Mid August 2022

Uh oh!  Aug 2022

It's been an unusually hot, dry summer again, though not as bad as 2018 where it didn't rain for more than 50 days straight.  There has been rain this summer, and I even have some saved up in my water butts still, for hand watering my patio containers.  I have two 200 L butts collecting rain from the house roof, and one 200 L and one 100 L collecting from the garage roof (though the gutter has come down and I've rigged up a very dodgy temporary replacement to make do until the husband gets around to sorting it out).  

I don't have quite so many planters this year, as most of the large ones have gone to the allotment to hold strawberries and cherry tomatoes there.  The idea was to keep them out of the beds and thus out of the encroaching grass, but now all the pots have that same grass (at least it's easier to weed out)!  I try to visit daily to water them, and have been rewarded by both;  though the strawberries finished by July, the tomatoes are now in full swing.

Along with hand watering, my other main job (well, besides harvesting/cooking/preserving) is collecting caterpillars off my brassicas.  The purple sprouting broccoli in particular looks very bad (pictured above).  Every few days I'll take a bucket with a little water and start filling it up for my ducks:  brushing, picking, or shaking off caterpillars into the water.  

The ducks go crazy for these caterpillars;  they've had a few free range spells to go out and self-harvest, but they poo so much I really don't want them out there all the time--we want to go out there and enjoy the lawn and patio.  And they started self-harvesting my lettuces too--so they get a hundred or so caterpillars in a bucket instead (which take about 10 seconds for the three of them to slurp down).  I guess since the lettuces are nearly finished now I might let them have another day or two, and save me a job.

So big!

I've been harvesting the largest kohl rabi and gradually clearing out that bed;  in their place I may put down some of the Brussels sprouts which have been growing on in a small holding bed, a la John Seymour.  I was going to plant them at the allotment, but have decided against it.  The purple sprouting broccoli may still go up there (also growing on), but I've yet to decide. 

Maybe I planted a little too close? Aug 2022

Despite having a little more room amongst the kohl rabi (not pictured), the cabbages (above) seem to be way too crowded.  I knew they were supposed to be big, but I didn't realize they'd be that big!  Some look like they are trying to form heads though I think they're several weeks away from harvest still.

The tallest corn is as tall as me (I'm 165cm) and the toms are not far off, Aug 2022

The photo above was taken at the first of this month (August).  Compare with the photo taken at the first of July.  I can hardly believe they could grow so much!  I pinched out the growing tips of the tomatoes last month when they reached the tops of their supports but the corn is still going upwards.  Neither the corn or tomatoes are ready for harvest but this bed has produced a lot of lettuce and some fresh cilantro and dill.  The (few) swedes are also beginning to bulb up.

Why so big?   I attriubute it to soil building, mainly.  Chickens and ducks have been a big help in that, and I also think being no-dig is a factor, as clearly the soil life is happy underneath.  The weather has been favorable too with a good proportion of sun and rain;  I think it's just all come together this year for a Big party.

Food totals July 2022

A lot going on here!  Aug 2022

Vegetables

 

49.5 oz beets

17 oz broad beans

35.5 oz lettuce

73 oz kohl rabi

12.5 oz snap peas

50.5 oz cabbage

1 oz turnip

0.5 oz purple beans

20.5 oz artichoke hearts

 

Total:  260 oz or 16 lb 4 oz

 

Fruit

 

41 oz Morello cherries

 

Eggs

 

44 eggs from 6 hens and 2 ducks

Surviving a heat wave

 

Too hot to enjoy, July 2022

We had record breaking heat this past week, with three days of staying inside as much as possible with all the curtains closed.  Luckily, thanks to my water conservation strategies in the kitchen garden--collecting rainwater, reusing gray water, keeping bare ground covered, and (saving the best for last) building soil--no plants were damaged.  I employ the last two strategies at the allotment and it too suffered no losses;  even the recently transplanted beets are still happily expanding, though I made sure to water them and everything in containers at least daily.  

We also took the decision to bring the chickens back home for the duration, as there is no real shade for them at the allotment, other than a little lean-to in their yard.  At home their yard is under our mature horse chestnut tree, and though they were certainly too hot for comfort, they weren't hot enough to be in danger for their lives.  The ducks have plenty of shade in their large yard and got some fresh water in their muddy pond daily, so they fared better than the hens.

Incidently, transporting the chickens broke our little hen Cookie out of being broody, thankfully.  She was hunkered down in that cramped nest box for a couple weeks and not giving up, despite us taking her eggs every day. 

And after reaching 39.5C by my own thermometer, we thankfully fell back down to the low to mid 20s which is what we are used to for July.  And some rain too (also typical for July).

Drawbacks and setbacks (in the allotment, July 2022)

In my last post, I ennumerated all the reasons I am happy about the kitchen garden.  Nearly everything has turned out well, and any failures have been slight and easily overcome.

Let's talk about the allotment now.

In the first place, I have had some successes so far this year:  the raspberries have been crazy productive, the peas and broad beans are acceptable, and the garlic was great.  We've had some good beets, artichokes and strawberries.  Some good things going on, yes. 

But I like to keep it real, so here's some of the things which haven't been a success:

Disappearing plants.  All the corn, cucumbers, squashes and zucchinis, about half of the peas and broad beans, and various other transplants just never made it.  I posted about trying soil blocks this year, in the hopes they would transplant better:  nope.  No discernible difference at all.  Pretty much everything in a soil block that went to the allotment simply vanished. 

Grass and weeds (but mainly grass).  I have dug it out--multiple times.  I have sheet mulched it--even more times.  I have put the chicken tractor on it.  It keeps growing back and is constantly on the edge of taking over.  The only place it is not growing is on the paths covered in carpet (and not all paths are thus covered), and in the chicken yard.  And the chicken yard is only de-grassed because the chickens are currently in it--it regrew when they were locked up at home over winter.

Slugs and bugs.  It's bad.  It's really bad.  This is probably the main reason for disappearing plants/food--there are so many slugs.  And part of the reason for the slugs and bugs is the grass--it hides and shelters them from predators (and from me).  If I could clear the grass and weeds, it would reduce the slugs and bugs by a huge amount, which would reduce the amount of disappearing plants.  

In conclusion, allotment:  not that great.  Need a better strategy, particularly for the grass.

Brassicas in the kitchen garden

A lot going on here, July 2022

I took a photo of these kohl rabi a month ago, and two months ago when they were planted out.  We've started to eat them!  The biggest ones are bigger than a tennis ball, and even the smallest ones are bulbing up (slowly).  They are purple on the outside and white on the inside and taste like a swede or mild turnip.  Where I've pulled up ones to harvest I've transplanted the last winter Savoy cabbage seedlings I've been growing on in a tray.

Cabbages:  hope they heart up, July 2022

 The cabbages in the bed next to them are all huge and show some small differences in growth pattern (a few are tall and upright, a few are short and wide, most are somewhere between);  a fellow allotmenter gave me the seeds he'd saved so I hope they are only crossed with cabbages, not other types of brassica.  I want them to form big fat heads!  We'll eat them regardless, but probably not till autumn at least.

Protection, July 2022

As mentioned in a previous post, I lost most of my swede seedlings to a pesky pigeon, so I replanted the rows with corn (which was also a replacement crop, the first being lost too);  these were initially covered in insect mesh, but when the corn grew tall enough I took it off and put a different cover over it:  a table with a wire cover and bird netting draped around two sides.  The other two sides have strategic sticks blocking a flight path in, and all of it combined seems to have detered the pigeon, as the remaining swedes have flourished underneath: pictured right at the center of the row.  The corn looks good too, as does the lettuce (hard to see in the photo) I interplanted it with.  

Lastly (not shown), I planted out the Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli somewhat close together in the rows where the fennel and carrot seeds underperformed;  they are both growing on for the present, to be transplanted out at the allotment late in the summer.  One is covered with bird netting, the other with the insect mesh--to keep the pigeon off them while they grow bigger.  I need them to be big and strong to withstand the slugs at the allotment!

Everything looks pretty good in the kitchen garden;  I'm really pleased with how it's turned out this year.  I'll have to discuss my somewhat underwhelming allotment in the next post.

Food totals June 2022

 

Almonds and grapes together. July 2022

Vegetables

 

7 oz fresh garlic (including scapes)

1.5 oz chives

20.5 oz cabbage greens

17.5 oz salad leaves (chard, mizuna, lettuce, miners lettuce)

15 oz artichoke heads

13 oz beets

16 oz peas

 

Total:  91.5 oz, or 5 lb 11.5 oz 

 

Does not include several bunches of fresh herbs which were too small an amount to weight (less than 0.5 oz)

Fruit

 

No fruit recorded (strawberries, redcurrants, blueberries, sweet cherries, raspberries were all eaten immediately at harvest, but none weighed or counted)

Eggs

93 eggs from 6 adult hens and 2 ducks

Most of the roses came with the house but I chose this one myself.  July 2022