Heatwave, Progress Report

The heatwave has well and truly passed, it’s cold and raining. The problem with heatwaves is that we don’t have time to adapt. If you live somewhere, like Spain, where you know the summer is going to be roasting, you build up to it and your lifestyle works with it.

When we stayed with friends in Barcelona, the day’s work started really early, around 6am. By 11am it was getting too hot to carry on, so a leisurely lunch and a doze until around 5pm, when it was cooling enough to put in another couple of hours. Happy days!

It’s a bit like when you go abroad on holiday. The first week is spent getting used to it being hot, you’re far livelier the second. But a heatwave hits quickly and, just as you’re getting used to it, it’s over.

Interestingly, it seems that this year is going to have a strong El Niño, so we might have a super hot summer. We could be lucky and have weather like we did in the Covid lockdown. We can but dream.

Greenhouses

Titan greenhouse border, just after planting the tomatoes

The Titan is particularly well ventilated, the larger than usual opening lights in the roof and a double sized louvre window really help a lot with hot weather. When the double doors are left open, the through breeze carries away a lot of the excess heat. I bet more plants are killed by hot weather than cold in home greenhouses, it’s easier to heat than cool a greenhouse. If it looks like a hot summer, I can recommend Nixol shading. It goes transparent in the rain when it’s not needed. One application lasts the summer.

The border is pretty full, tomatoes shooting up the strings, lettuces in various stages of growth and some whitefly-deterring marigolds to brighten things up. In the centre I’ve set up my double wicking pot. Wicking pots are good for tomatoes, but they’re also good for peppers and aubergines. Excellent for cucumbers as the stem doesn’t get wet and rot (with luck!)

Planting up the Quadgrows in the Eden was delayed as I didn’t have the heart to disturb Dexter. He was having a siesta in the warm.

The Eden greenhouse doesn’t enjoy the same level of ventilation, but it’s smaller for a start and the west-facing windbreak also shades the afternoon sun. As with the Titan, the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are all looking good.

Polytunnel

Working in the polytunnel is, if anything, more difficult than the greenhouses. Despite the solar-powered fan almost roaring and the doors being wide open, it was well hot. It wasn’t the heat that hit first though, it was the scent of strawberry.

Strawberries in hanging baskets in the polytunnel

The strawberries are beautiful, especially when just picked. Just so sweet and juicy. Amazingly, some managed to make it down to the kitchen.

I’m growing just two varieties, Symphony and Vibrant in two hanging baskets each. They’ll cover our needs. I’m feeding them weekly like a tomato with Protom and the results are apparent in size and quality.

Beneath the strawberries the Casablanca potatoes are producing nicely. I’ve not dug up a plant. When we want some potatoes for a meal, I just rummage about under the surface and pick out enough, leaving the rest to grow on.

The centre bed and long bed to the right have been treated to a layer of my compost, varies from 7 to 10cm – 3 to 4 inches in proper money. Intensive production really takes it out of the soil, not just the NPK but the organic matter decreases. So it’s important to replenish it.

I think of the soil like a bank that supports our growing. If you just keep taking out, eventually you run out and things come to a crashing halt. Composts, manure and fertilisers all pop some back in the account.

Outside

Mainly weeding, if only our crops grew as well as the weeds.

The Chinese cabbage are all bolting. Probably the weather but, to be honest, I never have much luck with Chinese cabbage. Still, the chickens don’t care if they’re bolted, so they’ll convert them into eggs for us.

The brassicas are doing well, as are the alliums and the various potatoes. I think we’ll be pulling garlic, including elephant garlic, very shortly.

As well as the Bulgarian Giant leeks which are in the ground, the Giant D’Inverno seedlings look ready to transplant.

Fruit

The apple and pear trees have tiny fruits upon them, it’s long way to go to harvest but I’m hopeful. Blackcurrants, redcurrants, jostaberries, tayberries and raspberries are all looking promising.

The nasty bugs, gooseberry sawfly, that stripped the leaves from the jostaberry last year, before attacking the redcurrants have succumbed to chemical warfare. Last year the crop was negligible, low production and no leaf cover so the birds got what few berries there were.

This year we should get a reasonable crop, and the birds can have a share. The caterpillar-like larvae fall off the plant once sprayed, so a quick hoe under the bush makes them inaccessible to the birds or other predators.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn in flower last week

The hawthorn in the front field blew over in a winter storm. We thought it had had it and intended to chainsaw it up and remove. However, the tree had other ideas. It put on some growth, leafed up nicely and last week treated us to a lovely display. Nature is wonderful.