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Welcome to weeks 34 and 35 of Follow Us! If you missed the last thirty-three weeks of this year, the links to them are above - and as usual - the key is at the bottom: scroll down now!
The weather over the last fortnight has been typical of the end of autumn (winter officially only started on the 1st December), with frequent overcast days accompanied by light rain – and generally interspersed with far fewer sunnier days! Fog, once common but now unusual, occurred in the last few days of the month.
Daytime temperatures have generally fallen over the period which at 10-120C were at or slightly above the seasonal average of 100C during the last week of November, but fell well below the average to 4-70C in the first week of December. Night-time temperatures have followed the same pattern ranging from 6-80C, during the last week of November, to 1-2 0C during the first week of December (the latter being well below the seasonal average of 40C). While rainfall occurred on most days it generally amounted to just 1-2mm, and the majority of the 28mm occurred on just two days where rainfall was approximately 10mm. Near gale force winds occurred at the beginning and end of the period, but for the remainder were gentle to moderate.
A review of the weather during November 2020 shows that temperatures were fairly typical for the end of Autumn. Seasonal daytime temperatures above average were recorded on 17 days, and below average on 13 days. The difference in night-time temperatures were far greater, with 25 days above the seasonal average and only 5 days below. Daytime temperatures averaged 13.40C for the month with a maximum of 19.60C and a minimum of 4.80C. Night-time temperatures averaged 60C with a maximum of 12.30C and a minimum of 1.90C; there were a total of 3 ground frosts. Rainfall occurred on 22 days, slightly more than the average of 18 days but still total rainfall amounted to just 47mm - less than 50% of the seasonal average for November (100 mm).
With daytime temperature just above 120C for most of the month the growth of crops in all of the planters has been slow, and opportunities for picking have diminished. The presumption has now moved towards maintaining the crops so they are able to respond to warming in the early spring, and bridge the notorious ‘hunger gap’ in the Spring months, at least in as far as is possible with 4 planters!
All of the crops established at the end of the summer and into early autumn are capable of overwintering successfully. All are frost hardy and hence the greatest risk is presented by extreme soil wetness. The planters benefit from an effective under-drainage system capable of removing excess water, and aided by the addition of the perlite to the growing media.
In terms of a final roundup. Lamb’s lettuce and Land Cress in Planter 1 are in good condition with excellent colour, but the latter remain far too dense and defy all attempts at thinning due to the softness of the foliage and surprisingly deep tap roots. These are up to 40mm long, which prevents their extraction without significant soil upheaval.
Spring Onion ‘White Lisbon Winter Hardy’ are in good condition. While a small number of plants display a slight browning of the growing tip, all are free of downy mildew which bodes well.
Mustard ‘Red Frills’ / Mustard ‘Golden Streaks’, Mustard ‘Red Giant’, Mustard ‘Mizuna’ in Planter 3 remain in good condition and continue to produce some leaves each week - but alas – no longer enough for a round of sandwiches each day! These lettuces are susceptible to ‘rotting off’ at the root collar but there is no evidence of this presently, nor of bolting.
Kale ‘Emerald Ice’, Kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ (Cavolo Nero) and Kale ‘Midnight Sun’ are all in good condition but all have suffered to some greater or lesser extent to the predations of caterpillars, slugs and flea beetle - although damage is far from wholesale. Kale ‘Emerald Ice’ is impressive and new leaves are predominantly creamy white (it would seem that lower temperatures are required to develop this feature). Nero di Toscana’ (Cavolo Nero) is taller than the other two kales which warrants its position in the centre row of the planter. This attention to detail as to where you position varieties relative to one another in the planter is important to reduce the risk of suppression. Kale ‘Midnight Sun’ is the most troublesome of the three with leaves prone to deteriorate at mid-size, and is not proving a great choice.
With little change to report each month from hereon in we are going to suspend ‘Follow us’ for now and pick up the crops in the planters sometime in March, 2021. Nevertheless, as time permits over the winter we will look at what we have been growing indoors, provide a roundup of the successes (and failures) of the crops we have grown in our 4-planter during 2020 - and to review the weather for the year to consider what implications the changes witnessed have had for growing your own!