It’s not all about me….though in a few minutes time you will think otherwise. But before that, how have you all coped? Wasn’t it ghastly? I really hope that you managed a way to keep your homes cool – or at least semi-bearable. If this is a glimpse into the future I don’t like it! At least the worst appears to be behind us now, so we can get back to living again. That said I’ve just looked at the BBC two week outlook, and in the coming week it’s mid-20’s every day, which is fine, but in the following week it’s predicted to rise to the high 20’s and up to 31° by Saturday 11th, with not a suggestion of rain between now and then.
So let’s turn the focus back to me, because this is my blog and I should hog the limelight. How have I been affected in the past week? Well frankly I am shattered! Never have I put in so many hours and achieved so little, whilst all the time feeling exhausted. The heat was sapping and relentless – there was no escape or respite from it. In my normally well temperature regulated north facing potting shed it was over 30°, and even the poor old fridges were struggling to maintain their set temperature. In the polytunnel it got well into the 40’s. I think that what made it so unbearable was that sleeping was almost impossible (for me anyway), so I was getting up tired, and then repeating the cycle each day, which had a cumulative effect resulting in brain fog and lethargy. I was hoping that today, with fresher conditions and a more comfortable temperature, that I would burst forth with vigour and tackle some of the jobs that have been impossible to even attempt during the heatwave. It hasn’t quite worked out like that – my internal computer is saying “low battery”, so I think that it is going to have to be a recharging kind of day.
Trouble is I have got so much to do. All of the young plants that I needed to get in the ground a week ago are now stressed from being in their trays for too long. However much I watered them last week it wasn’t enough, but I dare not plant them out because they would have withered and died in no time. I will have to get them in this week otherwise they will no longer be viable. One exception was the Romanesco cauliflowers, I couldn’t leave them a moment longer, so planted them on Monday morning, just before the very hottest weather kicked in. I gave them a good soaking in, but by Wednesday they were completely dried out and were very close to the point of no return. I soaked them well again, and overnight Friday we had a downpour that came with a thunderstorm, so I hope that the majority will have survived.
In the greenhouse the story is mixed. I lost several mature fruit bearing cucumber plants that just couldn’t cope and totally collapsed, hanging limply from the strings that they are trained up, rubbery cucumbers at different stages of development drooping from the vines. The growing tips of a few other plants wilted and dried to a crisp, but that’s not a complete disaster because I will train a side-shoot on each plant to become its new leader. Meanwhile the tomatoes have come on well, and so I will be picking some for this week’s boxes. They will be mixed sizes, and I am pretty sure that there will not be enough for everyone yet, so order early if you would like some, but please show some restraint in terms of how many you order. A less happy tale is that of lettuce. I won’t have any for at least a couple of weeks because the batch that was supposed to follow on from last week’s has bolted in the hot weather, and the next lot is a long way off being ready. It’s a pretty basic error on my part, but worse things happen at sea.
There is chard, pointed cabbage, broccoli (mine should be ready the following week), then we have bunches of new season carrots, onions and beetroot. There are Accord new potatoes, and also Casablanca, which is a white skinned type that is slightly floury in texture compared to Accord. There are oranges, lemons, Gala apples and Nectarines, which I thought were rather nice last week.
I would like to remind you that I will not be at the market on Saturday, so there will be no collections from there this week.
That’s all my foggy brain can cope with for this week so I will leave it there. Happy sleeping everyone…..what bliss.
Phil