Blighted

Emergency on Sunday morning: What are all those brown spots that have suddenly appeared on the potato plants? Could it be blight? Yes, sirree. Despite a dry summer, despite choosing varieties with good blight resistance (Romano and Setanta), despite the ground looking like nothing but nettles had grown there for the past four years...

Those tell-tale spots

Time to chop and burn. Of course, it started to rain just as we had reached row 3 out of 10, but luckily we managed to burn almost everything last night, with the aid of some old window frames to keep the fire going.

 The bonfire pile

The scene of terrible devastation

Now the question is: When to harvest the potatoes? I've read and heard anything from five days to three weeks. Time enough to give the skins a chance to harden and time enough for the spores to die. Any advice welcome.

Who's been nibbling at my neeps?

As I lopped off the potato haulms I discovered that the swedes were looking worse for wear. Some animal, a vole or rabbit I suppose, had been taking bites out of about 10 plants, which I had to donate to the compost bin. At least now the access is good for the cats to do their business of rodent control. They'll get the guilty party for sure.

At least the purple kohlrabi was unharmed. Not long now

 This week we had our first red cabbage, first French beans and Japanese radish (this is seriously hot stuff, it must be what Wasabi is made of).

My German heart delights

The carrots and tomatoes are cropping very well. Fingers crossed that the outdoor tomatoes won't catch the blight.

Amusing carrot of the week

Inside, everything has been coming along nicely. I'm very proud of my little cantaloupe and the first little watermelons have appeared.

The prize cantaloupe

Aubergine flowers

California Wonder bell peppers

And I've even had a chance to clear out the greenhouse a bit. I've decided half of the tomato plants can finish off ripening on the patio.

 Cleaned-up greenhouse

The successional sowing is happening quite naturally now that there's space available. I've just popped in a few pea Douce Provence seeds where the broad beans had finished and have resown a whole bunch of salad leaves since the trusty Salad Bowl Red has decided to bolt after three months of excellent service.

Now we'll have to get working on our potato (and root veg) storage facilities. The plan is some plastic bins in the ground. Luckily we have the bins already, but there is a lot of digging to be done...

Almost tropical

Our conservatory has changed climate zone; it recorded 30C at 0830 this morning. I've had to evacuate the two remaining tomato plants. The newly arrived Meyer lemon tree, meanwhile, is loving it and its blossoms are infusing the hot conservatory with its delightful scent. The melons aren't complaining either.

The latest arrival: a very fragrant Meyer lemon tree

Cantaloupe with hat

My parents are visiting and I've got a work deadline so not so much time for gardening this week. Still, we got a lot done: The greenhouse has been painted with Coolglass to keep the sorry-looking tomato plants alive, the improvised raspberry fruit cage has been finished off with some windbreak material and Jim's designed a bird scarer that actually seems to work.

Scary owl CD

Cooler greenhouse

Raspberry fortress

The 200-odd onion sets that I planted last week are growing like the clappers. The maincrop onions are not looking bad either. Not many have fallen over. When should I start harvesting to cure them? Will it be obvious?

When to harvest?

The climbing beans have reached the top of the wigwam and have started flowering. We've had our first cauliflowers, plenty of carrots and the mangetout have gone crazy.

A typical day's harvest this week

The French beans have reached the top

My little collection of tea plants has finally reached harvesting size and we've enjoyed lemon verbena and lemon balm tea for the first time this week. The tea plants that I've grown from seed - camomile and two types of mint - have already been drunk aplenty. I like to blend a few, like nettle, mint and lady's mantle flowers (a very pernicious weed in our garden). So far nettle and lemon balm is our favourite. Now for a cuppa.

Tomatoes tomorrow

Tomato time is drawing closer. Don't think I'm going to be able to wait much longer.

Tantalising

New on the menu this week are carrots (Early Nantes - delicious) and garlic. Our neighbour gave us 400 onion setts that he didn't manage to plant this spring so I've used up the remaining space in the vegetable garden to plant all of them that still looked good. Not sure how big they'll grow, but we can always have them as salad onions.

The raspberry fortress

We've decided to extend the chicken wire fence around the ailing summer raspberries to save what can be saved. I've just ordered some more windbreak fabric to attach to the chicken wire fence to minimise future wind damage. The middle paddock has also been chicken-wired on one side to keep the hens from the rest of the blueberries and from starting on the Tay berries, the first of which has just ripened. It may not be pretty, but it's necessary.

The first peppers are appearing

Inside things are growing apace. The aubergine has finally reached a decent size, think I'll pinch the growing tip this week, and the first couple of melon fruitlets have appeared. Hope my Q tip pollination works out.

Little cantaloupe alert on the right

My one aubergine. What a spiky plant

Watermelon

The watermelon has grown a lot, but I haven't been able to find out much about growing them in the UK. Has anybody got any experience with them? Are they the same as other melons, with male and female flowers? Presumably one plant can only support one fruit?

Epicurean delights

If last week was in the sign of the broccoli, this week was dominated by courgettes and potatoes. In fact, I'm beginning to think that 10 courgette plants may be a tad much for two people. Maybe six are more realistic. Though my father the courgette monster is visiting soon so we might get through them all, after all.

It's bonanza time

Our new potatoes are Epicures. By fluke, I picked the variety that everyone grows around here because they do so well in this region. They may not be pretty, but the flavour is outstanding. They're already on the list for next year as is the courgette Nimba.

Epicure potatoes

The raspberry defences have gone up using up the last of the old playground equipment. The chickens didn't like it much. They have now discovered the soft fruit in the middle paddock so tomorrow we'll have to get some more chicken wire to keep the little dinosaurs out of there.

The autumn raspberries have been chicken-proofed

The deid summer raspberries (plus four survivors)

The summer raspberries have been totally devastated by the spring winds. Sixteen out of 20 have no leaves left at all. Will they come back next year for another go or is that it and should I pull the canes out now?

Jury-rigged greenhouse

It's been so warm and sunny that our tomatoes were starting to scorch in the greenhouse. We dug out Fettler's old mainsail and voila. I'm sure this arrangement will be improved upon in due course.

Drying turnip tops, Galician-style

I've also used the good weather to dry a lot of things: wild sorrel (half the middle paddock seems to be wild sorrel - just why did I order French sorrel seeds?), lavender, mint, nettles and turnip tops. We were given some dried turnip tops by Galician friends for the boat larder and they were very useful in stews and soups. So now whenever I'm thinning or eating turnips I dry the tops for winter use.

Other than that, we have been putting down black plastic to prepare sites for next winter's projects. The plan is: six more fruit trees (three cherries, two greengages and a mirabelle), another soft fruit area with black/red/white currants and gooseberries and a perennials garden (Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus, Welsh onions, Babington leeks, Good King Henry and perennial broccoli). And a few more windbreak hedges.