20/4/25 - Daily Changes Everywhere

The rains have arrived at last!  After months of not much rain, and seeing an article stating that a vast portion of the UK is already in drought conditions, we've actually had rain and it continues to rain today.  It's that type of rain that's quite good because it soaks in well rather than coming down really heavy and running off instead of soaking in.

On the plot, it's really hard to keep up with what's going on.  So many little jobs here and they have all mounted up to an absolute ton of work over the last week.  I struggle to remember what's what, so for this update, I'm going to try something a little bit different.  At the top of this blog, there is a link to the bed numbers assigned to each of the beds on the plot.  I use them to help me plan, and can refer back to them in times like this.  To help me remember what's what this week, I've taken a picture of each bed so I can recall what I've done.

Garden Bed

At the front of the plot, by the pond, the flowers have started to brighten up the entrance.  The Wall Flowers are now fully in bloom, although a little blown about due to high winds at the start of the week.  Crocosmia and other plants are breaking soil and growing on.  I've been growing some African Marigolds again this year, because they did really well last year.  To add a bit of height in the flower bed, I added half a dozen or so along the back of the bed.

Bed 1 - Peas

Not much going on in this bed this week.  The peas from gutters continue to grow and settle in well.  There are signs of germination on the direct sown peas and other than a light weed, this bed has been left although I've also put an African Marigold at each end of the bed to bring more brightness later in the Summer.

Bed 2 - Sprouting Broccoli No More

We've had a reasonable supply of sprouting broccoli this Spring, but the plants that produced harvest started going to seed before we could eat it all.  In addition, two plants didn't produce any harvest, just plenty of green.  This bed wasn't due to be cleared until next month, but it needed weeding, so I pulled all the plants and hoed the bed over.  It's not due to have anything added to it until around July.  At the same time, I had a tray of red lettuces that really needed moving out from the polytunnel.  So, they've been transplanted in, and a couple of slug beer traps have been put amongst them.  I'll probably continue to use this bed as salad bed until I need it again in the Summer.

Bed 3 - Garlic

The garlic continues to grow well.  Some of the stems are already thicker that some of the stems I have seen on elephant garlic that we've grown in the past.  Nothing much needed in this bed other than a bit of weeding.

Bed 4 - Parsnip

Earlier in the year, I tried a different method of sowing parsnip seed.  I used a seed tray, and using the holes in the seed tray as a guide, sowed the seed at consistent spacing over the half bed allocated to the parsnip.  Parsnip are notorious for taking a long time to germinate, and have been know to fail completely.  I'd left the bed since sowing, but since the weather has started to warm, so the weeds have started to grow too.  This has made it impossible to detect what's parsnip and what's not.  I don't think germination has been successful anyway, probably down to the dry weather. despite occasional watering.  So, I raked over the bed, removed the weed and sowed again, but this time reverting back to sowing in rows and marking the rows with pegs.  At least this time it should be easier to define what's a parsnip seedling and what's weed.  Finger crossed for germination this time around as it's a bit later to do any more sowings this year.

Bed 5 - Tomatoes?

This bed is for outdoor tomatoes, and while there is nothing in there yet, it is ready to go.  Initially, the plants were going to go in this month, but I'm going to push them into next month.  The plants are in the mini polytunnel at the moment, but it's fair to say that some of them haven't made it.  I think the extremes of temperature have seen off the weaker of the plants.  I could resow, but it maybe a little late for that.  I think instead I will wait and see what plants do eventually make it out next month, and if there are any gaps worth filling, I'll just buy garden centre plants instead.  The bed is ready to go though.

Bed 6 - Onions

Nothing to report here, other than a light weeding and the Bedfordshire Champ onions transplanted a couple of weeks ago are beginning to find their feet and take root.

Bed 7 - Broad Beans and Cauli

Broad beans are continuing to grow well.  It will soon be time to put another grid of string in place to help support the plants.  The cauli is doing OK, although there are signs of some slug damage.  I'll need to keep an eye on that and perhaps putt he last of the slug beer traps in place.  The bed has had a weed and all is well.

Bed 10 - Carrot Bath

I've need to do very little with this bed.  There's very little weed seed in there as I haven't introduce any significant amounts of fresh compost, nor has it been dug to any depth since last year.  Next month, the other half of the bed will be sown with the next batch of seed.

Potato Buckets

The first earlies (Charlotte) continue to push new growth out and have developed a good crown of green growth.  Earlier this week, the second sowing of first earlies (Cara) have just started to break cover and lifting the lid on the compost surface.  When sown, the compost and manure that was used contained a reasonable amount of moisture.  They've had little watering directly, and with the rain now coming in, there won't be much to do with these as long as they are kept damp.

Bed 14 - Kale and Onions

A row of Kale plants have made their way from the polytunnel into bed 14.  Some of them are under cloches, but they should be OK looking at the next couple of weeks of the forecast.  The spare onions around the bed edge have taken well.  In a change from the scaffold netting on a majority of the other beds, this bed, and bed 15 have Agralan netting on them, which is much finer and will hopefully help protect things from the smaller critters.

Bed 15 - Sprouts

Nothing much has been done in this bed this week other than putting in some slug traps.  The plants have grown on over the week and show no signs of any slug damage at this point.  Either the slug traps are working (I've yet to lift the lid and check on them) or, the netting is preventing slugs from getting into the bed.  Either way, all is good so far.  

Beds 8, 9, 12 and 13

Not in use yet.  Just keeping on top of the weeding where necessary.

Mini Polytunnel

This is where we've started to have a bit of a change about.  It's a balancing act between growing and temporary storing plants.  Quite a few things have been done in this tunnel this week, with planting, pots going in, pots coming out, crops coming out and plants being brought home.

• The first row of carrots sown some weeks ago have been thinned out.
• The second sowing rows of carrots have germinated.  It's too soon to thin them out, but plenty of weed seedlings have been removed.
• The two sprouting broccoli plants provided their final harvest and have been pulled up.
• In their place, Pak Choi plants were transplanted from the large polytunnel into a row in the mini tunnel.
• Various potted plants have been taken from the large polytunnel and put in the mini tunnel to start creating more room in the large tunnel.
• The remaining African Marigold, and the French Marigolds have been brought home for planting in the home garden.
• The pots of leeks had two days in the polytunnel this week before being moved outside onto their bed.  They are still some way off being transplanted, but they should start coming on stronger in the coming weeks.
• Out of the 3 cauli plants put in the tunnel over the winter, one is continuing to head up, but no signs of the others following suit as yet.  They are all putting on a great deal of green growth though.  At some point in the next month, these will need to be removed to make room for the next crop.  Where no head has formed, I'll harvest the greens.

The mini tunnel is getting regular watering and weeding.

Polytunnel

Firstly, all the plants transplanted into quad grows are still with us, and in most cases, seem to be doing well.  Some of them seem to be benefitting from the additional cloches put on top of them.  Two tomato plants that were put in by the door as spare plants seem to be doing OK, but are showing signs of 'something'.  It could be a reaction to temperature (either cold or heat) as some of the leaves are yellowing.  They have already started to produce flowers and while to start with I pinched out the early flowers to try and encourage more growth, this time I will leave them in place.  There is also the possibility that there could be nutrient deficiency, so it will be time to start feeding.  All the other quad grows continue to be top watered at the moment until I can be sure the root growth has come into full contact with the capillary matting and started to drawer water up from the reservoir.

Elsewhere, the Dahlia plants have also been brought home and planted up in the home flower beds.

The remaining tomato plants that ultimately will be planted outside have been moved into the mini polytunnel.  We now have near full germination in the trays of beans, cosmos, squash and water melon that were planted a couple of weeks ago.

This weekend, I have tried to free up as much space as possible in the tunnel.  Anything else I had room for in the mini polytunnel has been moved into there, which created space on the two suspended staging shelves.  This meant I have been able to consolidate everything onto one shelf, and the shelf above the beef stake tomatoes has now been removed and stored at the top of the tunnel.  In the coming month, everything that is currently on the second shelf should come on and be ready to get transplanted into their final growing positions.

Polytunnel Temps

It's been another week of extremes with once again, daytime high for the week being in the 40's, and the overnight low for the week being just above freezing.  In the coming weeks, the night time temperature according to the forecast, is due to start creeping up towards, but not quite hitting the magical double digits.