I’d like to say that this year’s growing season has been a triumph but … sadly, no.
But let’s start with something cheerful – these nasturtiums are helpfully climbing up through the raspberry canes, the sight of their lovely vibrant flowers just sings happiness to me.
Elsewhere in the veg garden, things are not looking so rosy. Ideally, the veg patch could have done with spring warmth and summer rain; instead, like many other gardeners, I’ve found the weather this year has done me and the garden no favours.
Weeds have thrived, edible plants have not.
Although, that said, I had a fantastic strawberry season … over 3 kilos of tasty berries! (I think that equates to nearly 7 lbs. Impressive.) The berries were mostly untouched by slugs, snails or birds without any protection (remarkable, given the wet weather) and the plants kept producing over several weeks. Copious rain followed by warm ripening sun seems to be the magic formula for success.
If only I could bottle that and bring it out every year!
But no beans, peas, leeks or courgettes for me this year. What marauding molluscs didn’t decimate, the heatwave finished off. Several times I’ve seriously considered ripping it all up and starting again with perennial flowers. But, as the saying goes, Keep Calm and Carry On Gardening.
My tomatoes, on the other hand, are looking very promising. (I’m an optimist.) I planted them out late this year due to the chill weather so things are a bit behind schedule but green fruit has started to appear. And, this year, I diligently removed (almost) all of those little side shoots growing between the leaf and stem; a few have escaped me but I’ve left them alone as they’ve formed trusses of fruit. (Probably a mistake.) I’m watering daily and feeding every Friday and have recently pinched out the growing tops of my cordon (indeterminate) tomatoes.
Why feed weekly on a Friday rather than, say, Monday? Because I love a bit of alliteration so ‘Feed on Friday’ makes for a good aide memoire.
Still on the bright side of things, apples from both the Braeburn and Core Blimey trees are looking good. They’re dropping in droves from the branches but the flavour isn’t there yet – it’s more cardboard than crisp for now.
Blueberries and gooseberries have also been surprisingly good and plump; Chilean guava berries, not so much. Thanks, heatwave.
The Morello cherry trees, however, which are usually of minimal interest to the birds here, were stripped bare of fruit as soon as they ripened. A phenomenon that I found both puzzling and annoying. Who were the culprits for the meticulous denuding of my Morellos? People or birds? My money’s on the pigeons.
There will be no fruit from the quince tree either. There was lots of quince blossom in the spring but not enough bees around to pollinate them. Another climate casualty.
And what of the pear and plum trees? Pears are ripening out of reach at the top of the tree, and there are no plums. Again. That’s fifteen fruit bearing years with nothing to show for it; I may have to deploy my recently serviced chainsaw.
So that’s my veg patch year so far … more food for thought than food for the table but there’s still the winter brassicas to plant out.