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The June garden - something to harvest at last ! Hca_button


The June garden - something to harvest at last !

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The June garden - something to harvest at last ! Empty The June garden - something to harvest at last !

Post by Chilli-head 1st June 2015, 11:29 am

Mist in May and heat in June brings all things into tune.  Well, it was warm-ish here this morning, we can hope some heat arrives later in the week Very Happy

And we can hopefully look forward to more postings in the "What are you harvesting today" thread !  I guess we have been picking loose leaf lettuce from indoor sown plants for a little while now, and the Italian wild rocket that seems to be naturalised in our garden now.   But our first greenhouse cucumber was ready today,  which feels much more like the beginning of summer.  And at the allotment, I noticed a half-red strawberry.  More sun please !


Last edited by Chilli-head on 2nd July 2015, 10:55 am; edited 1 time in total
Chilli-head
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Post by freebird 1st June 2015, 12:31 pm

Ooh, I've already harvested three strawberries from my homemade strawberry tower. It sits in front of the brick garage wall, so gets residual warmth after the sun has gone.
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Post by Chilli-head 9th June 2015, 11:30 am

I did manage to get a few strawberries. Yay.

I had a busy weekend finishing off all the planting out. Cucumbers, courgettes, butternut squash, pumpkins joined a newly enlarged bed with the beans for drying and sweetcorn. Not exactly a 3 sisters - using the sweetcorn to support the beans is not a viable option I find - but the squash will find its way into the spaces under and between the other things.

Also planted out the last of the lettuce raised in modules, a tray of cabbage Hispi given to me by my kind neighbour at the allotment, and finally some pots and a hanging basket on the patio at home planted up with bush tomatoes and basil.

The only job left now is to move the leeks out from their seed bed into their final space - the only space remaining ! Well, until the broad beans come out, then maybe some oriental salads can go in their spot.
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Post by freebird 9th June 2015, 9:24 pm

My June garden sees my Bowl of Beauty peony in magnificent full bloom, and my two new David Austin roses Gertrude Jekyll and Munstead Wood, both flowering their socks off. They smell wonderful.
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Post by Chilli-head 26th June 2015, 7:46 am

Did you ever see as much blackfly as we have this year ?

Last night I cut down to the ground my overwintered broad beans in the garden vegetable patch - they were pretty much finished and I'm hoping to avoid more blackfly spreading to the French beans next to them. Geoff Hamilton used to say that by cutting them down now they can grow back for a second crop, but I've never persuaded them to do so before.

The broad beans at the allotment were spring sown and are so ruined that I think I will abandon them and sow something else. Dwarf French beans or peas perhaps.
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Post by freebird 26th June 2015, 1:04 pm

I'm sorry about your blackfly problems, CH, but tbh, a bit relieved too.

I've suffered dreadfully with blackfly in previous years, to the point where the infestation has actually killed my crop. Nobody else seemed to have experienced anything like, and I was beginning to think it was just me doing something wrong.

Many years ago I would use systemic insecticide, but ever since I've realised that it might harm bees and other nectar-taking insects, haven't done so. Never found anything that really works since, though.
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Post by Chilli-head 26th June 2015, 1:37 pm

I have heard from others that this year is a bad one for aphids in general - I think mild winters are much to blame.  I normally prefer overwintered broad beans; it narrows down your choice a bit (to The Sutton and one of the variants of Aquadulce Claudia, unless you wany to take a risk with less hardy varieties).  But on the plus side, although they don't grow much on top over winter, they do get to start spring with an established root system so survive dry weather better.  They also produce beans earlier than a spring sown crop, so the blackfly is a bit of an annoyance, but doesn't ruin the crop. The spring sown ones get it all over the pods too, and mine look pretty sick even though they are still alive.  I sprayed them with a potassium soft soap, but I don't hold out much hope.

I do have some little bottles of systemic insecticide in the shed.  Neo-nocotinoids.  I won't use them though - they are only there for treating mealy bug on Cacti, from which I can exclude bees.  I did see some ladybird lavae about last night, could do with a lot more.  What became of that invasion of aphid chomping Harlequin ladybirds we were expecting ??

The bad news didn't end there.  I have some rot on my onions and garlic.  Afrter digging through my reference books this morning, I suspect the root problem is eelworm, which has opened the door to fungal problems.  I lifted the garlic and set it out to dry - only lost a couple of bulbs, and 20 HUGE bulbs of Provence Wight  remain looking unscathed.  The red onions look worst affected, but it does not look like all of them by any means.   I'll lift the lot and plant some more brasicca for overwintering - cabbage, seed swap kale, pak choi and chinese leaves.

Gardening really is only suitable for optimists, I think.  You need to look at a disaster and think "Ahh well, space to plant something else now".  And whatever the failures, take heart in the sucesses. On the subject of which, tomatoes are still doing well, I'll have to show you the seed-swap Amish Gold tomatoes, they are huge.  And  - I shall probably have my first fresh chilli at the weekend happydance
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Post by Ploshkin 26th June 2015, 2:54 pm

There is so much variation across the country. Not seen sight nor sound of a blackfly though other pesky things are noticeable this year - woolly aphid on my brussel sprouts and currant blister aphid on the blackcurrants, which I haven't seen for years. The gooseberry sawfly is worse this year too though I have got a good crop of fruit.

The problem I have this year is cold temperatures. We have not had too much wet for once and have actually had quite a bit of warm sun but in between times very cold wind. We have also had persistently cold nights. The day before yesterday my garden thermometer was showing 30.5c max and 2.4c min. During the week we were away the minimum temp had been below zero again. I'm really struggling to get anything moving outside. Courgettes & squashes are just sitting doing nothing, brassicas have barely moved since I put them out & I can only just see pods forming on the broad beans & peas that were the first things I planted this year.

I also have no hope for any apples, plums or damsons. They were all covered in blossom and the trees were humming with bees as the weather was good then we had 2 nights of minus 5c and I can see very little fruit now forming.

It all sounds doom & gloom at the moment but I am eating lettuces and cucumbers from the greenhouse.
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Post by Dandelion 27th June 2015, 10:35 pm

It sounds as if the weather is warming up next week Ploshkin - hopefully your courgettes will get a kick start!
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