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Weather conditions have mirrored those of the previous week with high temperatures, followed by a sudden sharp fall (the onset of which was marked by a short period of heavy rainfall!) A particular feature of the week’s weather has been the wind - which ranged from light to strong.
Temperatures during the first part of the work were around 240C until Wednesday, whereupon they fell back to 14oC and have remained since. The historical average for early June is 20oC which highlights the variability of conditions. Nighttime temperatures have ranged from 6oC to 8oC, consistently below the historical average of 10oC. Rainfall occurred on Wednesday, which was initially heavy but eased overnight (with the total during the period of 9mm). Exceptionally strong westerly winds, in excess of 18mph, occurred on Friday, but moderate winds in excess of 12mph occurred on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.
The plants are now sufficiently well-established not to require any supplementary watering and daily timed irrigation is adequate, providing approximately 3 litres per planter per day. For us, this is operated by a Rainbird controller which has an adjustment for rainfall. The plant training system also helped in minimising damage to plants due to the ‘buffeting’ of winds, so is definitely a worthwhile upgrade if your planters are exposed to the elements!
The Dwarf French Bean ‘Purple Teepee’ root trainers in Planter 1 have been slow to establish. The condition of plants is moderate to poor, with leaves light-green, rather than dark green, leaves - and most plants have suffered one or two snapped side shoots due to wind damage. However, there is little doubt that plants would have suffered significantly more damage in the absence of the training system. The root trainers of one or two plants have also been exposed by burrowing by Blackbirds!
The three lettuces in Planter 2 have continued to be harvested every couple of days. Lettuce ‘Solix’ is the most productive, followed by Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’ and Lettuce ‘Red Salad Bowl’, though the latter is much improved. Harvesting is carried out by removing the outer leaves and these are snapped off as close to the base of the plant as possible. Care is required in harvesting the Lettuce ‘Salad Bowl’ and Lettuce ‘Red Salad Bowl’ as these are actually hearting lettuces (hence the omission of the plant training system) but are grown as line lettuces during the summer because of their ability to withstand high temperature (which prevents their bolting)! Lettuce ‘Solix’ has a more upright habit and is easier to manage. The colour of the three lettuces ranges from light green, through mottled green to pink/crimson and are extremely attractive. The colours become less vibrant as the plants weaken in the later stages of harvesting, but there are no signs of that yet.
The lettuces in Planter 2 will be followed by herbs and these have been sown in root trainers in anticipation of this. The four herbs which are being grown are Coriander ‘Confetti, Basil ‘Lemon’, Parsley ‘Plain-leaved’ and Dill ‘Bouquet’. The lettuces will be retained in Planter 2 until the herbs are ready and should be capable of harvesting for 6 weeks rather than the 4 that were planned.
Turnip ‘Tokyo Cross’ F1 and Rocket ‘Serrata’ have been removed from Planter 3, the harvesting of both being foreshortened by the combination of exceptionally high temperatures and flea beetle attack (a shame as the rocket in particular tasted great!), and replaced with Heating Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ and Hearting Lettuce ‘Amaze’. These are good choices as they are exceptionally versatile, albeit a little slow growing (10 weeks to harvest). These have been directly sown in the planter but could have been grown in rootrainers and outplanted, which would have reduced the length of time they were in a planter to a more acceptable 6 weeks (even we fall down on our planning sometimes!) Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ has been retained as it is in excellent condition but has just been slow growing.
The growth rate of carrot, spring onion and beetroot in Planter 4 has increased considerably with the height of the plant training system being increased to accommodate this. The beetroot are beginning to crowd the spring onion and have slightly more foliage than expected, however, they are starting to bulb up (as are the carrots)! The benefit of having spring onion in the centre is that it provides a little extra space to the crops to each side. The condition of all three crops is excellent.