So, summer has been very busy and seems to have flown by (hence the lack of posting)
I’d say overall summer has felt rainy but there have been a few hot and dry weeks, requiring me to water things in the garden.
This is the first summer I’ve been tenant on a local allotment plot so the range of plants growing in my garden has altered compared to previous years. Plants for quick/regular harvests (e.g. salads) were prioritised for the garden where I can just nip out before dinner, whereas more space-hungry or less attention-requiring crops (e.g. potatoes) went to the allotment. It was good to have two different locations for growing in case of particular issues (e.g. pests).
The stars of the show this year were the tomatoes. I finally had space to grow a good number of plants (c. 12) and chose Principe Borghese (for drying), Pigeon Egg and Best of British. Principe (a bush variety) grew strongest and gave greatest harvest. They’ve been dried to a powder for storage, frozen as puree, made into soup and other sauces.
It was my best year for squash and courgettes (trombocino). Am I the only person that struggles to grow courgettes?! Everyone else in the country seems to get endless gluts, whereas I’m thrilled to get just one! I also did well for raspberries, currants and dye flowers including woad, coreopsis and dyers chamomile.
And drumroll…. my luffa plants finally grew! Whilst not ready for harvest yet, and I’m hoping they’ll get that far, I successfully grew three vines in the greenhouse which have produced one or two smallish fruits each. The plants few well but didn’t set fruit for a what seemed like months. I finally realised there were no male flowers appearing, or that they were not ready at the same time as the female flowers, however eventually things seemed to line up and I did some hand pollination with a paintbrush just in case. I will have to look into whether the growing conditions may have altered the ratio of female to male flowers being produced.
A few less successful gardening attempts this year were the cucamelons (died off early), achocha (did ok until I planted it outside), garlic (got rust and was harvested earlier) and popcorn (possibly didn’t start early enough).
The season isn’t over yet and I still have some cabbagey and salady type things growing, and some sarpo mira potatoes, yacon, skirret, Chinese artichokes and parnsips to harvest in the weeks and months to come.
Lots to think about for the year ahead too. Gardening is always so exciting in that way.
06/10/2024