July Update
Posted on | July 31, 2009 | No Comments
July is nearly done, and I’m also nearly three weeks into my 8 Week Challenge (which under Draft 1 of the rules I would have already failed) so I need to update you on my progress.
The success stories of the month have undoubtedly been the peas and green beans, almost to the point that I wince at the thought of yet another serving of French dwarf beans. Maybe though because I picked a good variety – or, Hell! Maybe I’ve just been lucky – the beans are utterly delicious. And the peas… Well I think it’s pretty much impossible to not enjoy freshly podded peas. The bean plants – and I have both climbers and dwarf varieties – are kicking out more beans than I can eat. One patch of peas has given up the ghost now, so damn lucky I planted a second patch, isn’t it?
Last night I lifted my potato crop which amounts to a good few kilos of spuds in a range of sizes between monster and micro! The texture is not what I’d hoped – I wanted that perfectly waxy texture that you get in good salad potatoes, but the flavour is superb.
I’ve also been able to harvest cabbages, cauliflowers, and copious amounts of parsley, basil, sage and coriander from the various herb patches, and last week I pulled up my twenty or so garlic bulbs which drying under the cold frame at the moment.
The unprecedented success of July though has been beetroot. Since pickled beetroot represents the high point of Satan’s career to date I grew it purely out of interest. It has subsequently become one of my favourite vegetables. Fruity, earthy and sweet, beetroot goes equally well in a salad with potatoes, lettuce, and home made garlic mayo, or into a smoothie for breakfast with blackberries, strawberries, oats, a spoon of honey and a dash of milk.
The not so good parts of the month have been the systematic decimation of my salad crops by a slimy bastard slug (or slugs), and the slow progress of my polytunnel crops (tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers) no doubt caused by the cack weather we’ve been having. At least my water butt is full.
As I’m writing this the sun is actually shining which is a rarity for the last few weeks. I doubt it’s enough sunlight to kick the polytunnel into action, but I guess every bit helps.
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