Tag: Growing

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Jumping the Gun

Temperatures have been warm lately, warm enough to tempt some plants into growing. Unfortunately we have cold weather in the near future. The lilac tree buds have swollen and look almost ready to start bursting. Last year's chard is sprouting new leaves to great surprise. Row cover is now over the rhubarb to keep it from frost damage. Rhubarb is tough, but not that tough. On another note, there is a new fear on the agricultural horizon. Ug99 sounds more like a WWII u-boat. It says nothing of the potential devastation it could cause. Ug99 (Puccinia graminis) is a stem rust of cereal crops. It was feared until it was thought to be eradicated during the Green Revolution in the 50's. Nature may have the last word though as the fungus has returned with a vengeance. It has now been found in Africa and the Middle East. India and China are both nervously waiting for the fungal spores to travel on the wind to the Punjab, the breadbasket of South East Asia. Wired has a great article about this danger. In the near future bread may be a luxury.

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First Tasting

Acton market has just has it's third week. We were there and pleased with how it went. People came back looking for some more produce and we even found out that the jam and cakes I make can be sold there. This is great news because some regions don't allow that. It will be exciting when we have the "cool" vegetables like peas, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I wish I had got the peas and beans in sooner. We at least have peas starting.  We ate our first cucumber over the weekend. It is a Japanese Climbing cuke. It has a lovely tang to it that is very refreshing. The lettuce is just about done and our first bed of cabbage has succumbed to insects.We didn't cover it with row-cover at the beginning of the year leaving it open to all the brassica bugs. We have another bed in the front garden that is covered growing well for market, and us. After growing this cabbage we may never grow a head cabbage again. Leaf cabbage is wonderful and it can be eaten really quickly. No season long investment in a head only to see it eaten by something. Of course the stars of the season are the tomatoes. Although it isn't a great tomato season so far we do have some coming along. The Tigerella in the kitchen garden is doing well. Others are coming along in other parts of the garden. Below is one of our yellow cucumbers. We didn't do to well with these last yer, they were Lemon cucumbers. This year is a different variety called Bothby's Blonde. They are supposed to be very good.