force the hoe through the clay which either lumped in wet weather or acted like solid rock in dry.

The bad news is that the bean patch on plot 5 is still waterlogged. It’s towards the bottom of plot 5 and nearly at the lowest point. I figured a good place as beans like lots of water. Unfortunately it’s just too wet at the moment to do anything. Step on the soil and you sink six inches. It can’t go on forever, can it? The rain has to stop sometimes. Noticed our neighbour, Noah, is building a boat.

Did fix the wheelbarrow tyre. It didn’t look so much like a puncture as a split being on the inside of the wheel rather than the tread side. There’s about five patches on that side already. Put it all back together, what a fiddle tyres are, and a hissing sound revealed yet another little hole. Fixed that and it seems alright now but I suspect the tube is perishing. Ordered another one off ebay for a fiver.

Harvested my Purple Graffiti cauliflower. It’s about grapefruit size, just about enough for one meal for two as a side dish. It was in the pot too long and cauliflowers react to lack of food by forming the head.

Walked up to a young couple on the site with it behind my back and explained that “when you have my years of experience in growing, combined with an in-depth knowledge of the conditions required by each plant and green fingers, you too can produce a plant like this!” Then I produced it from behind my back with a flourish.

Glastonbury Pete was on the site, he’s now flying a pirate flag on his plot. He’s got a couple of linkabord deep beds on there, which we talked about. They’re very easy to build up and you can double or even treble them up for a deeper bed. Easy to move as well if you fancy redesigning your plot.

They’re made from recycled double walled plastic so environmentally fairly sound and they keep the bed sides insulated. Pete felt the cost well justified especially when compared with the cost of wood, transporting it and erecting. I’ve offered him a job in the sales department.

I also got a good picking of broad beans, the ones lowest on the plant being ready. We’ve still got broad beans in the freezer from last year, but I love them so never mind.

As I write this, Sunday evening, the sky is fairly blue although there are a few heavy clouds heading this way. Emptied the rain gauge, standing at 82mm so I can see what comes overnight. They’re threatening another downpour tonight, up to 100mm.

I’m not sure how long I can hold many of the plants ready to go out but waiting for things to dry a bit.