Despite a fair few showers over the last four or five days, the ground is still very dry underneath. Lots of sprinkler action on the veg beds yesterday and today has been called for! The early kale, which were stripped back to the leaf midriffs by Cabbage White caterpillars, are showing signs of re-shooting, so I’ve watered and netted them. The chard is cropping well, and the Morning glory up one side of the rose arch had flowers for the first time this morning (they will be replaced in the autumn by the passion flower that’s currently in an adjacent pot). The rose has started lots of new side side-shoots, but so far no flowers.
The courgettes in the middle bed are now showing signs of flowering, after a prolonged period when it was too dry (despite twice-weekly watering), and I expect to have produce by next weekend. The other middle bed, which had a few bolted lettuce left, has been forked over, trodden down, thoroughly watered, and two rows of “Autumn King” carrot planted. Also planted, a row of “Navara” lettuce (the plug plants I had last autumn over-wintered well and were excellent this spring), and a row of the usual “Marvel of the 4 seasons”. Fingers crossed – it’s probably a bit too warm still for really good germination of lettuce. And the sowing of lettuce is in the same place as the last lettuce crop … which couldn’t be helped: other spaces in the top beds have very heavy soil which is best kept for brassicas and chard.
Runner beans – the things I’ve watered most consistently over the past month – continue to give two or three servings a week, which is about the right amount for me. The third sowing of “Tom Thumb” peas hasn’t really worked, so I must get round to doing a 4th one.
Indoors, I have finally happened across a small sideboard suitable to replace the flip-down shelf just inside the front door, that covers the storage of the electric bike. Delivery may take up to a fortnight, but I’ve removed the shelf anyway (which may cause problems with unloading my next Waitrose delivery). I’ve had a standing search on ebay, reporting new items by email daily, for at least the past year, so it’s a relief to cancel that at last. The coat-rack has been moved to the end of the sofa (experimentally), and I’m awaiting a delivery of beeswax polish and lint-free cloths tomorrow, as I seem to have run out.
