Thursday 2 August 2007

After the rain

It stopped raining, it started shining and the weeds kept on doing what they do.
The aftermath was not as devastating as I had feared. There were no potatoes left in the ground on my plot so there was no problem there but the tomatoes I had planted out in good weather, and good faith, had been blackened and killed so I now have three remaining from twelve. Tellingly, it was the larger fruiting varieties that suffered the most.
The land cress which loves a good soak was doing OK and is still, OK, not rampant or amazing , but OK. If I say compact, that would be about the size of it!
The beans have been very prolific, loving moisture as they do. Good long shapely straight runners with very little damage and few signs of disease or misshape. The beans I had saved from last year's pods are still performing better than the seeds I saved from the packet last year.Earlier to germinate, stronger growth and better growth now with higher yield too.
Strangely , the beetroot are fairly ordinary, not huge or tiny , just normal, if not slow.
I have had carrots this year, no fly problems and few twists or stumps but not huge roots. Good tasty finger carrots though.
{parsnips look to be a good crop later this year, a good rate of germination except for the seeds I saved from the previous owners crop. No germination at all but Parsnips are known for poor germination in anything but the very freshest seeds.
The lettuce, well, lettuce like water but then slugs like lettuce and water or at least a wet surface and no predators. The persistent rain meant that few airborne prey could pick of the dreaded slime monsters so the lettuce suffered the worst damage of all the crops. Of over thirty plants planted out, we have had three edible specimens. The rest make quite reasonable compost.
The marrow/pumpkins/courgette/butternut plants seem to have been all marrow or courgette with the exception of one which has different, more squash like leaves. Once it has produced a female flower I'll know for sure.
The grapes ripened despite the weather and were..well, sharp. Maybe good wine grapes but not table fodder.
The rest? I have recently been to the plot, two days ago in fact, and returned with three bags full One all onions, one all beans(runner and french) and one with a mix of beetroot, carrot and courgettes. The fact I was 'just popping in ' on the way back from dropping the bike in for a service didn't go down well at the homestead though...

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