Jun wk 2

Wednesday, 7 June 2016 & Thursday, 8 June 2016

Early Brassica Update

Wednesday and Thursday continued the fine dry weather.

On Thursday afternoon we did a little more tidying up and planting out on the plot. Our early brassica bed is now filled up although it may be stretching it a bit to call it early anymore.

This is how our brassica bed looked after it was planted up on 03 May this year. Cabbages (Duncan), Cauliflower (Mayflower), and calabrese (Marathon) were all planted through weed control fabric and the whole bed was covered with veggie mesh. The plants had been purchased as an early brassica collection from Marshalls Seeds. Of course the veggie mesh didn't protect from slugs and on the 12 May some of the cauliflower plants had been devastated by slugs.

This was how the worst of our cauliflowers looked after the slugs had enjoyed a meal on our plants. On a visit to a local garden centre I bought six cauliflower plants of a variety called Navona. I hadn't heard of this variety but having checked up it's a Romanesco type of cauliflower. I thought to give these the best chance possible I'd put the young plants into some largish pots so that they'd have more chance of standing up to a slug attack.

Cauliflower Navona potted up on 13 May 2016

They have grown into decent plants so it was time for them to be planted in the allotment.

Cauliflower Navona (6 plants)

As for the other brassicas they've made a bit of a recovery and I think we only lost a couple of cauliflower plants. Before planting our Navona plants I removed the veggie mesh and tidied up the edges of the bed.

The cabbages in the foreground will soon be ready for harvesting.

I might be able to resist the temptation until next week but these look like they will be the first of this year's veggie harvest from the allotment. We're moving from that extremely lean harvesting period into hopefully a time of plenty.

Of course the veggie mesh has been put back in place.

Friday, 10 June 2016

Strawberry Surprise

Friday saw our first rainfall of the month. It's not the driest start to June I've recorded which belongs to June 2013 when we got to the 13th of the month without any rain.

The clouds did break for a short while in the afternoon to give a little bit of sunshine but in the main it was a damp muggy sort of a day.

I'd been planning on covering our strawberries fairly soon to protect them from the birds. I was surprised on our last visit to the plot on Thursday to find that some fruits were already starting to turn red. What was also obvious was that I wasn't the only one who had noticed.

I couldn't make my mind up whether this damage was a caused by a slug or a bird. There didn't look to be any evidence of a slim trail normally left by a slug or a snail so it might well be bird damage. I couldn't see any other damage to one or two other strawberries that were starting to ripen.

Our strawberry netting is safely stored at home so any protection would have to be a makeshift job with materials we had about on the plot. More importantly should we pick the other few strawberries that were starting to turn or leave them to turn fully red. They were picked and eaten and I can confirm that whatever helped itself to that strawberry had good taste.

Before we left the plot on Thursday, a piece of old brassica netting was put to use to protect as many of the strawberry plants as it would stretch to before we left the plot.

Once the weather improves the job will need to be done properly.

Saturday, 11 June 2016 & Sunday 12 June 2016

Up North

It was a poor weekend weather wise with low cloud, murk and some steady spells of rain all weekend. Saturday's plan was for a trip to the plot to sow some late carrot seeds which didn't go well as I left the carrot seeds on the dining room table. Still the soil was good for digging after the recent rain so we've now got a few more beds ready for planting up.

On Sunday we headed north up the A1 for a first visit to the Tanfield Railway situated near Newcastle. It was dull and drizzly as we passed the Angel of the North.

The rain just about held off for our visit to what turned out to be a beautifully scenic heritage railway.

We were lucky not to get one of the downpours that were about whilst we travelled up and down the line, hopping off at various points to take some photos. As we headed back home on the A1 it tipped it down.

Now I must remember that carrot seed when we next visit the plot.

Monday 13 June 2016

No Watering Required

After a cold start and then some lovely mild sunny days June has turned decidedly wet although it has remained mild.

Temperature, Rainfall and Sunshine Records 08 June to 14 June 2016

Last Friday was our first rain in June and it doesn't seem to have dried up since then. We've now had 27.8mm of rainfall up to mid morning on Tuesday. The forecast is for more outbreaks of rain for the next couple of days at least.

The wet mild weather has brought with it a few gardening problems. We did manage to plant our carrot seeds Fly Away on the plot on Monday afternoon before the rain arrived but the soil was very wet and soggy. As we sow our carrot seeds in a shallow trench filled with compost the job was just about manageable.

Our maincrop potatoes are looking good at the minute but the mild wet weather brings with it the risk of blight. When the conditions for blight are right Blightwatch issue confirmation warnings.

Of course it doesn't mean that our crop will get blight but if I spayed our crop for blight it would be advisable to do it straight away.

Then this weather is perfect for slugs. Constantly damp and mild. I caught this monster demolishing a radish.

They're helping themselves to our strawberries too, not to mention our French and runner bean plants and any other living green material they can slime their way onto.

Hopefully the weather will dry up a little bit soon and summer will return.

If you've a strong stomach you can watch this slug eating the radish in the video below.

Disclaimer

This weather site is operated as an amateur weather station site and should not be used as official data. I make every effort to ensure my data is as accurate as possible but I cannot guarantee that the data meets the requirements of the Meteorological Office or other professional weather monitoring organisations.