WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 WEEK 9 WEEK 10 WEEK 11 WEEK 12 WEEK 13 WEEK 14 WEEK 15 WEEK 16 WEEK 17 WEEK 18 WEEK 19 WEEK 20 WEEK 21
Welcome to the twenty-second ‘Follow Us’ update of 2021, a space where we talk about how we’re growing in our own Ergrownomics raised planters this year, and walk you through how you can achieve the same results at home, yourself...Feel free to follow along, and be sure to follow us on Instagram & Facebook to never miss an update! As usual, key is at the bottom, so scroll down now!
The weather has been cool and unsettled this week with daytime temperatures falling further to 180C (which is 50C below the seasonal average). Night-time temperatures have faired little better at 90C. Conditions have generally been overcast with light rainfall, interspersed with heavier showers. In short – it’s been the sort of summer weather that makes anyone curse their stupidity for staying at home to go on holiday, not that there is a lot of choice at the present time!
‘French’ (broad-leaved) sorrel in Planter 1 has grown more slowly than expected and this is certainly a reflection of the weather. However, the leaves are in really good condition, with no hint of scorch which can occur in the heat. We have started to pick the leaves as they do tend to thicken and become waxy as they get older, whilst picking early promotes new growth. The leaves have a very strong lemon taste and a sharp fizz (not unlike sherbert lemons). We have been adding the leaves to those of ‘Mrs Burns’ lemon basil to make pesto, which works really well!
The Red-veined sorrel has been respaced and all the plants we pricked out have established successfully, perhaps the one positive from a week of dismal weather. Notwithstanding this, the plants remain very small but based on the root development of the plants we pricked out, which had rooted to 50 mm, we expect that they will get their eventually.
Carrot ‘Imperator mix’ in Planter 2 appear not to have made any more progress and it’s been a few weeks now since we last raised the height of the plant training. However, further close inspection this week revealed carrots with impressive girth and given this we are going to bring forward the date when we start harvesting by a fortnight (to next week), which will be 12 weeks since sowing. This will allow us to sow winter line lettuces in four weeks’ time (in the middle of September) while the soil retain sufficient warmth. Sowing after this outdoors becomes a little ‘more hit and miss’, which make root trainers a better option (although these are fiddly for lettuces).
Differences in the condition and growth of the four basils in Planter 3 has been revealed this week by the cooler and wetter weather conditions, which led to a further outbreak of Cercospora leaf spot infection. Caught between a ‘rock and a hard place’ we concluded that we would be better off with the cloche on, to guarantee at least some warmth - and this has been reinstated. The ‘tooing and froing’ with the cloche highlights the challenge of growing basil outdoors in the UK. Notwithstanding this, Mrs Burns lemon basil is bucking the trend and continues to impress not only in its growth rate but also in its resistance to Cercospora leaf spot infection. All of this would count for nothing if its didn’t have good flavour, but in our view is also has the best taste of the four!
The dwarf French bean ‘Speedy’ in Planter 4 has continued to be harvested and the quality of the beans remains outstanding. This should have been the last week of harvesting but some of the plants (from the second round of sowing) are still holding young beans, and for this reason we are going to carry on for another week. The decision has absolutely nothing to do with the ‘Bright Light’s Swiss Chard we’ve sown in root trainers to replace them not being ready yet…!
Our star of the show this week is our bed of Crocosmias which is located just in front of our planters, below a Cherry ‘Kanzan’. It contains 3 varieties which are ‘Lucifer’, ‘Meteor’ and ‘George Davidson’ - all of which have flowered profusely (albeit later than usual) this year, and are now looking their best. Crocosmias need to placed in a secure location as they can run amuck, and ours are bounded on three sides by hardstanding and on the fourth by a bed of Cotoneaster ‘Horizontalis’ - which is sufficiently robust to prevent any spread!