About the weather (again!) - and much more
Hello from the gardens, and welcome to this month’s growers’ report. Wozzon in the Gardens? Guess what?
Yep, you guessed it, I’m going to be starting this month's update talking about the weather again!!! The Met Office confirmed that late July brought the UK's fourth widespread heatwave of the year, coinciding with Devon and Cornwall entering an official drought status due to prolonged dry weather and high temperatures on the 29th July. So the obvious issue is water, or should I say lack of water.
This has meant that some planting has had to be delayed as it was far too hot to put young plants in baked ground, and I have spent most of my time keeping the gardens watered and young seedlings alive. You can plant out when hot, but only if you are able to water twice a day minimum for a week or so.
Mulching with organic material or compost can really help with water evaporation, as does watering the hole you have made for your plant before planting out; this puts water deeper down right at root level, and avoids rapid evaporation. I would even go so far as to say that this should be standard practice whatever the weather.
So what has been growing, I hear you ask. Some lovely tasty cucumbers have been growing in the polytunnel. The salad leaves have been producing well, as have the beetroots. The tomatoes are just starting to ripen, a bit late, but unfortunately we have been late with all plantings this year, due to time, weather and getting the gardens ready and prepared for us to manage. A second sowing of courgettes has gone in, as the first sowings were enjoyed by the slugs and snails.
Some of the sweetcorn is looking amazing; however, some have not produced a cob, and some of the tassels have all dried in the heat, so there will be a lack of pollination. This leads to cobs being incomplete, as each silk that emerges from the cob is attached to a single kernel and each silk has to be pollinated to create a full cob.
On a positive note, we have been able to donate six large bags of salad leaves and beetroots to the Trelander Food Larder.
The Leats planting is doing well despite the heat; thank you to everyone who has popped by and sprinkled some much-needed water and helped them to establish and bed in well. And to make us even more sure we are doing something valuable, our social media following and engagement have grown really well, and that says to us that people are interested and want to get involved with growing a Patchwork Farm across the city.
If you know of anyone who would like to roll up their sleeves and join, please encourage them to get in contact via our Facebook page, email (hello@communitypatchworkfarm.org.uk) or use the contact page on this website.
We are still currently on the lookout for garden tools of all shapes and sizes, so if you or anyone you know has any that you don’t use that are getting in the way, we will gladly find them a new home. You can contact me at rob.downes@communitypatchworkfarm.org.uk, and I will arrange a mutually convenient time to come and collect them from you.
As you can tell its been another busy and fulfilling month, and with your help, long may it continue.
Cheers and gone, for now! Rob