2013 Growing Season

Leeks should be ok, they flop a bit in a frost but usually pick up again.

 

Thanks, will cross my fingers then... They're pretty much in full sun from midday til sundown, am I right to water daily and in the mornings? Sorry, but this really is a journey of discovery for me!
(Edited to add - "Full sun" obviously to be taken with a pinch of salt at the moment...

 

If you're worried stick 4 sticks in the ground and drape a sheet across, that should be enough against a light frost at this time of year, but I think they'll be ok.

In the morning before the sun is good, water on leaves in full sun can scorch the leaves

Dull here too

 

Thanks for the tip - won't worry so much now!

 

They will be fine in the frost.

But did you plant them in deep holes, or just "at surface level"?

 

Stuck a stick down about 6 inches, wiggled it about to open the hole up a bit, and dropped 'em in. Backfilled by hand and watered in well...

 

OK, that's fine then You don't need to backfill the hole (but the ones you have done will be fine) - it provides room for the Leek to expand, just watering into the hole washes some soil down the hole, which covers the roots, and the water makes it wet around, and below, the bottom of the hole - so the roots grow down in that direction.

You don't need to water them regularly, unless we get dry weather. Their roots are a long way down now, so not going to be effected by the sun drying the surface, so to speak.

 

Thanks for that! I feel a lot more confident now... I have had some success with broccoli, cabbage and spinach before, but always from established plants (I can't grow from seed to save my life) so it's good to hear I've got something right - albeit more by luck than judgement

 

Right.....

Tomatoes looking stressed...ey not as stressed as me....Cues look like they are going to keel over any minute....
Peppers and Chilli's just staring at me as if they can't be bothered....
Squashes and Courgettes although in the GH look like they have given up the ghost....
Lettuce looking seriously fed up....
Celeriac thinking about it....
Chard and Spinach so so....
Last years blighted Red Duke of Yorks that i painstakinly made sure i'd got rid of have come back to haunt me(i dug that over more times than i care to remember)
Strawberries look bored out of their minds....
Can't even find the Beetroot... it's up and gone .....
Sweet corn looks nithered....
Runners have just gone in no matter what the weather as they are trying to strangle each other....

On the plus side....

1st and 2nd earlies coming on....
Parsnips not bad...
Rasps and Gooseberries looking fine...
Prize winning Onions doing OK
BIG pumpkins looking comfy...
Carrots look abit like Carrots.......

Annnnd breathe.......

Hows about Nettle soup for starters and a mixed salad of Rocket,Parsley,Watercress and Chives for the main.....???

 

Are ya wondering why ya bother?

 

You did warn me about the Sweet Corn......but the two in the GH look promising

 

Home grown Sweetcorn has the absolute best flavour-improvement compare to Shop Bought

Don't pick it until you are ready to cook it though (sugar starts turning into starch from the moment you pick it ...). The more bottomly-retentive will take the pan of boiling water TO the plant although in my experience no need to do that (although we do not pick it "in the morning before guests arrive" - I only pick it when Chef tells me she is ready to cook it )

Bit more tricky if you have it on an allotment and have the extra time required to cart-it-home though ...

 

Sown more Parsley,Watercress,Rocket and mixed lettuce in GH....
Sown more Radish...and florence fennel in veg patch

 

Broad beans looking quite good.
Peas sown outside not bad, but no flowers yet. Those sown inside for pea shoots for salads have shot up, have pods so have put the pot outside.
Runner and French beans planted out two weeks ago frozen the night after. Replacement ones sown in conservatory on their way upwards and onwards.
From six courgette seeds sown indoors, only one has germinated after nearly a month.
Varaious patty pan squash have germinated however.
No sign of sweetcorn sown indoors two weeks ago.
Lettuce germination totally erratic. Beetroot and radish a bit static.
No sign of carrots or lettuce sown outside weeks ago.
Tomatoes eventually planted out . (They are usually well in flower by now. No chance this year!)
Peppers hardening off. Chillis coming along nicely.
Last year's ruby chard has bolted so has been pulled up.
Finally pulled up the flowering radish which I'd left for the seed pods which I munch as a snack with a cold beer . Still full of flowers but no pods, and had been hammered by the storms this weekend, so flopping all over the place and taking up too much space.

 

Some things have picked up with the warmer weather