Home brewing antics can now be found at my other blog; http://gettinggrist.blogspot.com/

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Growing Pains

2012. Undoubtedly, the toughest growing year I've experienced on the plot and the long range weather forecast for July suggests the first three weeks of the new month will be just as tough.

More of the potatoes are succumbing to 'Black Leg'. I'm tempted to get the first earlies up now, but I might just hang on another week or two. I should have taken a picture of the whole potato bed so you could see how sparse the harvest will be, but all I took was a picture of one sad individual. He'll wilt and be dead within a week.


Since the last post I've also lost both cucumber plants. They took a battering in the strong winds we've had and, with the plot being quite exposed, the tender young plants simply couldn't hack it. I do have a few more I've been nursing at home, so I'll plant those out when they look a bit more robust.

In the meantime I've been picking more strawberries. We've already had a shedload to eat, a batch of jam has also been made and still they come...














It was also time for the garlic to come up. I have no idea what variety these are as an Australian friend who was returning home left me a few different ones to plant last year. These are the progeny of those that survived. I'll hang them up in the shed to dry out.


So it's not all doom and gloom. And the wild flower bed I have to attract pollinators is also providing some colour, to what has become a pretty lacklustre year.





4 comments:

  1. the garilc is looking good, i had to pull mine yeaterday as it had leek rust all over it. I also have had a bumper crop of strawberrys this year, must be the weather.

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  2. Seems like you are getting some good harvests despite the weather. I would like to have some of those strawberries and my garlic wasn't quite that big.

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  3. The garlic looks great.

    I planted mine in March so it won't be ready until the end of next month I imagine. However, all of the other plot holders who planted in November have had real problems. The garlic succumbed to rust and the bulbs were no where near as good as yours look!

    The parsnip in the top right hand corner of your blog always makes me a) laugh and b) green with envy!!

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  4. Thanks guys. Some of the garlic bulbs are small, but overall we're pleased and we didn't get any rust. The straws are great but the potatoes are getting me down... and yes, that season's parsnips were great. Can't believe we'll have none this year.

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