Garlic Harvest, Ladybirds, Some Planting, More Weeding and Watering

It has been quite hot and dry this week.  We did a lot of watering and more weeding this weekend.  We planted out another row and a half of dwarf French beans but still haven't managed to plant more carrots, beetroot and peas.  We harvested the rest of the garlic.  It looks very good this year.

There seems to be a huge increase in the ladybird population on our plot which can only be a good thing.  They look like native ladybirds rather than the invasive Harlequin species.  The blackfly have arrived too:  They are especially noticeable on the broad beans tips which we have now removed.

More Weeding. Shallots, Garlic, Beans and Plums

There is a greater variety of food ready to harvest every time we go to Plot 205 at the moment; and more and more weeds.  We did lots of weeding and hoeing in the brassica and roots beds and pulled up any ragwort that was on the plot.

The pak choi we planted between the cabbages has been pretty much destroyed by flea beetle.  Might try this in a planter at home instead next year.

We have a really good crop of shallots and garlic this year.  We have started to harvest the garlic and all of the shallots have been lifted for drying.  The early onions have been harvested and the main crop will be ready very soon.  The peas and broad beans have all been picked for now but there are some dwarf and climbing French beans.  One of the big trees that were on the plot when we came here has a good crop of small yellow plums that are just about ripe.

Weeding, Thinning and Feeding

It has been raining a lot and the weeds are growing at a phenomenal rate.   The ground was too wet for hoeing but we did some strimming and pulled up lots of weeds in the potato and onion beds.  The damp weather has been good for the slugs so we put some more organic pellets on the brassica bed.  We fed the maincrop potatoes with comfrey tea and thinned out the swedes.

It was too wet to plant anything this weekend but we sorted out the seed box and found some carrots, beetroot, peas and radishes that there is still just enough time to plant.

There is plenty of food to harvest and all of the crops are growing well.  We gave the comfrey another cut and added it to the brew in our dustbin of comfrey tea.

Pea Moth

We went down to the plot today to pick some vegetables.  The Durham Early cabbages have nice hearts and there are carrots.  We have plenty of broad beans this year.  They are nearly finished for now, but some of the plants are flowering again and there are a few more coming along from a later planting.  We dug up another Arran Pilot.  There were over a dozen good sized, scab-free potatoes on the plant; a far better yield of earlies than we have ever had before.  

A couple of the pea pods we picked had been attacked by the pea moth caterpillar.  The gardening books say that usually only about one in fifteen pods is affected but crop rotation is essential.

New Potatoes and Carrots. Weeding, Hoeing and Planting Out. Flea Beetle

The harvest is beginning to get into full swing.  We dug up some first early potatoes.  There are plenty of good sized potatoes per plant so the chicken manure, comfrey and watering seems to have paid off .  We were also pleasantly surprised that there are some decent sized carrots to harvest too, along with plenty of peas, cabbages, early onions and broad beans.  More leaves are growing from the early cabbage stalks that we left in the ground with a cross cut into them.

We did some more weeding and hoed around the sweetcorn.  33 of  the 72 sweetcorn we planted out as chitted seedlings have survived.  We are continuing to plant out pumpkins, butternut squash, marrows and courgettes with them, and we put some cucumber plants at the edge of the bed where they can climb up the outside of the brassica cage.  All had a good handful of chicken manure pellets in the planting holes.  To finish off our 'Three Sisters' bed we will plant some climbing bean seeds when the sweetcorn is a little taller.

The pak choi we planted out last week has been badly attacked by flea beetle, leaving lots of tiny holes in the leaves.  There doesn't seem to be a really effective organic way to deal with them.  The advice is to wait until plants are a good size before planting out and to keep them well watered until they are past the vulnerable stage.

We planted more pak choi and some Florence fennel seed at home for transplanting later.  There is still time to plant other seeds such as carrots, beetroot, peas, beans and radishes to extend the harvest so we must remember to pay attention to that.