WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 WEEK 9 WEEK 10 WEEK 11
Welcome back to our weekly follow us! If you missed the last eleven weeks, the links to them are above - and as usual - the key is at the bottom: scroll down now!
Weather conditions have shown a pattern of general improvement through the week, with temperatures rising gradually and peaking just below 30oC. These rising temperatures have been accompanied by gentle to moderate winds during the daytime. Thundery showers occurred on Sunday afternoon, but all other days were dry.
Temperatures rose gradually over the course of the week from 17oC on Saturday to 29oC on Thursday, significantly above and below the seasonal average of 22oC. Night-time temperatures were generally 11-12oC slightly below the seasonal average of 13oC, but fell to a minimum of 5oC on Wednesday night. Rainfall occurred only on Sunday afternoon and produced a total 1.5 mm. The remainder of the week was dry.
The Runner Bean ‘Hestia’ in Planter 1 has continued to struggle with the combination of high temperatures and moderate winds. Notwithstanding this, the plants have produced new leaves from shoots at the base of the plants that might have, given sufficient time, seen the plants recover to produce a reasonable crop. However, the decision has been taken to replace the Runner Bean ‘Hestia’ and with Pea ‘Tom Thumb’ (we should really have done this when we realised our error in outplanting Runner Bean ‘Hestia’ rather than French Dwarf Bean ‘Purple Teepee’ – a classic case of one mistake perpetuating another!) Ergrownomics is based on the concept of maximising the throughput of crops to make the most of the growing season and it makes no sense to retain a crop which has been compromised either by difficulties created by the weather, pests and diseases or poor seed quality.
The three lettuces in Planter 2 have continued to be harvested every couple of days. Lettuce ‘Solix’ remains the most productive followed by Lettuce ‘Red Salad Bowl’ and Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’. Regrowth continues to be strong, especially that of Lettuce ‘Red Salad Bowl’. Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’ is deteriorating more quickly than the other two lettuces but none are as good as when they were first picked (with the leaves thicker and waxier, and the flavour becoming slightly non-descript). Notwithstanding this, the leaves do improve when plunged and left for 15 minutes or so in cold water - and then spun dried; these are then perfectly acceptable in a sandwich, but even without this preamble are vastly superior to the lettuces found in mixed salad bags! The lettuces will be removed at the end of this week and replaced with four annual herbs, including ‘British’ Basil, Parsley ‘Afrodite’, Coriander ‘Confetti’ and Dill ‘Hera’. These have grown well in cells in the greenhouse.
Hearting Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ and Hearting Lettuce ‘Amaze’ have established well and a first thinning has been carried out of the seedlings to leave 18 per row. Plants from the first sowing of Hearting Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ remain noticeably larger than those from the second sowing, but all are in excellent condition. The seedlings removed were extremely well rooted. Regular checks have been made for slugs and snails but none have been identified and no damage has occurred. This suggests that there remains a residual effect of past nematode treatment. Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ has continued to be picked and the young leaves are vibrant, tender and have a subtler flavour than mature leaves (which ranks as a good thing in our house!) The leaves are fresh enough to be used in a salad and our favourite is Swiss Chard salad with lemon, parmesan and breadcrumbs (ideally a granary sourdough, malthouse or something similarly ‘nutty’ flavoured). This recipe only works with home grown swiss chard, picked, prepared and eaten all within 30 minutes; we’d even go so far as to suggest you fry the breadcrumbs and make the dressing before you pick the chard!
The growth rate of carrot, spring onion and beetroot in Planter 4 remains steady and the condition of plants remains excellent. The training system of all three has been adjusted (probably) for the last time. For simplicity and because we intend to start using the produce by making a spring vegetable quiche, we’ll start harvesting all three crops together next week. We have - in the meantime - sown Dwarf ‘French’ Bean ‘Purple Teepee’ and also Dwarf ‘French’ Bean as rootrainers to replace the carrot, spring onion and beetroot when they finish harvesting in four to five weeks’ time. Rest assured we have gone the extra mile with our labelling this time around! These crops are relatively demanding on soils and our presumption is usually to follow these with a bean or a pea. Planters 1 and 4, which have a little more space at each end of the four linear model, and are ideally suited for beans and peas.