Kitchen Garden Forum

ive got some strawberries in the poly tunnel .... most years some are fit to pick on my birthday at end of april... occasionally the week before... this year it was first week in june before i tasted one

Managed a harvest today - grubbed out some good size new potatoes, pak choy, lettuces, asparagus and green garlic plus a few odd oriental leaves and mixed salad leaves - but there is still so much earth exposed! Have had to re-sow sweet corn (Bless them little critters ), French beans, not a sign of my parsnip yet, brassicas looking sad, poor germination with the fennel & even the chard is stagnant. My spuds look small compared to my neighbours but I'm convincing myself I planted mine deeper!

But had my first strawberry (yep only 1 but loads on the plants), soft fruit bushes laden & plums, apples & pears heavy with fruit, and onions & shallots have decided to take off - fingers crossed it might OK yet!

Westi

I've got 35 knots southerly trying to undo everything i've done in the last six months. French beans are lee-side of the broad beans and broad beans are supported by a number of canes. Some spring planted onion has been flattened.

The onion and garlic planted last autumn are tall and coping.

The windbreak hedge I planted is coping but it's over sideways in places that don't have cane supports.

Rain is hitting our Velux windows but sounds like hail.

The forecast I use tells me this squall passes us by 19:00 hrs. They accurately forecast the squall coming over at 16:00 hrs.

It was a squall like this last year that wiped-out my second sowing of French beans.

Who do you use Richard? Is it a paid service or a free one - I could do with a heads up on squalls to give me time to get down from the garden to the house!

I have picked one strawberry - the rest are all still decidedly green.

Still no proper rain here - just 4mm the night before last. Every so often it goes very dark, it drizzles for a few minutes and then it clears up again. Hoping for some downpours overnight or early tomorrow, otherwise it's back to trudging with the watering cans again tomorrow. All the brassicas are now planted and they seem to be gagging for a drink! and the strong wind doesn't help either.

Pennyroyal wrote:Who do you use Richard? Is it a paid service or a free one -

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/forecast/Newgale

I really don't understand why this site works better for me than most others because they all get their information from a national data-base is what i've been told. The only differences between forecasting sites and forecasters is their interpretation of the data they get.

There are a number of forecasting sites and you don't need to pay to get good information, sometimes I trawl through a few and you do have to put a local interpretation on it sometimes. For example, BBC have often forecast rain with an easterly, we never get rain with an easterly and rarely with a northerly.

Yesterday just after midday I was at the opticians, the ladies were saying what a nice day it was turning out to be. I told them about a big squall coming in by 4-ish and got some knowing looks because I do try to make them laugh when I visit.

Even my neighbouring farmer asks me about the weather, probably goes-on to pontificate about swallows flying close to the ground or cows sitting down.

Thanks Richard! I started banging on about the Jet Stream long before it started to be mentioned in forecasts and in the papers, and got a reputation for being a bit of a weather guru by simply watching a Jet Stream predictor!

We have a micro climate down here, and someone who lives up the hill by you said they have a micro climate there and often miss the rain - just shows how important it is to understand the affect of geography on the prevailing weather - being a sailor you will know that!

It's interesting/gratifying to read that you all - the British Isles - are also behind this year. I don't feel quite alone! Here in Maine, USA, we still have 45F nighttime temperatures, have waterlogged soil, and a similar lack of pollinators. Still some transplants look great and seeded crops are beginning to pop up. We transplanted 8-10" high corn last week - first time - and it looks good. Have any forum members done corn that way? I'd love some pointers!

Welcome. I grow corn in a greenhouse, 600' up in Northern England. I raise the plants in rootrainers (like deep modules if they haven't got over there) and plant them in the greenhouse beds at 4" high. Planted my second block last week to spread the crop out a bit.

Hello and welcome Amy,

I always sow my sweetcorn indoors and then transplant out (if that's what you mean ). I plant out at around 6"-10" high in quite close blocks and usually have several sowings. I plant mine about a foot apart in staggered rows and I plant 3 or 5 rows deep depending on where abouts in my garden I'm planting them and, in good summers, these have done really well. Last year was a wash out so we won't mention that

Anyway, I hope that helps and good luck with your growing season.

VPM
x

Thanks …there was some disagreement about spacing. A young lady working for me was convinced the transplants should be 3" apart. I said no, we'll try it this way this year and see. I did about 12" apart staggered. We have all raised beds that are 4' x 10', so I put 8 sets down the middle and then 7 on each side with the staggered pattern. They've already begun to grow and toughen up. I'd like to know more about growing corn under cover. I don't think anyone is doing that here.

And thanks for the mention of rootrainers. They are available here, but not easy to get. I bought one set this spring, to try it, and planted the rest of the corn in various deep containers. The plants in the rootrainer looked a little sturdier - the proof will be in the field!

Thanks for your help!

Amy

I'm not altogether sure I know what, "Being-behind" is. I've only been growing for one season previously.

I had thought my Autumn sown onion and garlic might be giving me some crop by now but they look as if they would like a bit more sun.

We were still firing the heating up for half an hour in the mornings and making the occasional fire in the evenings during parts of this month.

My French beans look sad but my broad beans are nearly two foot high with masses of flowers, yesterday evening I was very happy sitting having a cold beer with sound of bees amongst the broad beans and various companion flowers i've grown.

I just noticed that crops have been harvested across the valley, whilst most of the valley is green I can about 20 acres of stubble just below one of the small farms. Two weeks ago there was a flurry of silage cutting activity, you have to be careful on the narrow lanes around these parts when the boys are cutting and moving silage. Huge tractors with massive trailers bombing around single-track lanes, if they don't get you the milk lorry will.

Senshyu Yellow sown 5th August in pots, planted out 10th October (garlic behind them planted same day) and grown under a corrugated plastic cloche all Winter.

Thanks Geoff.

Mine look about the same so i'm happier. You grow a lot of stuff Geoff, do you supply local shops ?

And I love your level of 'tidy', everything looks regimental. Very nice, top-marks.