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Welcome back to our weekly follow us! If you missed the last twenty weeks, the links to them are above - and as usual - the key is at the bottom: scroll down now!
Weather conditions have been difficult again this week, with two storms; the first, ‘Ellen’ arrived on the 21st August, while the second, ‘Francis,’ arrived on the 25th August. Incidentally, these are only the second and third named summer storms since the naming system was introduced by the Met Office and Met Eireann in 2015! The pattern of extreme weather hence continues, with the two storms bringing severe gales which have wreaked significant damage on trees.
Daytime temperatures have been fairly consistent at 200C, but fell to 16.50C on Friday, below the historical average of 22oC. In contrast, night-time temperatures have been 14-16oC, slightly above the historical average of 13oC. Rainfall occurred on three days with steady rain on Tuesday and Friday and intense rainfall on Thursday, which produced close to half of the weeks 26mm rainfall total in just 3 hours. Sustained wind speeds of 23 mph and 27 mph were experienced in the course of storm ‘Ellen’ on Saturday morning and storm ‘Francis’ on Tuesday afternoon, although individual gusts on each occasions will have approached 50 mph!
Pea ‘Half pint’ (syn. ‘Tom-Thumb’) sown in Planter 1 remains unchanged. Its condition, while acceptable, is markedly poorer than that of a May sown crop - displaying far fewer pods. These are swelling slowly but will not be ready for harvesting next week, and will probably be 2 weeks behind. While new flowers have emerged, few appear to have set pods and this appears to be because the flowers’ structure has been damaged by rainfall – so preventing their reopening once they’re dry, which is obviously necessary to provide access to pollinators. Pea flowers appear not to be as well adapted as others to heavy rain, additional information on which can be found here. On the plus side, the training system has proved effective yet again in preventing wind damage!
The quartet of herbs in Planter 2 have continued to be harvested. While these were earmarked for removal this week, they have been retained as the strong winds provided few opportunities for gardening safely (a nearby cankerous ash tree has reigned down numerous branches in the near vicinity of the planters in the course of the week). The herbs have continued to be picked regularly, with Parsley ‘Afrodite’ seemingly most untroubled by the weather. Dill ‘Dukat’ and Coriander ‘Confetti’ have become quite unruly but remain a constant source of attraction to a wide range of insects (none more so than bees!) They have continued to produce some leaf towards the base of the stems which, despite being extremely delicate ‘fern’, seems unaffected by the constant wetting and drying and has remained usable. Basil ‘British’ remains no great advert but is being used. This said, the leaves appear to be growing by increasing in thickness, rather than expanding in area, making them strictly for cooking use only!
The Hearting Lettuces ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Amaze’ in Planter 3 are nearing the end of harvesting, with the green ‘Little Gem’ certainly standing better than the red ‘Amaze’. The green ‘Little Gem’ has hearted up and the foliage has remained in better condition during the first 3 weeks of harvesting, with the red ‘Amaze’ having deteriorated markedly with the leaves becoming slightly flaccid and ‘unfurling’ from the stem. The ever-reliable Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ has continued to re-leaf and these are at their best when picked mid-sized at which point the stems don’t need to be cooked separately from the green leaf, as long as they are picked immediately before being required.
The kales in Planter 4 are mixed in performance with Kale ‘Emerald Ice’ and Kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ (Cavolo Nero) growing well and crowding Rows 1 and 2. Kale ‘Midnight Sun’ in Row 3 is some way behind. It is difficult to tell whether this is nutritional issue as the foliage of the variety is light green, but as the leaves of the ‘Nero di Toscana alongside are dark green this can probably be ruled out. The value of using the training system is clear-cut in the kales which, if they become top heavy during early growth, are prone to lodge - causing the stems to become ‘swept’. The stems of plants of all three varieties are straight and free of deformation.