So much rain

Yesterday it seemed to pause the heavy rain only in order to pour down torrential rain (it was raining on St Swithun's Day - 15th July - maybe they knew about jet streams back then after all). Walking through the village later, crossing the bridge, the river was a brown raging torrent.

So I still have an empty bed from removing onions, shallots and garlic and another from the early potatoes to attend to and get them ready for the next crops in the rotation (brassicas after the onions, so manure and compost needed there; and peas,beans, onions, leeks after the early potatoes). Actually just remembered that Mrs Soggy is already on the ball and has planted some leeks on the former potato bed.

Buddleia, Bees and Butterflies

There was some sun yesterday, if you are in the UK, hope you didn't blink and miss it. So I took the chance to take pictures of the buddleia as it attracted bees and butterflies. Somehow a picture of one of Mrs Soggy's fuchsia crept in as well.

Digging Day

Decided to finish off digging up the bed of early potatoes (the main crop bed is still full of flourishing plants), so there are now lovely groups of white potatoes dotted about the bed, getting a good rinse in the heavy rain which has just started. They are all looking good: Anya, Cosmos and Charlotte.

I have already dotted a few courgettes in spaces left by some of the earlies, but now thoughts turn to the larger remainder of the bed. It should really be plants of the onion family going in, but I may just do a quick green manure beforehand.

The Big Lunch - indoor picnic

I mentioned that the village was planning to take part in The Big Lunch, we were doing it just as an informal picnic, from 12 until 2. Just before 12 a few of us were playing cricket on the village hall field, then the heavens opened, so we had the picnic indoors, some people even insisting on still using their picnic rugs!

A New Week and blue sky

It's a lovely clear sky and bright sunshine here today, quite a change from the weekend's rain. The rain did force the Big Lunch into the village hall, but we managed to play some games on the field between showers.

In the afternoon, before a really heavy downpour, I got out all the spent broccoli - not just centre florets but sides ones too now finished and transplanted various winter greens.

Some of the onions need lifting - the tops have gone over now. I'll lift the garlic with them - hopefully today if it stays dry; I have some wire frames I usually lay onions and garlic on, to help them dry cleanly.

The Big Lunch

The Eden Project's project to get us all to have a picnic together - hopefully with stuff you've grown or locally sourced. It's this weekend, and guess what happens when you plan an outdoor event in Britain?? Have you seen the forecast for the weekend - oh dear!

Well, we have a Big Lunch planned for the village on Sunday, lets hope everyone remembers umbrellas as well as butties.

Soft Fruit and harder facts

Last night at Garden Club we had a really useful talk on Soft Fruit - usually Mrs Soggy's domain. As a result we are planning this autumn to take up our strawberries, which really are past it (3 years is about the limit for good sized fruits) and our raspberries - as we have totally lost the plot on what variety is what - which dopes rather complicate pruning. So ground will be dug and lots of manure added and new varieties planted. We are researching now for old-fashioned varieties of strawberries - before they started breeding for non-bruising transportable ones that look good in the supermarket, yet don't taste of much.

I saw Compostwoman's post about installing solar water heating which reminded me that I had meant to post here details of a book I am reading at the moment, which I imagine anyone who thinks about the environment - and I'm sure that includes us gardeners - would be interested in. It's "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air" by David JC Mackay. You can read it online - I have it on Inter-Library loan.

Wet weather problems - blight and slugs

After the dry spell we've been having in England, summer now seems to be getting its revenge, maybe the weather knows we have family visiting all summer?

So, a warning - no, not about my family, they are lovely - but about wet weather. The two main things springing to mind are blight and slugs.

First late blight. Hopefully, if you garden organically, you already have the first step taken - by growing blight resistant varieties of tomatoes and potatoes. Also, keep greenhouses well ventilated, blight loves static, muggy air. Look out for brown patches appearing on tomato and potato leaves, but don't immediately assume it's blight (have a look at pictures online and compare, for example on the RHS site here).

If you have it on your tomatoes, no matter how upsetting you must dig them out and gather up all fallen material, leaves, rotten tomatoes and burn or bury. (It may be OK to take to the local recycling, but check with them first, I know in some cases their composting methods reach much higher temperatures than ours, and so can kill more pathogens).

Your potato tops may show signs, but if you have been earthing up well, then the tubers will be safe. Cut off the plants at soil level and leave the tubers in and don't dig until after a spell of warm and dry weather (hopefully we'll get some again one day).

Slugs. Well the toads help in my garden, but so also do the organic approved slug pellets I get from the Organic Gardening Catalogue, see here.

Between the showers pickings

Just nipped out and gathered a few bits:
Tomatoes, radish, sugar snap and mange tout peas, broad beans and courgettes. Snapped next to some of Mrs Soggy's herbs.

Late sowing

I saw an offer in the Garden Organic magazine, and since it was about seeds I had to have a look, so here I am with a collection of seeds from the Organic Gardening Catalogue labelled: "Late Sowing Seed Collection."
If I am honest I probably have enough seeds to sink a battleship, but they are hard to resist aren't they?

The collection includes:
Broad Beans - Super Aquadulce: Definitely a late sowing - November
Spinach - Giant Winter: Hardy and can be sown July, August and September
Peas - Pilot: If I sow them in October, we should be eating them by June
Carrots - Nantes 2: Apparently can be sown as late as August, meant to be quick growing.
Parsley - Moss Curled: Mrs Soggy will have to sow for Spring use.
Onions - Bedfordsire Champion: Not sure about these, they were included, but I use sets
Rainbow Chard - Bright Lights: Great for a July sowing to give leaves and stems for stir fries
Sugar Pea - Norli: Pushing it a bit sowing in July, but worth a try, an old favourite with us.

I'll keep you posted on how these get on.