Early Summer bits and bobs - 2018

[Geoff]

Don't need thieves or vandals after a day like today.

Runner Beans defoliated and Broad Beans all over the place.

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Brassicas blown out of the ground despite windbreak all round and being tied to stakes.

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Potatoes well bashed about (compare with above)

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That's what 80 kph / 50 mph gusts do and only 2.27mm rain to make up for it.

[robo]

We are the same very little rain although we were forecast thunder storms and gale force winds it started blowing last night and carried on until around an hour ago

[Westi]

Oh Geoff, that is devastating, you really did get hit didn't you?

Nature injuries are just a wee bit (only a wee bit) more palatable than loosing them to a fellow plot holder. And with a bit of TLC some will be salvageable, but now is when you need the rain to see how many things perk up after that blow. Fingers crossed for you it comes your way.

[Monika]

How horrible for you, both retropants and Geoff, albeit caused by different culprits. It's so demoralising when you have spent such a lot of effort (and money) on something and it's destroyed or damaged. My commiserations!

We have not checked the allotment yet but no doubt there will be damage there from the wind, considering we can look more than 12 miles to the west from the site. At home we are more sheltered but even there, the hops and rambler roses were torn off their fittings and the wildflower meadow flattened.

And still no rain, just 21mm, even less than Geoff, since the last days of April .....

[retropants]

that's awful Geoff, I have lots of friends up north who have had a fair amount of damage form the storm, one has lost a polytunnel and all its contents are flattened. So sorry, hopefully most of it will recover with some watering/rain.

[tigerburnie]

Apart from some tatties having the tops snapped off, we look to have come through quite well, the Beech hedge planted a couple of years ago certainly helped protect the raised beds.

[Primrose]

I always thought cucumbers were a rather delicate greenhouse vegetable but am being delighted, for the third year running with the performance of my three Mini Mumch variety cucumber plants planted in a South facing border. They are absolutely dripping with fruits, the first of which are about ready to be picked this weekend.

[Westi]

I've grown them this year for the first time Primrose. I thought they would be smaller plants & let them share the big pot with a traditional sized cucumber in the greenhouse - I'm going to have a glut, both have fruit but no where near as big as yours & they are pampered pets! I've got one of those lemon round ones in the net tunnel on the lottie as well that looks pretty happy too!

Thankfully my office mate likes her power smoothies but I gave her a few plants as well that she reports they are growing well. Neighbours will be avoiding me just like they do when the courgettes ripen, so I will be sneaking them into the 'Help yourself' spot in the kitchen - someone has to have forgotten to water there's surely!

[Primrose]

Westi, given the right soil conditions they romp away. My border soil is horribly stoney and dry but I partly fill their big planting hole with extra compost before I plant them into the ground and they romp away. They're already outgrowing the metal pyramids I bought I bought for them. Yes, their proliferation is definitely going to be akin to courgettes. Last year I pickled some in brine and dill but unfortunately overdid the salt which made them so unpalatable as to be inedible. Think I need to revisit the composition of the brine mixture before I try doing this again this year.

Meanwhile they are great in Greek type salads with sliced tomatoes, feta cheese and herbs , and also work well in Chinese stir fries.

[retropants]

Westi, for dill pickles, I soak the sliced cucumbers/gherkins in brine overnight, then the next day, rinse well and pack into jars with dill and vinegar. My dad loves them, been doing them like this for 25 years, and never had a complaint! (Apart from from my mum, who says they have too many jars of them!)

[Primrose]

Retropants, so you just use vinegar (brown or white?) and dill? Perhaps thats where my recipe went wrong suggesting brine should be used instead of vinegar. Do you use any sugar to sweeten the vinegar?

[Monika]

Excitement: we had 5mm rain this afternoon so at least the soil surface looks wet now!

[PLUMPUDDING]

Wow that's a lot Monika. We had a fairly short thunderstorm with 2.4mm rain but it has wet things nicely and is nearly the total for the whole month.

I've spent half the day putting a new met post in and trying to thin out some of the old growth on my Madame Hardy rose that the wind has flattened before I tie it up again . It was just coming into to full bloom so I've got a bucket full of buds and flowers that I've rescued perfuming the conservatory.

[PLUMPUDDING]

A nice mild pickling mixture is:-

375ml white vinegar (distilled malt or white wine)
1tsp salt
4tbsp caster sugar
tbsp chopped dill
1 tsp coriander seeds
about 250g cornichons or cucamelons or mini cucumbers
1 fresh grape leaf or oak leaf (to lay on top in the jar for the tannins to keep them crisp)

Pour the vinegar into a bowl and add salt and sugar. Whisk until completely dissolved. Stir in the dill, coriander seeds and any other seasonings you fancy.
Wash the cukes and put into sterilised jar or jars. Scrunch the leaf up and lay on top.
Pour in the seasoned vinegar and seal tightly.
Refrigerate for two weeks when they will be ready to eat. Once opened will keep in fridge for up to 3 months.

[Westi]

No rain down here except for some misty drizzle so plants on lottie would have taken advantage of that but still an early start with watering 1st on the agenda. To support the growth I've got & to soften the soil enough to dig out some of the spent crops whose spot I need for the winter stuff.

On the positive, this is the last month I have limitations on time that lets it get like this - in just 2 weeks I retire! I'm coming back on reduced hours but have every 2nd week off in July (some strange pension law), then only working 3 days a week after that! 31yrs full time in the NHS & another 5 years on top of this in Australia - most of it on shift work! Can't wait!