The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

although dejected ’bout the brassicas [see below] , there is time to sow more, mollycoddle them a bit and plant them in a different area when bigger - ie pretend we def do have club root and take precautions. will do that tomorrow. also hope to get sweetcorn out tomorrow and the large pumpkin. also have a med pumpkin and a med squash from the first sowings, and 3 experimental pumpkins from middle sowing then 5 winter squash and 4 butternut squash and 2 pumpkins [mars] from the final panic ones. poss have too many now… love them though, so will hve to find room!!

Sowing:

final sowing of climbing french beans to be ready to fill any gaps, and if there aren’t any, to wigwam in a pot. Sowed direct some spring onions and carrots where i pulled out the pak choi [ ] thinking they should be better.

Potting On

I had 2 courgettes left over, and have put them in a big container each and hope they do well in that. Having to water the garden so much, that container gardening doesn’t seem much different.

Harvesting

rocket and also some peas - yippee!!!

Otherwise i just did loads of watering, and got v v stung by a nasty invisible stinging nettle - ouch!! Anyone got advice for me about the brassicas tho, would be most welcome.

we have never had the problem here or in Leeds, so not exactly sure. However, we def has some kind of root prob. I commented before about how of the pak choi we have some looking brilliant, but most looking v sad. Most of the sad ones now dead, when i pulled them up there was negligible root. just one central spike. however, it didn’t look all clubbed and  yukky, just not enough side branches.

Now the caulis are looking sad, gone yellow and wilty. [they are in the same bed] eep!!

Q - even if the roots are not all clubby, shall i suppose this is it, and pull up all the plants now that are not looking beautiful?

Q - or could it be that it has just been tooo dry for them to make good roots

odd tho that some in the same 4 foot bed looking really good

Q - since mostly brassicas in that bed, should i sprinkle lime on top anyway, just to help [carrots and peas right at the far end]

grateful for thoughts! oh, we have alot of farmland devoted to oilseed rape around.

Certainly next year i will pot them on until much bigger before planting out. Haven’t done that before as worried about giving them a ‘check’ but the RHS site suggests a 3.5 or 7″ pot, so worth a go. And will specifically lime the bed.

Currently have watered v well, and put rooster pellets down, and now considering whether to sprinkle lime

It doesn’t take long to get behind does it!

this rainy weather has been fantastic for weeds, we have a veritable jungle coming up. Some determined weeding ahead I think!

Veg patch

Also coming up are the potatoes, planted under cardboard, which is good. I feel sad that they aren’t all nice and earthed up, but hopefully this will work, and we will put grass clippings on top as well.

The brocolli still don’t look that happy through cardboard, so won’t prob do that to the caulis. They are one of the behind items, as should have been planted out ages ago, so worried that they wont make a head. oh well.

Onions looking good - have kept on top of the weeding there, and we have picked the last of the asparagus. we will need to save seeds or buy crowns for a new bed next year as these have gone past sell by.

however, must turn the huge nettle bed into nettle tea, and then get it ready for the sweetcorn and courgettes and other cucurbits that are desperate to go out. Also in the wings are some leeks and spring onions.

Fruit Bed

well, the strawberries a tempting size now though still green. DD2 picked one, but pronounced it ‘not tasty’. hopefully she will leave the rest alone until red! We have fruitlets on the minarette trees.

The broad beans have flowered well. Though the imperial longpod has far less flowers on it than the sutton. The peas are doing well, and I got the runner beans in the ground today. Unfortunately some pest has had a go at a few of them, so popped some seeds in the gaps. wanted to get the french beans out too, but they will wait till tomorrow.

The squashed florence fennel seems to have mostly recovered, and the carrots are looking healthy. pulling most of the radishes now.

lots of weeding to do!

Under Cover

well, most things are in the right size pot, so that’s a bit of a relief! SOme of the toms don’t look so healty though - not sure why. better find a book to diagnose. the aubergines and peppers looking good. About to clear the final contents of conservatory into greenhouse and dismantle the propagator for this year. just waiting the melon to germinate.

So there you go. Shame I have very few days to do this in. frantic indeed!

We planted an avocado stone and some lemon pips. The conservatory was gloriously hot, so that will help the aubergines. about 2/3 germinated at best. The broad beans have romped whilst i wasn?t looking and outgrown propagator, and some blackening of tips, so fingers crossed for survival!