Listen…..Harder. You can’t hear any contended purring can you? No, that’s because I am no longer in my happy place. Why? Why you ask? Have you seen the weather forecast?! It’s miserable! Well it’s not, if you are sipping Piña Coladas under a parasol whilst reclining by the side of an infinity pool, but if you are toiling in the dust, sweating like a ham, it jolly well is, so there!
Mid 20’s is okay, that’s perfectly acceptable UK summer weather, but mid to high 30’s is something else. Like in the current World Cup I will be taking hydration breaks every 22 minutes – not to allow for commercial breaks for the US audience that has the attention span of a gnat, no it will be to stop myself from shrivelling like a prune in the baking sun. And it makes harvesting so difficult too, these are not ideal conditions for leafy greens, they wilt at the drop of a hat, so I will have to set up water baths to rapidly take the field heat of them directly after cutting them. Newly planted seedlings will struggle too in such extreme conditions, but what can you do but to grin and bear it, albeit through gritted teeth.
I didn’t want to moan this week, but on that score I am failing miserably. There’s a part of me that is quite happy being miserable, so perhaps I’m not actually miserable at all? But then my mind wanders to what the state of the bought-in produce will be like when it arrives later in the week, and it makes me shudder. It arrives on ambient transport, which is absolutely fine for 50 weeks of the year, but is less than ideal in extreme heat. I enquired about refrigerated carriage for this week, but the quote of £156 made me stagger backwards theatrically. I make almost nothing on these items as it is, so it would be commercial suicide to go down that route….unless it all ends up on the compost heap! Fingers will be crossed in the hope that it won’t be all that bad. The broccoli last week wasn’t great, for which I apologise, so I’m a tad concerned given how much hotter it will be in the coming days.
Anyway, that’s enough misery for now. Happy Summer Solstice! The Druids at Stonehenge should have a had a grandstand view of the rising sun this morning. I was out at 6.00 with Nellie, long after sunrise, but it was lovely at that time – so very peaceful and still…..until we came face to face with another early morning dog walker, at which point the highly reactive Nellie barked her ruddy head off and threw herself around in one of her frenzies. She’s a lovely girl, but not quite right in the head. It’s always a risk when you home a rescue dog, you never know quite what you are taking on. As soon as the blameless and bemused Whippet had passed by the red mist disappeared as if a switch in her pea brain had been flicked off and we continued on our merry way.
I finished planting the winter squash last week, and interplanted it with sweetcorn, I will need to give both plenty of water this week if they are to survive. In the next few days I need to plant lettuce, celery, Florence fennel, radicchio, and Romanesco cauliflower. I also have some more runner bean plants to get in, but I don’t fancy their chances. The ones that have been in for some weeks now have all been munched by something. Prime suspect is the Muntjac, but to be honest you could take your pick, such is the abundance of nocturnal nibblers. In the greenhouse I have the next generation of cucumbers to plant, which should extend the cropping season. Some of the sweet peppers are now full sized, so if I am not going to pick them green (who really likes a green pepper?) it is just a matter of waiting for them to ripen. The first tomatoes are just beginning to get a bit of colour, so it shouldn’t be too long before I start picking.
New to the shop this week are Padron peppers, and I have speculated on some Nectarines, just for a change. I’ve only got one box coming, so once they are gone they are gone. If they are nice I will order more for next week. I will be cutting chard again this week, and pointed cabbages, plus little gem and oakleaf lettuces. From the greenhouse there will be cucumbers. So bit by bit more of the produce is my own, which is pleasing, because I have more control over its quality. My own broccoli should be ready in a couple of weeks if everything goes to plan.
Just a bit of forward notice to customers who collect orders from the farmers’ market, I will be absent on Saturday 4th of July. On the afternoon of the 3rd I am at a funeral, so It will be difficult to get ready for the market, plus it’s my daughter Emily’s 40th birthday, so we will be celebrating that in some way. Apologies for the inconvenience. All other customers will be unaffected.
We had a vintage car rally go past our cottage earlier today. It felt, and sounded like there were hundreds of them going by at regular intervals. When I say vintage, they were old Minis, Triumph Heralds & Spitfires, Ford Anglias, Volvos and lots of other types of that era (early to mid-60’s I would say). This week’s photo shows one of them passing – an MG Roadster.
So, stay cool in the week ahead, it’s not only going to be scorching hot but also humid, which is energy sapping, and induces tetchiness in my case. Yesterday I experienced thunderbugs for the first time this year, and aren’t they annoying? Also, in the past few days I have received my first two horsefly bites of the season, but I am in no doubt that there will be many more to come….I hate them.
Bye for now.
Phil