LATE SUMMER AND THE END OF A SEASON

First published Friday, 1 September 2017

As we are fast approaching the end of the season, I thought I would reflect on some of my growing successes and failures so far and how the weather has impacted on the garden. 

Bumper Crops and Damp Squibs

The good old British weather has been crazy this year. Starting with a dry spring, and something like ten weeks without any rain at all meant my rhubarb remained dormant when it should have been romping away. June was blisteringly hot with record temperatures; great for my sweetcorn and beans (which flourished), but tough on anything in containers! 

Oh, and then the rain.... and more rain and even more rain with high winds throughout the whole of July and into August played absolute havoc with my runner beans. 

The constant battering of the wind caused some of my canes to break and the rest needed daily attention just to keep them upright; but I was particularly upset when one of my healthy plants, which had finally reached the top of its cane and was covered in masses of flowers, suddenly died. I can only assume that the roots must have been damaged by all the violent rocking in the high winds. Yet despite these niggles, I've still managed a reasonable harvest with a modest picking of beans on most days.

On the other hand, the performance of my climbing beans has been phenomenal. This year I grew a variety called 'Cobra' and they have been prolific. In fact, like my courgettes, it has been a bit of a daily struggle trying to keep up with the sheer volume of pickings! Now I'm not complaining, far from it.... as I have managed to freeze a huge quantity of these gorgeous green beans. Now hopefully, they will last me the whole of the coming winter.

My onions have been another success. I originally planted eighty sets in the spring and recently pulled up something like seventy-six healthy bulbs. I left them drying out on a rack in the poly-tunnel for several weeks, before spending one lovely afternoon sitting in the sun stringing them all together. They are now hanging in my shed ready for use and hopefully will also see me through the winter and perhaps into early spring too.

I am rather proud of these!

Another crop which seems to have benefited from the heat and rain this summer was my sweetcorn. I like to grow a variety called 'Swift' as they are always reliable with lovely fat juicy cobs, but oh my goodness... they haven't stopped growing! I don't think I have ever seen them quite as tall as they are now, almost as tall as my runner beans! I have twenty plants in the garden and I picked my first few a couple of days ago and they were delicious. There are about another forty-five to fifty cobs left to pick and just to eke them out, I tend to break each cob into three before blanching and freezing for later use. 

A whopper at 30cm!!

With all the crazy weather we've had the year, I'm surprised my potatoes have done as well as they have! Firstly, I was only able to plant twelve ‘Maris Peer’ seed potatoes this year, so I was never expecting a bumper harvest and I won’t be storing any either. Instead, I have decided to leave them in the ground, and am only digging up what I need to go directly into the pan and onto the plate. 

Secondly, and almost certainly the result of a dry spring and insufficient watering on my part, quite a few of those I have already dug up have had scab. But to be honest, I've not been too worried about this, as it only skin deep and can be easily scrapped off before cooking and doesn't affect the taste. And we all know how wonderful freshly dug and cooked spuds are.... There really is nothing quite like it! 

Now, my broad beans were a bit of an afterthought this year. As a rule, I would only sow 'Aquadulce' an overwintering variety in late October, but for some reason didn't bother last year. Anyway, I thought I would try Bunyard's Exhibition as these are usually sown in the spring and I saw an opportunity to squeeze in two short rows. Well I am so glad I did as they were fabulous! Smothered in flowers, they produced lots of pods and the beans were lovely and sweet! 

One thing I did notice however, was a small amount of black fly at one point (you don't usually get them on the winter varieties). but was able to get rid of them quickly with a squirt of washing up liquid. 

So,I will definitely grow these again!

Into the poly-tunnel….

My chillies, peas and strawberries have done remarkably well this year. I know some consider the poor return on peas is hardly worth all the effort and whenever I have grown them in the past they have always succumbed to mildew which has added to my disappointment…but I adore them, so thought I would try growing them in the poly-tunnel just to see what would happen. Well, I can honestly say they were fabulous, just like sweeties, and rarely ever reached the kitchen!

So, on the positive side: I had no mildew and the peas were gorgeous, but on the negative side: they grew far taller than I had remembered and unfortunately, the supports proved to be inadequate and they eventually grew into a bit of a tangled mess. 

However, would I grow them undercover again? Well I would probably say YES!

Sadly, my tomatoes have been the real disappointment this summer.

In previous years they have flourished in the poly-tunnel and I have had real gluts, but not this year! I don’t know if it has simply been too hot for them but I kept all the plants religiously watered and fed, the doors and windows were left open during the hottest periods and I even stripped the plants of any excess leaves to increase airflow, but the results have been very poor compared to other years. Oh well there is always next year!

Cauliflowers and Caterpillars

Well the little blighters have managed to damage almost every leaf on all nine of my plants. I must have spent hours picking over each one to remove the tiny culprits, but have now hung a net over the poly-tunnel entrance to prevent those pesky white 'flappy' things from getting back inside to lay more eggs!! 

Unfortunately, the way I have dealt with the infestation has if anything taught me one thing…. I will never be a Vegan!

Anyway, despite all the damage, I now have one plant with a curd the size of a clenched fist, seven each the size of a ping pong ball and only one plant that hasn’t formed a curd. So, I am really excited that they have survived and are doing well!

So, on reflection….

I have had a real mixed bag of results,this summer. and full of surprises too. Crops that I have always considered as reliable such as potatoes, runner beans and tomatoes, just haven’t performed as I would have hoped or expected; and yet in contrast, the climbing beans, sweetcorn, broad beans, peas and chillies, which I see more as a gamble, have simply out performed themselves! 

Many of these plants are now starting to die back, so my next task will be to start collecting seeds for next year and planning my autumn and winter crops... but that is for another day!