The good and the bad – veg
As Dan at Vegatablurb* said to me the other day, bloggers are entitled to post only about successes and to keep quiet about failures. On my blog I want to be as honest and accurate as possible about things, partly because I believe honesty is the best policy but also because seeming holier than though and infallible only puts other people off gardening. So although this is not quite a ‘warts and all’ blog I have been feeling guilty for not showing more of the ‘bad stuff’.
So, in order to be able to sleep better tonight here are a few things that I am not so proud of.
First – the carrots. I was really hoping for a good crop this year after the dismal crop last year. I am sure that the cold, windy weather of May, that dried out the ground and gave us weeks of really cold nights, has kept these at the ‘microgreens’ stage. I was so positive when I sowed in April – i even bought the garlic to make the garlic spray I was going to use to keep the carrot fly at bay! Perhaps that was my mistake! Things are moving now but so so late.
The past two years I have used a hawk-kite to keep the pigeons off the brassicas but the winter winds actually snapped the fibreglass pole! So the hawk has had to be fixed to a cane which means it is much lower and can only patrol a small area. The pigeons moved in and have reduced the cauliflowers, among others, to rags. They are growing better now but they had a setback.
Perhaps the biggest worry is the amaranths that were planned to be spectacular. But, perhaps because of a combination of cold and drought, they have started to flower at just 15cm high. I am watering now but I fear it is too late
I thinned out the beetroot last week, watering before and after to prevent wilting of the seedlings that remain. They are finally making some headway
The onions were giving me worries too but with watering they have started to make growth in the past week, just in time
Finally a happier story – I had to clear the lettuce from the beds to make room for kale for winter and these were the last of them. These were the special mix from Real Seeds. I recommend the company (in the UK and Europe) and also the variety which has given a lot of pleasure – and that is quite something to say about a lettuce unless you are a tortoise!
enough to make you weep . I have string and carrier bags blowing to deter the pigeons off sprouting broc plants but half have been got at
Hopefully they will outgrow the damage 🙂
The weather has been against all of us this year. I’ve had to resort to chicken wire to protect my leafy greens from pigeons 😦
I know we say it most years but it has not been easy! Even now the caulis have curds and are almost ready the pigeons wont leave them alone. You have my sympathy