Never drop your guard

Last week I wrote about the decimating effects of a -3 degree frost on my potatoes. Seven days later I am updating on my garden (rather than allotment ) veg (see my special dispensation from my good lady wife to allow veg planting in the back garden for one year only) and I'm reporting (amongst other setbacks!) scorched damage cucumber leaves as plants put out on the patio to 'acclimatise' start to shrivel in 27 degrees of desert like sun. A 30 degree swing in a week - you just couldn't make it up!

If there is one thing I want you to take away from reading these blogs, it is that gardening is not for the faint hearted. If you think it's about burying a few seeds in a beautiful tilth and then returning a few weeks later to pick perfect tasty veg, then stop reading now and go and do something else. It's just not like that. In fact, it's pretty much the opposite. A constant battle. And you can never drop your guard.

To prove it, I'll take you through this week.

First, the cover story. Let's return to my cucumber plants. Set off indoors (conservatory window) and by all accounts as strong a set of cucumber plants as I've ever grown. So, I'm feeling good right? They needed to be potted up outside a couple of weeks ago but I was prepared for last week's frost and so (with the exception of putting 3 plants in the greenhouse - which got frost damaged but look to have survived 🤞), I held back and kept them indoors until I could see no threatening weather in the long range forecast.

I then had a great weekend, last weekend finally planting them out on our south facing garden patio, 3 plants to a grow bag. And I start thinking of the regular salads, adorned by a constant supply of cucumbers for most of the summer months. One week in and I've already dropped my guard, you see?. So what happens? I subject my newly settling in plants to 8 hours of hothouse furnace conditions which result in the above. Can you see the droplets of water in the picture? Let's hope it's reviving properties can keep the rest of the plant alive long enough to recover (actually, read on...there's an update on this, even within this week's blog!).

So what else? Well, I'd sown some seedlings direct into the ground and taken the precaution of netting the area to prevent further toileting visits from a neighbours cat. Sorted? No, not sorted, the cat can't get in. But sitting outside eating a lunchtime sandwich this week I spied not one but 3 sparrows (which I admit we have spent years encouraging into the garden) dancing under the gaps in the netting and 'soil bathing' themselves (inside the net!) in the best soil in the garden...and taking out all the seedlings at the same time...

And something else that has taken out seedlings this week are slugs. I'm determined to grow a perpetual supply of salad leaves in the garden this year and reckoned a grow bag is the perfect home for them. Well it probably is, but a grow bag is also a perfect home for slugs to hide away in during the day then feast to their hearts content at night. I lost the lot.

But I'm not going to be beaten that easily. I planted a second batch out with some added protection...

Yes, underneath each bottle (with the bottom cut off and anchored around the plant) is a small lettuce plant. Try having a go now slugs (they will of course, which is why I also have organic slug pellets and netting for added protection!).

Even indoors is not safe. I've some sweet potato plants which I admit I bought as I'm not sure you can grow them from seed yourself (I'll check that). Any way take a look below...

...Greenfly. Have you seen any ladybirds around this year? I haven't, and just at this moment I could do with them visiting these plants for a bit of lunch! (I'm organic so I've sprayed the plants with water to try and wash the greenfly off, the left them outside so the natural predators (including ladybirds wherever you are) can get to work.

And, finally, not to be outdone on the allotment plot, apart from the frost recovering potatoes, the recent lack of moisture has seen a number of my autumn planted onions start to bolt. You see, I'd got them through the winter and the early winter waterlogging and was just starting to have visions of a constant supply throughout the year (as they store very well) - I'd let my guard down! Just a couple of weeks from harvesting and I've basically got shallots instead! Oh well, I guess some of them will still work in bolognaise mix. Always look on the bright side, I say!

So there you have it. The perils of getting too carried away, Be vigilant and keep that guard up. You've not won till it's actually on your plate!

P.S - end of week update. If the sun doesn't get you, the wind will. The cucumber plants aren't getting any better - a couple of days of unseasonal 40 mph gales has seen to that!

And sorry, next time, I really will tell you about the seeds I'm growing...unless nature intervenes with something more interesting once again!

So, until that next time...keep battling on...

#growyourown #allotment # #letyourguarddown #vegetables #bgveg # #greenfly #scorched #slugs #sparrows