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Welcome to the twenty-third ‘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 improved this week, with daytime temperatures finding their way back to the 200C (just a couple of degrees below the seasonal average). Conditions have generally been dry, with just a few short-lived showers. Night-time temperatures have remained below the seasonal average at 80C, with a decided chill in the mornings.
‘French’ (broad-leaved) sorrel in Planter 1 has continued to grow and to be picked in equal measure. The plants have become more solid and robust, more-so than lettuces ever manage to achieve (making the training unnecessary). Mature plants have deep rooted anchoring systems (they are a perennial, after-all) and they can be quite a challenge to remove. Keeping the plants in check by regular picking helps! Sorrel is proving not to be to everyone’s taste, and can be a bit too much raw in salads, although this can be overcome by dressing with raspberry vinegar. Its inclusion in a Salade de Chèvre Chaud (cooking this is as close as we are going to get to going to France this year), which caused the leaves to be slightly sautéed through the residual heat, wasn’t commented up which we took as a win!
The Red-veined sorrel has continued to disappoint and it is clearly a much better choice for sowing in the autumn and overwintering; sunshine seems to be its nemesis!
Carrot ‘Imperator mix’ in Planter 2 has started to be picked and the carrots are excellent with a really good combination of colours. The roots are fairly uniform in girth and length, with the odd forked and / or twisted one lending character (these would be graded out in shop-bought bunches). There is no sign of damage by carrot fly and we have never had a problem with this in all the time we’ve grown in the planters. There are quite a lot of purple carrots indicating we might have been a bit to liberal in the amount of ‘Purple Haze’ we added to the Imperator mix, which as usual is made up mostly of yellow and white carrots. We have still not found an orange carrot so we may need to add ‘Sugarsnax 54’ too, next time! The carrots do (in taking 12 weeks to grow to the point of harvesting) occupy a planter for far longer than most crops, but it’s worth it. There is no doubt the pleasure of growing your own is heightened when you’ve got a clear idea of what stand-out recipes you’ll use to make the most of the produce. This doesn’t need to be the most elaborate recipe - and for us just halving the carrots, and enveloping in whole sprigs of orange thyme and roasting in foil for 25 mins - is amazing every time.
The basils have now improved in Planter 3 as a result of refitting the cloche. The only exception has been the Greek basil which has now been removed in order to reduce the risk of Cercospora leaf spot infection to the other varieties. Despite regular picking the amount of basil you can grow if you devote a whole planter to it is - it turns out - beyond the needs of most families (certainly ours), and it’s clear that half a day will need soon to be devoted to a pesto making frenzy. Mrs Burns lemon basil continues to be the stand out variety and will be our ‘go to’ in future.
The dwarf French bean ‘Speedy’ in Planter 4 has finally finished harvesting with the last beans being every bit as good as the first. We have to grudgingly admit that the uniformity and quality of the ‘Speedy’ beans has surpassed that of ‘Purple Teepee’, which is a big admission given how wedded we are to it! Our Chard ‘Bright Lights’ in root-trainers are not in any danger of lighting up anything and remain obstinately at the two-leaf stage, and not ready for outplanting. We have therefore opted for Plan ‘B’ (thinking on your feet is a must in growing your own!) and sown Pak Choi. We have chosen ‘Red Choi’ and ‘Joi Choi’ (white stemmed variety) and growing this as a baby leaf crop which should take around 42 days. We wouldn’t normally contemplate sowing any brassica outdoors before early September, but intend to use the cloche in order to prevent damage by caterpillars. These are currently munching their way through our nasturtium as if proof were needed as to the threat they pose!
Our star of the show this week is our Chilli ‘Atomic’ which has grown really well this year and is now producing a mountain of chillies. These have changed from green to black and we have started picking these in the knowledge that once they turn to red they will certainly be out of our spice-range! They will, however, be well received by others who somehow see their being able to eat them as a ‘badge of honour’! Chillies are a plant worth growing almost just for their beauty if you’ve got a greenhouse, making whether you like them or not incidental!