Thursday, July 28, 2011
Last sowings
It's now getting on for the end of July, the summer season is in full swing (or it would be if anything would ripen!) but you have to prepare now for later on. I admit that I don't grow a lot in winter, although I could if I was more prepared with polytunnels and fleece. However we have a fairly mild autumn so this year I have prepared some end of season sowings so that September is not the end of everything.
Yesterday I sowed a last row of French beans (beans this year have been utter crap so far! I think they hate changeable weather), late beets and carrots (Boltardy, Monotruba and Autumn king carrots), frisée for autumn salads, lamb's lettuce, coriander for some autumn curries and also some spring cabbage. All these in seed beds in the open which I will fleece if it seems to be getting too hot.
I also picked the first tomato! Shame that it had been rain damaged but I cut out the cracked spot and ate it in a sandwich and it was just fine - a Coeur de Boeuf. The fruit on the tomatoes is impressive, now if it would just turn red, we'd be laughing! I am always rather dismayed to see other people's tomato plants, almost stripped of their leaves to allow the few huge tomatoes on them to ripen. I would rather let the plant live, have smaller tomatoes but more fruit. I find that my tomatoes liver longer that way.
Noticed that most of the site is decimated by powdery mildew. I am rather pleased as my proactive efforts are paying off - the squash and courgettes are only mildly affected, I continue the milk drenches and pick off affected leaves and remove them. The courgette plants have loads of baby fruit! so cute!
Just need to tidy up the fruit bed now which is getting very weedy. Nice and sunny here today, maybe the tomatoes will agree to shed their greenness in exchange for a little sun!
Yesterday I sowed a last row of French beans (beans this year have been utter crap so far! I think they hate changeable weather), late beets and carrots (Boltardy, Monotruba and Autumn king carrots), frisée for autumn salads, lamb's lettuce, coriander for some autumn curries and also some spring cabbage. All these in seed beds in the open which I will fleece if it seems to be getting too hot.
I also picked the first tomato! Shame that it had been rain damaged but I cut out the cracked spot and ate it in a sandwich and it was just fine - a Coeur de Boeuf. The fruit on the tomatoes is impressive, now if it would just turn red, we'd be laughing! I am always rather dismayed to see other people's tomato plants, almost stripped of their leaves to allow the few huge tomatoes on them to ripen. I would rather let the plant live, have smaller tomatoes but more fruit. I find that my tomatoes liver longer that way.
Noticed that most of the site is decimated by powdery mildew. I am rather pleased as my proactive efforts are paying off - the squash and courgettes are only mildly affected, I continue the milk drenches and pick off affected leaves and remove them. The courgette plants have loads of baby fruit! so cute!
Just need to tidy up the fruit bed now which is getting very weedy. Nice and sunny here today, maybe the tomatoes will agree to shed their greenness in exchange for a little sun!
Labels: mildew, sow, summer, tomatoes
Friday, July 22, 2011
Milk fungicide!!
The dreaded powdery mildew has struck again. It has been raining so much the last two weeks, we have hardly had any sun, so the mildew has started on the cucumbers and pumpkins. The courgettes seem OK for now...
In an attempt to find a solution, I did a bit of research and asked around and came up with...milk. Yes, it would appear that there is something in milk that doesn't cure the fungus but stops the spores spreading. So I made up a diluted milk solution and watered it all over the leaves of the cues and squashes. I can help wondering if it will not smell dreadful after a few days? Still, if it stops it spreading long enough to harvest, I will be grateful.
The cucumbers have a few fruit on them, one is about 30cm long but it is still a bit skinny. Hopefully the abundant rain will plump them all up a bit. The melons too have swelled - as they were fleeced and had had Bordeaux Mixture, they seem untouched by the mildew. We are finally eating the courgettes, but they are still a bit slow. I have discovered that a couple of them are those long Italian gourds! SO I have hoisted them up on stakes and tied them in. That will be fun to watch them grow!
The tomatoes are loaded with fruit but it's all green :-( Today has been brighter and full sun in forecast for the next week so I am hoping that our tomato harvest is just a step away.
Yesterday after the milky watering, I did some picking: a handful of strawberries, a courgette, 2 beetroot (finally!), a handful of kale leaves (the first ones, bubble and squeak this weekend!) and 2 sticks of rhubarb which seems to have picked up no end: it really suffered in the drought conditions. I won't pick anymore but I really wanted to make one more crumble before the end of summer. In fact I think the rhubarb is going to get a little haircut and a feed and be pampered a bit as it did look quite sad for a while there.
The harvest is slow but picking up bit by bit.
In an attempt to find a solution, I did a bit of research and asked around and came up with...milk. Yes, it would appear that there is something in milk that doesn't cure the fungus but stops the spores spreading. So I made up a diluted milk solution and watered it all over the leaves of the cues and squashes. I can help wondering if it will not smell dreadful after a few days? Still, if it stops it spreading long enough to harvest, I will be grateful.
The cucumbers have a few fruit on them, one is about 30cm long but it is still a bit skinny. Hopefully the abundant rain will plump them all up a bit. The melons too have swelled - as they were fleeced and had had Bordeaux Mixture, they seem untouched by the mildew. We are finally eating the courgettes, but they are still a bit slow. I have discovered that a couple of them are those long Italian gourds! SO I have hoisted them up on stakes and tied them in. That will be fun to watch them grow!
The tomatoes are loaded with fruit but it's all green :-( Today has been brighter and full sun in forecast for the next week so I am hoping that our tomato harvest is just a step away.
Yesterday after the milky watering, I did some picking: a handful of strawberries, a courgette, 2 beetroot (finally!), a handful of kale leaves (the first ones, bubble and squeak this weekend!) and 2 sticks of rhubarb which seems to have picked up no end: it really suffered in the drought conditions. I won't pick anymore but I really wanted to make one more crumble before the end of summer. In fact I think the rhubarb is going to get a little haircut and a feed and be pampered a bit as it did look quite sad for a while there.
The harvest is slow but picking up bit by bit.
Labels: beetroot, courgette, harvest, mildew, milk, rhubarb, squash, summer, tomatoes
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