9/5/26 - All Bar One

Good evening and thanks for dropping by.  This is going to be a slightly photo heavy post.  It's the only way I can remember what I've got through.  It feels like not a day goes by without another big bit of work being done and another handful of jobs are getting ticket off the list.  But, that's not strictly true given that my morning on the plot today was the first visit for 3 days.  The weather at the end of the week has been cooler which means trips to water the polytunnels haven't been needed.  Also, we've had rain!  And not a deluge, but a good, sensible amount of overnight rain over a couple of evenings which has made things just leap into life.  Thankfully, the slugs seem to be staying away because it does come across as very slug friendly weather at the moment.  So, let's dig in...

General Sit. Rep.

The plot, and indeed the whole site is looking very good indeed.  The past years of having several plots unkept and left to nature have been left behind and all plots with the exception of 1 or 2 are being worked and kept very tidy.  It's a genuine pleasure to spend time on our site at the moment and if things continue this way it's going to be one very productive year indeed.  (Said in a very whispery voice).

On our plot, the weekly jobs are mounting up.  Weeding, strimming and mowing are now firmly on the job list every week and will probably remain there throughout the season.  Soon, when everything is in the ground there will be maintenance jobs to do too.  Shed painting, water harvesting from the polytunnel and work on the IBC tank are all waiting their turn to be looked at as well.  And of course, there are the follow up sowings of second or even third crops to slot in.  But here and now, we're looking really good.

Bed by Bed

Today, I literally crawled around every single bed on both plots and given everything a good weeding.  It wasn't particularly bad to be honest.  Keeping beds covered over the winter, and practising minimal disturbance soil management means that not too much weed seed germinates.  It's just the usual bindweed that persists and even that isn't that bad.  I really just see it as just another weed now and it's in no way as bad as it was during our first couple of years on the plot.  Nearly every bed now has it's crop in.  It's just the cucumber and cucamelon plants left to go outside, and watermelon in the mini tunnel.  Else, everything else now has it's feet in the ground.  So, taking a look at the beds in order, starting with the original plot and then moving onto the second half plot next to it...

Bed 1

This is this years designated 'spares' bed.  The plan has a couple of things in it, but a majority left blank to make room for the spare plants.  It's full already!  The remaining 2/3 of the bed have been taken up with two spare tomato plants and nine spare sweetcorn plants and even some spare dahlia plants.

Bed 2

These are the main crop potatoes.  I haven't needed to do much on this bed.  A bit of weeding and that's about it.  I could consider earthing up the rows, but actually for now, I'm happy with the way things are.

Bed 3

The peas continue to grow well.  Another bed that hasn't needed anything other than a slight weed this week with the occasional encouragement to climb given to a few of the plants.  Where the two rows were slightly different sizes when transplanted, the smaller plants are trying their best to catch up.  It doesn't matter if they don't though.  It will just prolong the cropping period and give us fresh peas for longer, rather than podding and freezing like crazy!

Bed 4

Onions have been weeded.  There's potential that Mr. Mole could have a network of tunnels under the bed, bed I'm not sure.  On the top, the stems are thickening up nicely and we should soon start to see the tops of bulbs as they start to develop.

Bed 5

Rust has been present on the garlic for a couple of months now, but at this stage, it doesn't seem to be getting too bad.  I assume the rust spores are in the ground from previous years, so getting rid of it will be hard.  Nevertheless, plant development seems to be progressing well.  I can't believe that according to the plan, it could potentially be harvested next month.  Obviously though, I will be waiting for the plant to tell me that it's ready to be harvested, rather than when the plan tells me it's time.  The stems are really nice and thick though, which is often a sign of some good sized bulbs.  After the garlic has been removed from this bed, red cabbage will be going straight into the bed in an effort to have some ready for Christmas.  For the time being, weeding and a bit of blood fish and bone food is all that's been needed over the last week.

Bed 6

The half and half bed.  The broad beans have been producing some good pods over the last couple of weeks.  It won't be long before we can start picking them.  That brings us on to the other other half, and the parsnips.  Today is the first time I've been able to get a good close-up look at how successful germination has been, and what sort of numbers we're going to have.  Parsnip seeds are legendary in the amount of time it takes them to germinate, and the overall success of germination.  This year, not long after sowing, the parsnip bed also had a stint as the local communal kitty litter tray for the local cat population.  The obvious was dealt with, but where scraping took place, some seeds were also displaced or dug up.  But there is hope!  Yay!  There are a couple of dozen seedlings putting on a show of strength, and after spending time picking out the weeds in between them all, the picture is now much clearer.

Bed 7

The leeks that were transplanted last week are still there.  They don't seem to have done much since being transplanted, but underground, hopefully they are putting down their roots while on top, the large holes are backfilling each time it rains or as the plants are watered.  Given the bed was only weeded last week before transplanting, there wasn't much else to do on this one.

Bed 8

A week or two ago, the sweet corn went into this bed, and I'm pleased to say that all the plants have put on growth since going in.  At first there was concern that I may have gone too early, but actually, it doesn't look that way.  During the week, I did end up with two spare squash plants though.  From previous years, I know the squash plants and sweetcorn go together really well, so I have put in two spare plants, but I'm keeping them under cloches at the moment.  Just for another week or so because we're still getting overnight temperatures of 4 or 5 degrees.  They are doing well though.  The bed has had a weed and it's all good for another week.

Bed 9

In my last post, it was all about building the bean structure.  This week, it has "bean" all about transplanting the beans.  15 plants made their way from the polytunnel and into bed 9.  I had 5 stations left due to some mediocre germination so I have decided to direct sow a few bean seeds into each of the remaining holes.  Hopefully they will put in an appearance over the coming weeks, but as far as the transplanted plants are concerned, they are all looking good.  Even after being in the ground for not quite a full week, they are already showing signs of growth, and even the desire to wrap around the poles and start climbing.  Another bed that hasn't needed much weeding this week and all is good.

We're going to skip Bed 10 which is actually, the bath tub for carrots.  There's only so much enthusiasm I can convey about a bath tub with carrots growing in it.  We move on.

Bed 11

We now move over to the adjacent half plot which makes up the rest of our ground, next door to our full sized plot.  It's been given over to a small flower bed to attract the pollinators and to add a load of colour.  This year, I've also planted in place some plants that can be used for cut flowers for the home and others that will help deter various aphids from the area around it.  We've also made use of the local gate sale at Allensmore Nurseries to put in some cheap perennial plants for year on year interest.

Bed 12

This year, this is being used as the main squash bed, and 3 squash plants have been transplanted out.  They're being kept under cloches like the spare squash plants in bed 8.  Last week, I gave the bed a weed and sunk in some downpipe sections to help watering the roots of each of the plants.  Finally, today I put some spare Pak Choi plants around the edge of the bed too.  The Pak Choi should grow on pretty quickly, and hopefully will be ready for harvest before the squash plants get too carried away.

Bed 13

Unlucky for some.  The raspberry bed.  This is supposed to be a delightful narrow bed of 5 autumn fruiting raspberry beds.  I bought 5 bare root plants over the winter and planted them out according to their instructions.  Disappointingly, after an initial promising start with 4out of the 5 canes showing some sort of sign of growth, all but one has died back, leaving us with one solitary cane.  Earlier in the week, I carefully dug down to the root of one of the other canes.  After seeing on Beechgrove on the telly, the sort of growth we should be expecting to see at the root ball, I wanted to see if our are just slow, or have no signs of growth.  Sadly, it's the latter.  I'm not totally giving up on them, but looking around the site at other raspberry canes, they are well on their way and pushing up new growth.  There is a plan B for this bed, but I'd rather plan A worked.

Bed 14

A second main crop potato bed.  Originally not destined to have anything in it and was just waiting for a moment of inspiration, when it come to dealing with the seed potatoes, it was soon obvious I had more than I needed.  Rather than waste them, I put them in here.  They have had a few weeks of growth and appear to be OK.  I know for certain though that Mr Mole is at work underground, so I will need to wait and see how things turn out.  A bit of weeding and the rest is left to nature.

Bed 15

It's been a busy 6 or 7 days on this bed.  After a couple of conversations, and the appearance of the tomato plants showing signs that they really needed to be moved on, I've taken a risk and got them out into their final place.  It will take them a couple of weeks to sort themselves out and for them to get use to their final home, but the plants have been living in the polytunnel for a good month or so by now, and should be accustomed to polytunnel temperatures dropping to mid single figures overnight.  I figured that they should be OK.  Also, I do think that tomato plants are much more resilient that what people say they are.  This bed should look superb later in the year when the foliage is fully developed, the fruit is ripening, and the accompanying marigold and calendula are all coming into bloom too.  Each plant has 4 canes around it for support, and on top, a cardboard pot over the ends of the canes.  This adds a bit of safety and will help protect me from the ends of the canes.  After almost a week in the ground, they certainly don't look any worse off.

Bed 16

The only bed with no crops yet.  A few weeks ago, the trellis structure went in, and in the time since, I've planted some companion flowers.  It will be home to cucumber and cucamelon plants, but for the time being, they are still being nurtured in the polytunnel.  I'm struggling with the cucumber plants this year, I think because of over watering.  I have 3 that should make it, but two seem to be all but dead.  I have done a second sowing, so I just need to wait and see what comes of those.  If that doesn't go to plan, I can either just carry on with 3 plants (they do crop prolifically anyway) or do a last minute dash to the local nursery and buy a couple of spares in.

Main Polytunnel

The last week has been all about harvesting the strawberries.  We've continued to get around half to a full punnet every couple of days.  We've had a much better harvest this year than last, but it will soon start to slow down over the coming weeks.  There is still fruit to ripen and a few flowers still present, but some of the plants are also starting to put out runners, which is a sign that they are now looking to spread rather than produce fruit.  Once we finish harvesting, the baskets will be moved outside for the remainder of the year and I will start taking the runners to produce new plants with a view of replacing some of the less healthy plants in 2027.

On the ground, I put in a few pak choi plants that should be quick growing.  The 4 pepper plants and aubergine plants have taken well to their surroundings while in the other bed, the lettuces and spring onions are doing well too.  The two tomato plants that were transplanted around 3 weeks ago are looking very healthy.  

Today was also the day that the second staging set was taken down and stowed away.  The transition from plant nursery to full production is now complete in the main polytunnel!

Mini Polytunnel

In the mini tunnel over the last few weeks, we've moved between it being almost empty to being almost full of seedlings and back to being empty again.  Today, with the staging in the main polytunnel being removed for the season, the mini tunnel is home to the last of the seedlings before they get moved to their final homes.  During this morning's visit, I potted on the watermelon seedlings.  I sow two per pot, and did 3 pots.  5 out of 6 seeds germinated and I need 3 plants for the mini polytunnel.  So, I've split the seedlings out into their own pots and will leave them to grow on further and put more roots out, at which point, they will go into the ground.

The cucamelon seedlings have germinated well, but they are very slow to grow.  I'm just going to leave those.  The cucumber plants are doing what they need to do, or at least 3 of them are.  The second sowing of cucumber plants and some lettuce sowings are also sitting in a tray in the mini tunnel, waiting for their time to germinate.

On the left side of the tunnel are the left overs of this years spares that I have no room for.  I'm just going to hold onto them for a couple more days just in case, but then, it's off to the sharing bench for a couple of pepper, squash and aubergine plants.

Wrapping Up

A bit of an epic update, but at this time of year, it's hard to diarise what's being done and what's happening in a short format.  I'll continue to water down the mini polytunnel ready for putting in the watermelon plants, and water and feed the strawberry baskets ever few days in the coming week or so.  Looking at the forecast for the coming week, we should continue to get the occasional rain, which is ideal.  This time last year, I had an empty water tank on the plot, and was using a wheel barrow to move 4 watering cans of water for each water trough visit to get everything watered.  We're not at that stage, and we're in a good place all round.  Thanks for reading!