The Beauty of Nature

I planted out some leeks today. I had grown these in a tray and had planted far too many as usual – though with the weather playing up this year, it is good to have some in reserve.

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Here you can see that I have given them plenty of room, not that they need it of course – they really need deep soil. Ideally space them about 6″ apart. Also you will note that you are not supposed to close the hole up around the leek. This is so that it has room to grow without having to push away the soil. As I said in the video, birds don’t like them so wont pull them out and slugs are not partial either – good!

Good soil is key to growing leeks as they need nutrient rich, well-drained soil (mmm! sounds familiar) with a pH between 6 & 7. They like a crumbly loam – hence the roto-vating. But, they do OK in almost any soil as long as you aerated it well.

It would seem that this year is going to be a trying one up at the plot. Nature is going to test me to the limit.

The corn I planted last weekend (see below) before the heavens opened up and drowned us out, has not done very well at all.

I think that deluge of rain has rotted the roots. My soil is not exactly well-drained, but should be OK. However, they needed time to bed in before being attacked by the great British weather.

I will give them a little longer to see if they can recover now that the weather has been hot for a few days, but I’m not hopeful.

UPDATE: I had a look at it today June 9th and I think that some may survive as they are still standing. They are way behind everyone else’s, but should still produce something.

I planted out my corn last weekend over the bank holiday. As you can see it was reasonably well grown and frankly didn’t need to spend more time indoors.

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However, the day after I put it out, the heavens opened and it rained for 48 hours straight. I’m going back this weekend to see how they have done. I’ve not had the time in between. However, the soil is very moist so everything should be OK. Will let you know.

The best way to grow corn is to choose a site that gets full sun and a soil with pH 6-6.8. Corn needs soil that’s both rich, moisture-retentive and well-draining. So dig in some compost and if you’ve got it some manure.

Make sure plants get at least an 4cm of water a week, but never from above – it can wash away pollen.

If you wish you can feed plants with organic fertilizer three times: when they reach 25cm, then 52cm, and when tassels appear.

Remember though that corn is a big consumer of nitrogen and phosphorus. If you find that your leaves are yellowing, it’s a sign of nitrogen deficiency – spray with manure ‘tea’ or fish emulsion (obviously not the latter if you are a vegetarian).

You can then pick the corn husks when the silks are dry and brown but still supple. For most varieties, that will be about 20 days after the silks appear.

Happy corn on the cob………. 🙂

By the way, it can take 90 days to grow, so make sure you have the quick growing varieties like ‘Precocious’.

Here is a picture of some comfrey – green manure – that I planted last year.

I didn’t think it would survive as the slugs really like the plant. Maybe they have been elsewhere for their dinner of late, but they let it slip through the net and now it has grown to this.

I will be using it for composting later on in the year.

This plant has been used since Greek times to treat external wounds. It contains allantoin, a chemical which actually promotes new cell growth. However, all is not good, as some recent studies have shown it can cause liver damage and cancer if you ingest it.

The blooms should be in full swing around the middle of summer.

Before the rains came solid for two days, I managed to get out on the plot to plant the runner beans.

You saw in a previous video how I had put up the canes ready for them so it was an easy job of putting them in and watering them. I also tied them to the canes as the wind has not really stopped for the past three weeks.

As you can see there is only one plant per cane as they will need the room to grow and will bush out so much that the inner area needs light, so putting more plants together is a no no.

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Here are the broad beans as of 26th May, 2007.

They have been flowering now for a couple of weeks. I’ve managed to keep them relatively bug free, so I am hoping for a good harvest eventually.

They have been one of the success stories of the plot this year so far with the odd weather we have had.

Today Monday, the wind and constant rain nearly knocked half of them down. I had to put in taller stakes.

Here is another picture I took yesterday at the plot. This time it is the spinach I planted in early May.

As you can see it has grown well and is coming on nicely. At this stage you can pick it for salads if you wish, or you can let it grow on for more mature flavours where you can shred and steam it.

As you can see the slugs have not touched it so far. Perhaps they don’t like the taste, but at least one thing is slug free on the plot.

This is the shot before I weeded around them. It’s best to get the small weeds out now as they just rake out, rather than leaving them until their roots have gone deeper and they are harder to get out.

As it is raining and not suitable to be out in the garden in, here is a picture I took yesterday of the courgette. This is the only one that survived from the two courgettes and two pumpkins I put in on the 7th of May.

As you can see it is not exactly as large as it was when it went in, but at least it has survived and established now. It should come on as we go through June.

Just to be careful I have planted two more in pots and they have come up. I will probably plant them out, but we will see as we had so many courgettes last year that after freezing some, eating some giving some away and making cauldrons of soups, we still had to compost some of the larger ones. In the end I got fed up of eating them and refused to have any in my food. So I will probably find more people to give them to this year – I may even set up a stall outside and sell them.

I think this is sprouting broccoli. The reason I’m not sure is that someone gave it to me already growing and told me it was sprouting broccoli. It will become more obvious when they have grown a little.

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Update: 29 May, 2007

Turns out it is Curly Kale. Not my favourite as you have to catch it very early otherwise the leaves are quite fibrous and tough to eat. It is also good for bugs to hide in, so you have to wash it well before cooking it. Of course, some of you may like to eat the creepy crawlies from the garden, but not me.

However, there are plenty of nutrients in Curly Kale:

Continue reading →

I’m not sure it’s politically correct to call them dwarf beans any more, but that’s what it said on the packet – as the man said.

I really like these long thin beans, especially as they grow purple and cook green.

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I’m hoping that they will grow, so the netting is coming out when they need it.

I’m not growing too many as each plant produces quite a lot of beans.