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This week weather conditions have remained unsettled, with daytime temperatures slightly below the seasonal average for early July.
Daytime temperatures were 18-20oC, just slightly below the historical average of 22oC. Night-time temperatures were far more variable, ranging from a high of 15oC and a low of just 6oC - with temperatures in single figures on four nights! These compare to the historical average of 14oC. The beginning part of the week was dry but moderately windy while rainfall occurred on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (but amounted to less than 5mm in total).
Pea ‘Half pint’ (syn. ‘Tom-Thumb’) sown in Planter 1 has started to germinate with 5 or 6 shoots now just showing above the soil surface; this is in line with the prediction of 7 days. While air temperatures have been slightly below those expected in early July, soil temperatures are less prone to fluctuate and will now be close to the warmest they reach - and at the optimum for germination. The plant training system has been set up and the cord lines fixed at their lowest position, closest to the soil surface; this is to deter blackbirds whose favourite past time is uprooting seedlings as a means of exposing earthworms. It is likely the blackbirds will turn their attention to the pea seedlings once they finish looting the blackcurrants, nearby!
The quartet of herb root trainers out-planted in Planter 2 have established well and have probably been assisted in doing so by the slightly cooler conditions and light rainfall of the past week. Basil ‘British’, ‘Curly’ Parsley, ‘Afrodite’ and ‘Confetti’ Coriander, and Dill ‘Dukat’ all have good colour and are straight and upright. Each rootrainer contains 5 or 6 seedlings which should grow outwards to fill the space between the others. We have never found any great advantage to reducing the number of seedling to just one or two individuals in each rootrainer.
In Planter 3, Hearting Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Amaze’ have both continued to grow well and have been thinned a second time to achieve their final number of 12 plants per row. Little ‘Gem’ has proved to be slightly faster growing than ‘Amaze’, but this disparity between green and red leaved lettuces is common (as it was evident earlier in the year between ‘Salad Bowl’ and ‘Salad Bowl Red’ in Planter 2). However, it is not necessarily a reliable indicator of their eventual productivity. The difference between the small number of Little Gem that germinated from the initial sowing and those from the resowing remains clear-cut. On balance, pricking out seedlings from the line of Amaze alongside to infill in the gaps would have been a better option (and cheaper by avoiding the need to buy a replacement pack of seed!). The Chard ‘Bright Lights’ continues to grow well and is being picked selectively twice a week in order to try and extend the period of picking to synchronize with the Hearting lettuces.
Picking of Carrot ‘Sweet Imperator Mix F1’, Spring Onion ‘North Holland Blood Red’ and Beetroot ‘Chioggia’ in Planter 4 has commenced. The carrots are larger than expected but that is fine as one of our goals is to demonstrate that growing in small spaces doesn’t meaning accepting miniature sized vegetables! The mix of colours is good with purple, orange, yellow and white - not always the case in mixed colour packets where one colour can dominate almost to the exclusion of all others. The different coloured carrots are also similar in size, which is again something that cannot necessarily be counted upon. Most of the carrots are 20-30 mm in girth and just over 200 mm in length. Very few of the carrots are forked but those that are just add to the authenticity of being home grown. All the carrots are entirely free of damage and decay.
Beetroot ‘Chioggia’ are uniform in size (medium-sized), 50-60mm in girth and 40-50mm in height (they have characteristic slightly flattened base and are not a true globe) with a single tap root that extends 200-250 mm. The beetroots are medium-pink coloured and have thin smooth skin, with only a few adventurous roots. The bulbs are free of damage and decay. A proportion of the leaves of the mature beet are slightly yellow but this is typical of plants reaching maturity. The newer, smaller leaves remain dark green with red ribs and veins (remember, these are edible!)
Spring Onion ‘North Blood Red Holland’ are semi-mature with bulbs 12-15mm in diameter, with a crimson coloured skin. The shanks are quite short at 60-80mm but not heavily branched (which is probably a reflection of the training system as multi-stems are typical of the variety). The bulbs are free of damage and decay with dark green stems (the exception being the tips which were slightly scorched during the high temperatures experienced in mid-June).
Care is required in picking carrots, beetroot and spring onions to ensure the remaining crops are not accidentally uprooted. Picking should start at one of the row and progress towards the other. The tension on the cord lines should be reduced by partly releasing the cord lock and this allows the crops being picked to pass upwards through the cord lines. Do not get in a fight with the vegetables if they snag (it’s unseemly!), just release the toggle a bit more and feed the offending leaves through individually. Finally, re-tension the cord lines using the toggle on completion.
Partial germination after 7 days.
Partial germination after 7 days.
Partial germination after 7 days.