17th August

AT LAST!!

According to google, the last significant rainfall we had in this area was on 11th June. That's 67 days, or the best part of 10 weeks ago.

Let's just hope that the forecast is correct this time!

However, given that yr.no are also forecasting rain and Issy tells me that Norwegians are always right, then it is looking promising!

The other bit of good news is that our late summer leeks are doing nicely and should be ready in a few weeks.

As I spend a lot of time outside, I have now seen plenty of sun and had plenty of heat for quite a few months.

I am at the stage where I am now looking forward to the days getting colder and the proper Sunday dinner making an appearance again. Imagine these leeks with some roasted red potatoes and roasted butternut squash!

That roast dinner will be lovely with some of our climbing green beans, but unfortunately the hot weather has now affected our dwarf French beans and they have become a little woody. It is a real shame as we have loads, and we have only recently started harvesting them.

I will try and remove what we have and see if they grow back but it is probably too late in the season now.

Therefore, our green bean offering will just be Climbing beans for a while.

What are even more frustrating are the runner beans. We have two beds of these and they are growing beautifully. We tried some a couple of weeks ago and they were marvellous!

However, I had some feedback on Friday that a customer had some that were a little stringy.

We therefore tried some yesterday, and unfortunately concurred with the feedback.

Apparently "Hot weather accelerates runner bean growth and dries out plant tissues, causing the pods to rapidly mature, swell, and turn woody or stringy."

Those that we have sold so far have been from the first bed that were planted. I have had a look at those on the second bed which were planted abourt 3 weeks later, and they seemed ok.

We will therefore only pick the new pods from the first bed, and focus on the second bed.

Such a shame as they are looking so good and growing so (clearly too) well!

Another casualty of the heat has been the microgreens. They all failed last week as they cooked in the polytunnel rather than germinating. I do have a thermometer in the polytunnel which shows the maximum temperature. The last maximum I saw was 48 degrees a few months back, but since then it has got so hot that even the thermometer has cooked!!

I previously thought that the best thing would be to start the microgreens outside in the garden, but with the number of foxes in Saltdean wanting to take an interest in things, that wouldn't be sensible.

It would however be sensible to allow them to germinate inside the house where there is more of a constant temperature.

That's only if I can get away with it though...

I gave it a try when Issy was out, and hoped that she wouldn't notice 😉

I cover these trays with up-turned trays to keep out the light for 2 days whilst they germinate. This is what they looked like when I removed the trays

Absolutely perfect!

And then they go off to the special units in the polytunnel to get their dose of light

They will definitely be ready for Friday!

I this a sustainable solution?????😒

The focus this coming week has to be getting things in the ground, We have a lot of long overdue plantings.

I cleared the bolted lettuce today. It did look good, but unfortunately won't taste so good so had to be on its way

Down on my hands and knees clearing this lot, I felt something brush along my lower leg and jumped up when it almost went up the inside of my shorts! I looked down and saw this guy

He must be thirsty and hungry as well, and I don't mind sharing a small part of the crop as long as he eats the whole of one plant rather than taking a nibble from a lot of plants!

So, potatoes for Christmas, red sprouts, more lettuce and chicory will all be transplanted this week. What won't be going in the ground is red cabbage.

I showed a photo last week of it waiting in the wings so that I could continue to ensure that it was watered

It only takes one cabbage white to have somehow sneaked in, and a week later....

🤦‍♂️