1st July
With the weather last week at long last getting over 20, it has brought on all the crops.
Everything has just been sitting in limbo, with the hot then cold and wet. The cucumbers, have all of a sudden taken a huge growth spurt, and most of the plants are now around three feet tall, this does now mean they need lots of attention, the temperature in the cucumber tunnel last week never really dropped below 40.
Twice last week I had to go in and tie them up and cut of side shoots, this took me 4 hrs the first day, and the temperature was at 40 from 7am till 9am, after that it was over 50. If the side shoots get left on the plant, it will not grow as much cucumbers but just grow into a huge bush, and you would think I’ll leave it for a cooler day, but if the temperature does stay high in the tunnel, the plants would get out of hand really quickly.
For example, last week I tied up and cut off the side shoots on Tuesday, and on Saturday morning I was down with Calum and it looked like I hadn’t done it yet, so I tied up and cut side shoots again, this will be a on going job from now till around September.
So, this week we will be starting to harvest Cucumbers, just a wee bit to start, then we will be harvesting around 250 every day.
Along with the Cucumbers, the Courgettes are starting, these two crops are a sign Summer is here, although at the moment it only lasts a couple of days. Also ready is Black, Red and Green kale, the next batch of Kohl rabi, and the usual Spring onions, Salad, Lettuce, Rubi chard and Turnip’s.
The Mustard and Clover that we had direct sown in our set aside field for this year has also taken a huge growth spurt, along with fixing nitrogen in the soil for next years crops, it also helps to smother out the weeds, as the mustard and clover grows that fast and thick, so hopefully next years Leeks will have less weeds to be weeded as a result, but I’ll be surprised, because we have a very successful weed production every year.
