7th September

I am writing this blog with my legs still itching and tingling from the numerous stinging nettles that I was clearing out from the side of one of the beds this morning. Logic would say to wear long trousers, but I don't do logic (or long trousers until well into the winter)!

They have not previously been a priority to clear, but I am looking to get a lot planted over the next couple of weeks so need the space.

Planned plantings include broccoli to overwinter, purple sprouting to overwinter, winter cabbage, red cabbage, corn salad, winter purslane, onions to overwinter, salad onions to overwinter, more spinach, and more chard.

Chard and spinach are our good news stories this week.

This is one of the spinach beds

And the chard

For those following the specific clump that I posted two weeks ago, it has gone from this on 24th August

To this on 31st August

To this today

So both spinach and chard are back on the website and available for Friday

The cos lettuce is also growing well, and we will put that back on the website for salad leaves next week

I mentioned last week that we had grown two beds of runner beans, and the beans in the first bed had defied their "stringless" tag due to the fact that the heat had got to them.

This first crop is now on the compost heap, along with around a third of the second crop which had blown down in the wind.

The remainder of the second crop is doing well, and looking lush with its red flowers

We tested some of these beans yesterday, and they were lovely, and are therefore back on the website

Our carrots have been hugely popular, and we will have a few available in a couple of weeks.

I direct sowed these at the beginning of June, so I'm not sure how many heatwaves they went through. Plenty of heat and light, but not the moisture that they need. As you can see, some are now doing well, but the bed is not the sea of green that it should be

That is the best of the two beds that were planted up. Growth in the other bed is even more sparse!!

I sow leeks in clumps which makes life a lot easier. Where only one or two in a clump have germinated, the leeks are a good size. However, these are few and far between.

Those in clumps are doing well, but I'd like them to fatten up a little before we put them up for sale. Otherwise we will need too many for a portion and they will be sold out too quickly

Let's say two or three weeks from now

I've moaned enough about the three beds of purple sprouting broccoli that we lost to whitefly, and probably enough about a similar quantity of green sprouting broccoli that bolted in the heat at the start of the season.

So now it is time to moan about the replacement green broccoli:

I planted up two beds. One was attacked by whitefly, but I have managed to save this and the initial heads are growing nicely. I have a couple of portions available this week, and hopefully it will grow well over the next few weeks, so we can increase the offering.

Readers are probably thinking that wasn't really a moan as I managed to save the crop. However, I haven't talked about the second bed yet 😉😉

This is the mesh cover on the second bed

Covered in flea beetles trying to find their way in, and then damage the leaves, which will then hinder the growth of the plant

The two crops are about 10 metres from each other, but only the second bed has suffered with these rascals. They should start to hibernate soon so hopefully the plants will get a chance to recover

What won't recover now is our cucumbers

Nothing to blame for this, just old age, and unfortunately that will be the end of our cucumbers for the season 😢

The cucumbers share the polytunnel with tomatoes. They are at the stage when they need to have their tops chopped off so that they can then focus their energy on ripening the fruit that they have, rather than trying to grow more (which won't have a chance to ripen before winter sets in)

That job has been earmarked for tomorrow due to the heavy rain that has been forecast. The good news is that I will stay fairly dry (only fairly dry there are quite a few holes in the polythene!). The bad news is that it will be like being inside the drum of a heavy metal band if the rain is as heavy as forecast!

These cherry tomatoes will be ripened by Friday

As will some of these standard tomatoes

The nationwide poor potato harvest has been all over the news this year, and our poor yield means that we are already down to the last two of our beds; one red maincrop, and one white maincrop. Hopefully they will be good, but we won't know until we pull them out of the ground!

The good news is that I am trying a late planting of Charlotte and Bambino salad potatoes which should hopefully be ready around November.

So far so good.....