WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8
Welcome to the ninth ‘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 changeable (to put it mildly!) this week, with sunshine and showers throughout, but the temperatures have at least stayed close to the seasonal average of 15oC. The showers have been frequent with some containing abnormally large droplets (the type that bounce off paving slabs!) with occasional hail thrown in for good measure.
While the weather hasn’t been very convenient for working outside it has provided conditions favourable for growing, and the salad and vegetable crops in the planters have responded accordingly.
‘Misticanza di Lattughe’ in Planter 1 has grown well this week as a result of last week’s thinning and the weather conditions. While this hasn’t been sufficient to make up for lost time (the lettuce has been growing for six weeks and we would have expected that they would be ready for picking by now), they should be ready within the next couple of weeks. The combination of colours in the planter do, in the meantime, look very attractive.
Spring Onion ‘White Lisbon Winter Hardy’ in Planter 2 has been picked throughout the week and we are now one row down with two to go! While there is no need to rush through these as they will stand for several weeks we are picking these before the one in our polytunnel to free up the planter in order to get it re-seeded.
Lettuce ‘Green Salad Bowl’, ‘Red Salad Bowl’ and ‘Oak Leaf Green’ in Planter 3 have grown well this week, and will probably be ready for picking a week earlier than the ‘Misticanza di Lattughe’ in Planter 1. ‘Red Salad Bowl’ is noticeably larger than the two green varieties and will have benefitted from the cooler conditions (it doesn’t like the heat). The row of ‘Oak Leaf Green’ is now complete, showing that it is possible with good timing and a little care to respace the seedlings!
Radish ‘Diana’, Radish ‘Hailstone’ and Radish ‘Scarlet Globe’ in Planter 4 have been harvested throughout the week and slight differences in growth rate have become apparent. ‘Scarlet Globe’ have reached full size most quickly while ‘Hailstone’ have taken the longest. All three radishes have produced far less foliage than expected and that leaves are far thicker and tougher than normal. This is likely to be an adaptation to the long succession of frosts during April, which is all well and good but means there will be no radish pesto this time around…! We’ll try again in the autumn but in meantime we’ll polish off the radish (not a hardship) to free up the planter for something new. We are most likely to go for a French bean (not sure which variety yet) which is always a good fit for one or other end of the planter, as this offers a little more space.
The ‘Star of the show’ this week is a line lettuce mix of ‘Mustard Red Frills’, Golden Streaks’ and ‘Cocarde’. These are first of this seasons lettuce and means that we can finally call time on our ‘Artic King’ in the polytunnel. This still looks great and regrows well after picking but has become progressively more bitter and tough in recent weeks. The line lettuce were sown directly outdoors on the 9th March and were the first beneficiaries of our new cloche. The redness of the leaves of the cocarde is more pronounced than usual. This is just an observation and we are really not sure why this is? All three taste great, as they always do when they’re young, with just a hint of heat in the two mustards which are far more succulent than the leaves of plants which are grown under cover (which are never quite as good!)