It’s been a tricky gardening year so far. The extremes and rapid swings with the weather conditions affect our crops from start to finish. But whilst we have some fails we’ve some rip-roaring successes too.
Walking down the path these hydrangea were swarming with bumble bees. Glorious!
Broad Beans
Half a trug of Witkiem Broad Beans – Got a full trug of Karmazyn too!
These have done really well this year. I grew two varieties, Witkiem and Karmazyn. The Witkiem were direct sown and the Karmazyn started in pots in a coldframe. It is more effort to start in pots but it has advantages.
Germination rates are better in pots and those that fail to germinate don’t get planted out so the final growing space is better utilised. By the time they get planted they’re tough enough to resist snail and slug damage but direct sown can get eaten the day after they break the surface. Because they’re ahead of direct sown, they outpace the weeds and shade out most weeds as well. The direct sown definitely suffered from both pest and weed pressure.
Everyone worries about blackfly on the beans towards the end but generally they’ve not been a problem for me. This year I hardly had any.
Broad beans will keep for a week or so in the pod but they freeze really well. A couple of hours podding and blanching puts a year’s supply into the freezer. We pack them in portion sized bags, not having the resources of Captain Birds Eye for loose super fast freezing.
In my opinion, taste being very subjective, the red broad beans of Karmazyn and Red Epicure have superior flavour to the green broad bean varieties.
Peas
Not a total fail but not a great result. Next year is another chance. Val says I need to grow more. Not as bad as the year the chickens ate the lot!
Climbing Beans
The Cobra in the polytunnel are producing really well. Fantastic production from a small space. Outside the runner beans have produced 2 beans so far but it looks like we’ll have a fair amount soon. They’ve covered the teepee poles and there are quite a few flowers.
Kentucky pole beans are slower than the runners and they’ve only just reached the top of their teepee. I’ve not grown these before and the jury is still out.
Sweetcorn outside are way behind the polytunnel. Note the bean teepees behind and brassica cage to right
Sweetcorn
The plants in the polytunnel are the biggest I’ve ever grown. Cobs are formed and swelling nicely. They’re closer spaced than ideal but the growing medium is about 50% well rotted sheep manure. That manure’s providing lots of fuel and the new dripline watering system ensures they’re consistently getting sufficient water without being waterlogged.
Outside the sweetcorn is less than half as high. The growing medium is nearly as rich but weather makes a huge difference. Ideally I would have planted out under cloche to keep them warm until they were better developed but cloches tend to blow away with the winds up here.
Whilst I can ensure great germination by pre-germinating and starting them off in pots, you have to get sweetcorn out quickly because the roots grow so quickly. Once you see the shoot the root is already at the bottom of the pot.
The outdoor crop has also suffered with weed pressure. I’ve just not been able to keep up with weeding this year with my back problems. Mulching with grass clippings helps with weeds and water retention in dry weather but they need to be properly up prior to mulching.
If I’m to get sweetcorn producing satisfactorily outside here I need to get them going faster from planting. This means I need to think about cloching. Something that will resist the wind and warm things up but not blow away.
Possibly cloches of horticultural fleece will do the job. Like netting they allow some wind through so they don’t suffer the same forces. I’ve some ideas on this which I need to really think through and maybe experiment with.
Brassicas
Three of the cauliflowers – just starting to go over and should have been picked a few days earlier.
Brassicas have been a mixed bag. Fair result from the calabrese, although some were lost to the dreaded caterpillars. Some decent cauliflowers that would have been better If harvested a few days earlier when the head was tighter. Flavour was good though. Red cabbages are truly excellent, very pleased with them.
Red Cabbage – Result!
Pumpkins and Squashes
These are looking very promising. When you’ve got the space, they’re such an easy crop. Planting through the weed matting means no problems there.
Maincrop potatoes with pumpkins and squashes behind
Potatoes
These have been a star performer so far. They obviously like the sheep manure. I’ve still got some of the second earlies to lift and the maincrops are flowering so we’re going to have a big surplus this year.
I knew I was planting too many but I had a concern that we might see problems with our food supply due to the pandemic. I’m not totally convinced that danger has passed either but we can always give excess away to friends.
Onions
They’re not quite ready but near and looking very nice, thank you! Strange because it’s been one of the worst years for garlic.
Onions coming on well, they’ll be harvested soon.
That’s the highlights from the plots for now.
I have had an awful year in the veg plot and disasters in the ornamental garden too. Slugs have been the bane of my life. Just after the young plants were planted out, so the weather changed and it rained and rained- slugs decimating all – even my courgettes, which have never been touched before. I am about to give up- I can’t win the fight! I garden organically and bar spending all night out in the pouring rain, I just don’t know what to do. Also a poor top fruit set as we live in a valley and caught a late frost as the blossom was appearing on the trees š I feel like setting the whole garden to grass and shrub borders, less work and less disappointment, but I know that I would miss the whole act of gardening. Has anyone else had such a problem and if so, how did you overcome it? PS I’ve used home made garlic spray and grazers – both to no effect. Thanks for listening to my rant. Happy gardening š
It can be disheartening but next season is an opportunity to overcome the problems. There are a number of effective organic solutions to slugs and snails. Ferrous phosphate pellets, nematodes, feed and fortify barriers all do work. We lost all hope of tree fruit due to weather ripping the blossom off here – but we’ve more currants and berries than we can use. The trees are loaded with Rowanberries, Elder berries and hawthorn berries for the birds.