KW-23 Rejoice for it is Summer!

At least, that's what they said on the wireless.

So this is June? The month of the longest day and the meteorological start of summer? I am not convinced! We have not quite been defeated by the rain, indeed the potatoes don’t seem to mind it at all. Nor do the slugs (see previous editions!), but we have not had a day without rain this week, and the garden needs us!

The potager is more or less doing ok, but it’s going to need some sunshine beating down on it soon. The worst affected is the vineyard. It has been completely overtaken by weeds and has necessitated a bit of a rethink. As soon as it dries out a little, I’m going to get up there and see how far I can get with a whole day of manual weeding.

A New Idea for the Vineyard

I really do not see a path to the vineyard being both productive and less labour intensive going about it the way I am.

The problem is that the soil is almost non existent, and that which there is is chock full of perennial weed roots, and annual weed seeds.

I have definitely refined my thinking, and realised that the preparation must start in the autumn with sowing whatever stands a chance of outcompeting the pernicious plants which would really like to be there, but also to be ploughable in the spring.

This is realisation number two, and it is at times like this that I realise that maybe having some large-scale growing experience or teaching before I ran headlong into this with the naivety of an optimistic fool might not have been a terrible idea. Once again, I am reminded that this is not a big allotment. Number two is that there is a massive difference in ploughing and choppy chopping.

Rotovating is for breaking up ploughed ground. Ploughing kills weeds. I put Mr Rotovator the Choppy Chop to work way earlier in the year than I have done previously this year, as per the learnings from last year. And this was wrong. First, plough. Then rotovate.

That’s for next year though. This year, just about all of the seeds that I have sown have been outclassed by the weeds. As is normal and natural. They will do something, and I am going to go and get up there and weed for a week (half a week, that is every afternoon), but also, I am going to start off soya plants in modules. I suspect it is a bit on the late side, but even if we don’t get beans, we will have greens, and that is good for pigs, and hopefully good for the vineyard. And then I will rotovate and put the plants in directly. This is not sustainable practice. I cannot do 1000 soya plants in pots next year. Next year, I have to get the ground cleaner sooner and better.

Progress, not perfection.

The Week Ahead

It feels like it is getting too late for the root vegetables, but in reality it is not. Most of them grow quite quickly once they get going, especially if the weather turns. So, this week is going to be concentrated almost exclusively in the roots bed. I have to sow around 10,000 seeds, which sounds scary, but it’s not that bad really.

I don’t have the roots sowing list with me right now. I shall post it on Instagram later today.

No matter how small your vegetable patch is, even just a few pots on a balcony, I highly recommend popping some root seeds in a spare space. A carrot takes up a couple of centimetres and they have a beautiful and delicate foliage which sits well at the feet of a large and leggy tomato plant. The best is the contrast of air-growing fruits like peppers, maturing before the eyes, and the surprise of the uprooted carrot, growing in secret at its feet.

But also this week:

• Plant out the cucumbers in the polytunnel

• and the pumpkins in the middle of the wheat break, where I missed a bit with the sowing.

• put up the first (and possibly second) DaVinci bridge

• finalise the design for the shower block

• take the shower block shopping list to the plumbers and get a quote for all the things I need to make solar collectors, hot water storage, pipework, taps and showerheads. The plan is to have solar heated hot showers a month from now. Possibly ones which still work in the winter!

I am committed to having them working way before the Collapse Laboratory starts. It would probably be a good idea to get your ticket now, before the rush!

Pirate Gardening Tip of the Week

Pirate gardening is mostly old man gardening. It was old man gardening when I started with my first vegetable plot 30 years ago. So, mostly, it’s just old ways of doing things.

Trenching for Celery

Celery, (Stangensellerie, as opposed to Knollensellerie) has the opposite colour/taste relationship to Asparagus. That is, if you keep it away from the light, and make sure it stays white, it tastes better.

Onions and garlic in the background. There will be four rows of carrots in the middle by the end of the week. For now, fingers crossed that the celery is happy enough down there in the mud and the stones.

Nearly all celery seed that you can buy these days is “self blanching” which means that they mostly stay white, especially on the inside, even if you don’t do the hard work of keeping them away from the sun yourself.

But, as you might expect, gentle reader, the older varieties are better. And even the newer sorts will be more blanched (less stringy, better tasting) if you keep them away from the sun yourself. So, we dig a trench, about 20cm deep, and we plant the celery at the bottom of it. When it start to grow, we will wrap it in brown paper and fill the trench in. They will grow quite quickly now, and when they are at their full height of 40 - 50cm, the brown paper tops poking out of what will by then be a ridge of earth looks quite spectacular, very old fashioned and quaint, and makes for the perfect celery to enjoy for soups, snacks and braised with roast potatoes!

Five Years Ago

Hard to believe that I’ve been here five full years. Getting the polytunnel was one of the best surprises of the first year. Luc, Pirate, Christian, working at full tilt to get the cover tight and making the whole structure wind and water safe

And with that, my friends, I shall go and see what sort of a state the ground is in. I seriously doubt that there will be much sowing today, but there are weeds to be fed to pigs before then.

I hope you have an excellent week, that the weather is kind to you, and that you are taking care of each other

Your loving

Pirate Ben

xoxo

Currently Reading:

The only good economist is the one who says that all economists are wrong. Dieter Helm takes on everyone from Smith to Hayek and up to and including everyone alive today. I like to tell you about the interesting books I have read, and spare you from the boring ones. That is not to say that they are always recommendations. This one is.