July
Two heat waves this month with temps of high 30c, it means everything is in full swing now and although I'd rather not I am thinking about the end of the season.
I have planted a gooseberry and redcurrant this weekend. Mid July is really not the month to be planting new fruit bushes but I have a theory. My soil can suffer from being over wet and cold standing, despite my attempts to improve drainage it can in parts be troublesome. During late winter which is the normal time to plant fruit any new bushes can rot out and either be stunted or fail. So my theory is two fold, I have raised the border to increase drainage and planted now so the root ball has time to establish before late autum and winter when it becomes dormant. Thats the plan anyway, mother nature will no doubt dash my plans.
My toms are full size and green but now need to ripen, to try and tempt them into this I took them out of the greenhouse for a days worth of dunking in a bucket (with some added tom feed and nettle liquid manure) so the root ball was soaked (when the air bubbles stop they come out). I also cut off any wayward tress's to keep to the 4 mark, it pains me to see young toms got to waste but for the sake of bigger and ripe toms it's worth it.
My chilli's are coming on and starting to set, I think that these will be the last of the croppers but I do still have the cape gooseberries, sweetcorn and cabbage to go. I faced a battle with catapillars on the cabbage, swifty dealt with using derris. Derris is classed by the organic crowd as non organic due to the fact it could kill other insects like ladybirds. It's a natural insecticide that does'nt effect the soil and I have yet to see something other a white butterfly want to climb inside my cabbage. Organic I am, silly about it I am not.
I have planted a gooseberry and redcurrant this weekend. Mid July is really not the month to be planting new fruit bushes but I have a theory. My soil can suffer from being over wet and cold standing, despite my attempts to improve drainage it can in parts be troublesome. During late winter which is the normal time to plant fruit any new bushes can rot out and either be stunted or fail. So my theory is two fold, I have raised the border to increase drainage and planted now so the root ball has time to establish before late autum and winter when it becomes dormant. Thats the plan anyway, mother nature will no doubt dash my plans.
My toms are full size and green but now need to ripen, to try and tempt them into this I took them out of the greenhouse for a days worth of dunking in a bucket (with some added tom feed and nettle liquid manure) so the root ball was soaked (when the air bubbles stop they come out). I also cut off any wayward tress's to keep to the 4 mark, it pains me to see young toms got to waste but for the sake of bigger and ripe toms it's worth it.
My chilli's are coming on and starting to set, I think that these will be the last of the croppers but I do still have the cape gooseberries, sweetcorn and cabbage to go. I faced a battle with catapillars on the cabbage, swifty dealt with using derris. Derris is classed by the organic crowd as non organic due to the fact it could kill other insects like ladybirds. It's a natural insecticide that does'nt effect the soil and I have yet to see something other a white butterfly want to climb inside my cabbage. Organic I am, silly about it I am not.
posted by poobah at 10:04 PM
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