Welcome and thanks to those who made comments – much appreciated. It was nice to hear that Steve had met my guru Lawrence Hills back in the 80’s.
Good news: significant rain at last.
Bad news : slugs have woken up as a result (more on them later)
Patch:
Still all growing well. We are now picking globe artichokes, carrots, onions, garlic, broad beans and cucumbers for the kitchen. Thanks to Doug for the suggestion of growing carrots in the polytunnel or greenhouse to avoid carrot fly which decimated my crop last year. Has worked a treat with best and earliest carrots I have ever grown.
Planted out my first leeks this week. Will do more in July to see us through winter. The leek is in my opinion one of the best crops to grow in Wales. They rarely fail, seem to thrive in virtually any soil and give you green veg right through winter and are high in vitamin A and C. We were still harvesting last year’s planting as late as March. No wonder they are reputed to have kept striking miners families going through long, bitter disputes in the valleys. Of course why I really love them is that they simply laugh in the face of slugs. (My own ground-breaking research has found that over 50% of Pembrokeshire’s slug population live on our patch. This has yet to be peer- reviewed but I am confident that it is accurate).
I simply love leeks and last year I actually witnessed them taunting slugs with a three part harmony rendition of “come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough”. And to top it off they are forbidden to be eaten by Mahayana Monks because they “excite the senses”. What a veg!
Appear to have saved our gooseberries from caterpillars with a combination of hand picking and spraying with soap and water.
We have been having very high winds. Don’t forget to build up mounds of soil round the base of sweetcorn as they can easily be blown down otherwise.
On the wild-side:
A wren has built her nest in Jane’s bee-smoker. Luckily, we have a spare so we can leave her in peace. A heron has been visiting the pond presumably hunting for the goldfish and bleak which have inexplicably populated our pond, probably brought in as eggs by the mallard ducks which visit the pond regularly.
Wood Pigeons still invading the patch in large numbers. Last year they destroyed my whole broccoli bed in a matter of hours. They carefully nip out the growing tip thus ensuring maximum damage with least effort, a bit like Tory government policies on climate change. This year, I have netted the beds which seems to be working, on the pigeons, not government policy unfortunately.
Tip of the week:
When watering refill the cans with water when you finish and leave in greenhouse or on window sill. This will warm up the water so that you are not watering with cold tap water which can be quite a shock to tomatoes, melons etc.
Have a good weeks gardening and please keep the comments and ideas coming.