Not Enought Rain

 Today there was a desultory attempt at rain to the west of London, it
didn't justify resorting to a hat.  I did a bit of digging afterwards
but an inch or so into the soil it is still as dry as dust.  Part of
me wants the full 40 days and 40 nights job.

On the up side, I now have a new and rather larger shed so I can have
my garage/workshop back.

A row of Broad Beans has been planted.  The Chillies in the greenhouse
are still ripening.  The foxes are staying away from my overwintering
onion patch.  After a good haircut the outdoor Coriander has produced
another flush of growth; I will harvest it for the freezer next week.
Two French Bean plants (out of our) have so far survived the predation
of the slugs and snails.  Not sure if they will produce anything.  The
germination rate (or the atttrition rate) has not been good.  I will
buy new seed next year.

The Root Ginger experiment has produced about a foot of foliage.  The
Rhubard (Timperley Early planted in a large clay pot) didn't
appreciate the frost a few nights ago and has gone into hibernation.

The Raspberries keep on coming - increasingly small and getting a bit
manky but nevertheless till worth harvesting.  They weren't supposed
to be Autumn fruiting but the variability of their spininess suggests
that we may have a mix of strains.

I have acquired a largish electrically heated propagator so that I can
get the plants started off earlier next year.

Regards
JonH

 JonH@underthewagon.net wrote:

My late-summer ones are flowering, but didn't get enough insects, so I think
they're done for.  Last time I tried to over-winter, they flowered in
November and died.  I may give it another go, but I don't have anywhere with
decent soil available.  How are they for crappy soil?  Mind you, if I did
them in the crappy bit, it wouldn't be available to put manure on.


Interesting.  I've never tried growing root ginger.


The raspberries here seem to have finally given up, even the yellow ones.


Let us know when you get started.

 

My garden soil is of various parentage and its the first time that
I've tried Broad Beans; some of the soil is somewhat industrial but
it's been down to grass for twenty years or so.  I'm not sure about
the parentage of the BB seeds either.  (Provided by the FIL.)

I have three Dalek bins working away that I hope might provide
suitable compost for future years, hopefully busy digesting the
Butternut Squash plants which whilest prolific and fecund produced
fruits that were not desirable.  The only manure available to me is
Cat and Fox; I would not use either.


Until now, neither have I.  We'll see how it goes, I am not confident
about the results.  I may need to bring the plant into the
conservatory as things get colder.  


It will be January/February, with Naga Chillies and Okra. Following
that probably some tomatoes so that they have a chance to ripen in the
open before the Blight sets in.  Watch This Space.

Regards
JonH

 JonH wrote

I'm also West of London and up until now have been constantly watering all
except the brassicas which seem to cope. Even the cherry trees we planted
this year and last have asked for water. Our chillies out on the allotment
are under one of those large cloches (£19.99 special offer at Wyvales) and
are continuing to go red (already had over 4lbs). Tomatoes were still
cropping at the beginning of the week but this rain might just bring too
much blight upon them for them to cope. Late October and still cropping
outside Toms isn't bad.
Self sown coriander is germinating in a large patch so will let that do it's
own thing.
Don't do Broad Beans any more and certainly not autumn planted as we always
lost too many over winter, found it better to plant them in Feb.
I grew Ginger some years ago, it grew to about 4ft tall but never looked
robustly healthy, when I tipped it out of it's pot there was not much growth
to the root so never bothered again. It needs heat in the winter BTW, won't
take frost.
Rhubarb is better if it's frosted, says the old wisdom. I left a root on top
of the soil right through a winter, by mistake, and when I planted it come
spring it showed no damage.
Don't grow raspberries, damn things are like couch grass and take over.
Boysenberry is flowering!


--
Regards  Bob Hobden
Posting to this Newsgroup from the W. of London UK

 
I have long raised beds and have, over the years, bought and then
discarded several types of tunnels or plastic cloches. They either are
too flimsy or don't really hold together or work.

Even wrestled with those bits of blue hose and wire etc. that dear old
Geoffrey Smith used to make but I could never get the hang of them

Do i take it you would recommend the Wyevale one then Bob? Would be good
for extending lettuce and early crops etc.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk