THERE’S PLENTY OF SUMMER LEFT…
Some crops have been harvested early, so that leaves space for some bonus planting now!
This is the year that tried and trusted gardening methods have become redundant. No point relying on the good old seed packet for instructions either. Mother Nature has set her own agenda and sent the season into a topsy-turvy mood!
Having started earlier than usual with sowing and planting, lulled on by the warm April sun, everything leapt ahead and grew
The rest of the summer crops are doing well despite the weird weather, but thoughts are already turning to food for the dark winter months. The swedes look healthy and should make super-size crops. Leeks are also growing on strongly and now’s the time I cover some of them up. I like the long white part of the leek best, so to get extra long white pieces I cheat a li le. I've 30 or so pieces of duct pipe of about 7.5cm (3in) diameter and cut into 15cm (6in) lengths. I thread these over the tops of the leeks and push 2.5cm (1in) into the ground. This means I've 10cm (4in) of leek below ground and 12.5cm (5in) blanched above the ground. When these are harvested in autumn I remove the tube and there I have 23cm (9in) of pure white leek. Just as I like them! www.gardennewsshop.co.uk yet to come. The broad bean crop has been filling dinner plates and the excesses stored away in plastic bags in the freezer for winter months.
This has made some good ground available for members of the brassica family. The roots of the broad bean are covered in li le nodules, rich in nitrogen.
Don’t dig them up, cut them to ground level and leave the root in place. Clean between the roots and plant cabbages between them. This will give them a good start in life with a nitrogen ‘fix’.
Alan arrived at the plot last week with an unusual plant he’d bought in a local store. ‘What do you have there?’, we asked. ‘It’s a kiwi fruit bush,’ he replied. We all looked at the label and said, ‘you can’t plant that here’. ‘Why’ he asked. ‘It says plant in a sunny position; where are you going to find that in the Rhondda Valley?’
There’s always a quip or two flying around the plots and that’s what makes it such a happy place to be!