18 Jun 2021

Suddenly it was summer...

 ... and then it wasn't.  

Stems of pink chard

Rain has stopped play. Am I unhappy? Not a bit, I'm actually very grateful for the promised deluge. Plants thrive on rainwater rather than the chemical-laced hard tap water that serves my area of London. Temperatures will drop to a comfortable level and I'll no longer feel that I'm slowly melting. My only gripe with this bout of rain is that I was unable to finish my evening’s work of  ruthlessly clearing space in the veg patch to make room for more crops; I had to call a halt as the slight drizzle became a clothes soaking torrent.  Have mentioned that I'm woefully behind this year?

Courgettes, kales, cabbages and beans will have to go out when the rain stops, hopefully on Saturday - no point in setting out a banquet for marauding molluscs! This feels more than a bit late to me but, in this wonky weather we're being subjected to, it may still be a bumper year for home grown food.

The veg patch has actually been quite productive so far this year - I could barely keep up with the purple sprouting broccoli in late winter and had my fill of kales at that time. By the time those had finished, I had radishes, lettuces, spinach and a few peas from the salad garden; the heat of the past week has done for the spinach and radishes, both now bolted, composted and needing to be resown.  

In my third large Veg Trug, I've planted out cucumbers, chillies, tomatoes ... and a little courgette called Patio Star which is meant to be grown in a container.  What a fabulous thing if this tiny plant produces a good crop! Expectations are low but excitement levels are high.

Tiny red woodland strawberries

Meanwhile, back in the veg patch, I've been bringing home large plump strawberries as well as tiny fragrant woodland strawberries, fat pods of broad beans (so delicious eaten raw) and freshly cut asparagus spears are still on the menu. Gardener’s lore says to leave asparagus to grow and re-energise after the solstice so I may only have one more cut this year. 

First early potatoes flowering end of May

Three weeks ago, those strawberries were still flowers, as were the broad beans.  Potato flowers have been and gone - and what's happened to the herbs!? They’ve doubled in size! My mint plants are enormous and Clary Sage (which I grew last year as an annual) has shown her pretty face once more. The year seems to be rushing onwards with reckless haste.

The summer solstice is just a few days away (Monday 21st, sun up at 04.32 BST for 16 hours 38 minutes of daylight in case, like me, you wondered), heralding the start of astrological summer. Which school of thought will you follow - that summer has properly arrived or that it's all downhill to winter once the days start to get shorter? 

Me? I'm always an optimist and enjoy whatever the seasons may bring. 



4 comments:

  1. I’m hoping to see healthier looking soil after yesterday’s rain and it was nice to have a day off from watering!
    Flowers on your spuds - you’re well ahead of us!

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  2. Sunrise up here in Edinburgh is 4:26am so we steal a march at this time of year. Due to heat retention by both land and sea the temperature builds even though the days start to shorten - so I am in the "best of summer still to come' camp 🙂

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  3. I wish we had some rain, we haven't had a drop for ages. What a lovely catch up, wonderful seeing everything romping away. My spinach has bolted so a good reminder here to sow some more. I will be interested seeing how Patio star gets on. Oh...love those strawberries.xxx

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  4. Goodness, how quickly things have grown. Looking forward to see the rest of your veggies going out.xxx

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