Leek Recovery

i grew my leeks from seed, god they were slow!  I finally gave in and transplanted them when they were somewhere between cocktail stick and pencil size.  They established beautifully in the early(ish) summer and were on course to big fine fellas…then they started dying.  They were just collapsing and disintegrating before my eyes.  They seemed to get worse when we went on holiday in August and left them untended.  I came back to find horrible little slimy green stumps where once had been beautiful pointy leek leaves.  So I thought it was lack of water…I diligently watered them for about 2 weeks and they got worse (hard to believe that was possible).  So I gave up and ignored the stumpy little blighters. 

A week or two later I noticed they were showing signs of life again.  The tops of the leaves were still brown and tattered but the new green growth was pushing these brown remnants further and further from the ground.  So I weeded them then ignored them some more.  And they kept growing.  There was hardly any rain at all and at times I wondered how they were surviving but they flourished.  I finally figured out that perhaps I had over watered them.  I have no real idea if this is true though as it doesn’t explain why the rot set in during hot dry weather when they were ignored.  But they were slimy and rotting so that doesn’t really seem like a symptom of drought to me.

Now they are almost fully recovered.  I don’t think they’ll ever be show winning beauties and I am certainly going to have to wait longer than anticipated to harvest, but at least it now seems that I will get a crop of some sort from them.

Which is more than I can say for just about all my brassicas.  They cauliflowers….crap, the brocolli…..pathetic, the savoys….hit and miss to say the least, but the greyhound cabbage…wonderful, just wish I had planted more of them, the sprouts….bloody good for a beginner, now next year I just have to make sure to plant a variety that matures for Christmas harvesting – ours will be long gone by then.

New Crops Planted

I finally gave up on my pea crop due to a pea moth infestation.  I ripped the whole sad looking lot out of the ground!  Very disappointing because it was a good heavy crop and should have provided us with a great harvest of 3 different varieties.  So I have planted another 2 rows to replace those lost and hope we get something from them before the end of the season.  It is now coming to the end of the pea moth egg laying season (June to Late July) so hopefully this crop should be pest free.  I only planted them a couple of days ago and already the little green shoots are coming through.

I have also given over space for 3 rows of late new potatoes which should be ready for Christmas.  I have planted Maris Peer, Emerald Vale and Carlingford – just 5 of each.  Our early season new potatoes were nice but because I grew them in sacks, the harvest was a bit limited and very early so we have been without our own spuds for ages now.  This time they are in the ground at the allotment.  I also found that keeping them sufficiently watered in sacks is not easy so perhaps the sacks will be reserved for carrots in future. (which for the record have done exceptionally well in sacks this year)

In too have gone the last of the leeks raised from seed in the back garden nursery bed.  They were very slow to establish compared to those raised at the allotment but I did end up with 70 viable ones so barring any nasty diseases or pests, we should have enough leeks to keep us in all we can eat come the new year.  I do love leeks, they are so very obliging in the way that they will stay in the ground, regardless of weather until you decide you fancy one for dinner!

Pak Choi is another late season starter on our allotment.  I initially planted some in the salad bed but it got gored by flea beetles so a new crop has just been sown under environmesh along with the radish.

I am off hunting for some cabbage and cauli seedlings to plant today.  I only have 2 caulis left to harvest and ditto the Greyhound cabbage which have proved to be a great variety.  So I want a dozen more of each for Winter/Spring harvesting (although a hardier type of cabbage will have to replace the greyhounds).  I can’t be bothered with growing from seed as we are on holiday too much in August to give them the attention they will need and my last attempt at caulis from seed was an unmitigated failure!

Powdery Mildew on Pumpkins

I was gutted to find my pretty little Small Sugar pumpkins developing a rather nasty case of powdery mildew.  I have been watering the roots rather than the leaves – but took no other preventative measures and have paid the price.  The plants are well advanced, with 4 near full sized fruit which are ripening already and half a dozen or more smaller fruit.  I guess my pride has come and bit me on the bum where these are concerned!  Last night I had to remove all the infected leaves (90%) and will be returning tonight to administer the first weekly dose of diluted milk and water spray which is purported to inhibit the mildew. 

My main fear is that the plants won’t survive long enough to fully develop all the fruit – but aside from that I want them to look nice too! is that shallow of me?….

Crop Update

Garlic picked yesterday – sorry about the pic, I couldn’t be bothered to rotate it! not bad bulbs considering they were just 4 cloves I had knocking about in the cupboard (thanks Abel and Cole).  Wish I had planted more now, but at the time we didn’t have an allotment and it was just a wee experiment.

Pumpkin Small Sugar – still locally slated as looking more like melons – but I think they are pretty!  they are beginning to ripen already.  So far we have 10 from 6 plants that are a good size, with a few more little’uns still developing.

Arty view of sweetcorn as seen through the onion patch…..

Sweetcorn sabotage!

A few weeks ago I received advice from an old timer at the allotments to cut the side shoots off my sweetcorn – I did so warily and then subsequently found advice that contradicted this practice.  Apparently it is a dated method, used when sweetcorn varieties weren’t adapted to our shorter growing season as it helped the plant concentrate its efforts.  This is apparently no longer necessary.  so when the side shoots re-grew I didn’t remove them.  This caused great concern on my allotments amongst the ‘elders’ and I patiently explained my reasons.

However….on arriving one night last week to water the allotment, I was greeted at the gate by a particular elder who had offered his advice and received my explanation of why I wasn’t removing side shoots.  He simply told me that he had cut all my side shoots off…..Ummm…aaarrrggghhhh!  I was furious but so utterly shocked at the time that I just looked at him and walked off.  I stood looking at my sweetcorn patch,hands on hips, aghast at the devastation.  All side shoots cut to the ground and left lying on my plot.  Hubby came and gave me a hug and the culprit slunk into his van and away. 

Shortly after that a member of the committee arrived so I told them what had happened and pointed out that even if I was doing every wrong – I had the right to do so without intruders on my plot, taking my growing methods into their own hands!  I also pointed out that it does state quite clearly in the rules that one must not enter another person’s allotment without their express permission.  It turned out that the culprit is also a member of the committee – but I was promised that it would be mentioned at the coming meeting this weekend. 

Yesterday afternoon the culprit arrived and came down to us for a chat – he spent 15 minutes talking to my husband about cricket, Jamaica and ever other subject but sweetcorn.  I stayed out of the way!  I couldn’t trust myself not to cause a right row.  A short time later, the member of the committee I had spoken to arrived and asked if I had said anything to him?…..ummm I thought she was going to?! I don’t have the will or the energy to have some sort of confrontation over this.  I am sure he did it with the best intentions and just has particularly poor listening skills.  Bloody interfering old sod!

 

rant over!

Pea Moths

The first few batches of peas I picked were fine – lovely in fact.  But now the evidence of not having netted our peas earlier in the season is all too clear to see.  Every other pod that I open contains the evidence of a visit by the Pea Moth.  Tiny caterpillars, some almost too small to see are making merry with my crops and ruining half of my peas. 

Last night I picked a whole trug full of peas of 3 different varieties and all too many of them had one or more of the little invaders inside.  It was utterly disheartening.  Hours spent shelling peas and finding those tell tale little holes – often with the cheeky buggers still sticking out of them!  It is almost impossible to tell by looking at the pod, unless the infestation is in advanced stages in which case the pod look dehydrated.

So lesson learned.  Next year the peas will be netted at the first sign of a flower.

Today at the allotment..

My Small Sugar pumpkins, (locally disparaged as looking like melons) aren’t doing too bad so I thought they deserved a little webtime:

small sugar pumpkins

I’ve read growers of Small Sugar reporting that they only got one pumpkin per plant but so far mine seem intent on providing at least4 or 5 per plant.  Perhaps some won’t develop but to be honest I don’t really mind as I am only really growing them for fun as I love to see them.  I do intend to make soup and pie from any resulting harvest but given that I have never in my life cooked pumpkin, I can hardly see it becoming a staple of our diet. 

I have planted half pop bottles and empty plant pots in the soil next to all my pumpkins and squash, to aid with watering and get the water right down to the roots – this is causing a certain amount of tutting and consternation amongst all my Jamaican neighbours who consider themselves somewhat expert in the art of pumpkin growing – but it’s working so far, so if it ain’t broke…

Today in the Garden…

Finally recharged my camera battery today and as I am ‘working’ from home – I got out and took some pics.

self seeded poppies

neighbour's kittens exploring

 

cherries ripening

my girls

Allotment Competitions

Hubby was tipped the nod the other day by our veteran neighbouring plot holder that we are in contention for ‘New Allotmenteers of the Year’…if we keep on top of the weeding.  Apparently the committee have been most impressed by the sheer variety that I have managed to cram into our plot and on that basis are toying with awarding us the afore mentioned honour.  How lovely!…I got cornered by one of the committee on Sunday and he came back armed with an entry form for me to complete – I never really understood a word he said, but just nodded and signed my life away anyway.  His heavy Jamaican accent and use of patois makes full comprehension to my unaccustomed ears a little difficult, but he seemed to be implying that other new plot holders just hadn’t made an effort (and that my gift of an unusual variety of chilli seedling had been most appreciated…) I swear I never knew about the competition then Gov! I was just repaying his kind gifts of raspberry canes, gooseberry bushes and onions! Will it be thought that I have entered into some underground world of allotment bribery?

I haven’t posted much lately, due to weeding commitments (quite keen to win now) and also forgetting to take my camera to the plot.  I hate to post without pics, it seems rather boring.  But I am at a loose end for a few minutes so thought I would have a quick written witter.

Puzzled by why the committee were so impressed by our plot’s variety, we took a wander round the whole site on Sunday evening, something we haven’t done for a good couple of months.  And now we understand why.  Most plots contain pumpkins, sweetcorn, ‘peas’ aka kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and potatoes – the Jamaican allotmenteers’ staples – but precious little else.  I love to see the large patches of corn and pumpkins and can only envy the space which they can afford them – but with cabbage, broccoli, psb, caulis, kale, peas, runner beans, french beans, broad beans, beetroot, parsnips, lettuce, courgettes, melons, cucumbers, aubergines, butternut, summer squash, leeks, carrots, chard, strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and  rhubarb also on our plot – our potatoes, tomatoes, sweetcorn, pumpkins and onions have to make do with what they are spared, plotwise.

I will make a special effort to take some photos soon though…my pumpkins are attracting attention (mainly for looking rather too like melons) and I have de-side-shooted my sweetcorn under supervision of the aforementioned committee member and my courgettes continue to be the apples of their mummy’s eye!  Now if only my brassicas woul stop looking so pathetic and the marestail would stop engulfing my spuds, we might be in with a chance of victory!….

Courgettes

I’m proud mum to the latest addition to Pack Doughty – lots of lovely baby courgettes!  I am amazed at how fast they are forming (never having grown them before).  If early signs are any indication of things to come then I think they may well fast become a favourite on the plot.

They were reliable to germinate, produced lovely sturdy little seedlings, potted on well and transplanted like a dream.  All 6 plants are now sporting beautiful bouncing little babies of an inch or two long, the flowers are starting to open and I am beside myself with glee!…can you tell?

excuse photo quality, this is once again from my phone camera.  And yes, that is a nasty piece of Marestail that you can see on the right…this weekend is death to all weeds time as we have been away for the last 2.

The pumkins too (small sugar) are doing well it would seem.  They have plenty of flowers already.  Perhaps someone can help though – the flowers only seem to last a day or so before crumpling up and dying.  Is this normal? 

The summer squash and butternut squash are having judgement held on them at the moment however.  The butternut squash (originally bought to be a substitute for sunflower seedlings that got eaten by snails…well it fooled my 7 year old step daughter long enough for us to quickly get hold of some replacement real sunflower seedlings from a friend and substitute them before she realised the fate of her beloved first attempt at growing stuff!) are decidedly puny, however they are my only squash not raised from seed, so it is hard to compare properly with the others yet I guess.  The summer squash (patti pan) seem a little slower to establish than the courgettes or pumpkins but look healthy enough so we will see.

DH thinks I have lost the plot to be growing pumpkins as we have never eaten one in all our time together, but I love to see them growing, I love carving them for Halloween, I love the smell of them and who knows, we may even enjoy eating them too.  It would be a shame not to grow such a strikingly beautiful vegetable on a technicality.