rain
Although we’ve had a heatwave recently here in France, the dominant theme for this summer has been rain. Lots of rain. And yet more
pot-grown beetroot
rain. With all this rain, I’ve not had to water my terrace-garden very often. I was initially concerned that my plants, being on a west-facing terrace, would get too hot. That has not been a problem! Despite this, I’ve had a fair bit of success in the garden so far. We’ve had lettuce and chard in good quantities since the middle of June, and will still have plenty for some time to come. I planted a second crop of both a while ago, and that is giving me a good succession. We’ve also had our first beetroot, as you can see from the pictures here. They weren’t quite the cricket-balls you can get in the supermarkets, but they were certainly big enough for us. As with everything that comes straight from the garden into the kitchen, they tasted great! There are still plenty more out there, so they’re not done yet!
beetroot and chard leaves
The beetroot leaves have been supplementing the chard whenever we want fresh greens. I deliberately planted many of my plants closer together than they say you should on the packet, with the intention of taking a leaf off here and there to keep them from getting overcrowded. This has worked well, more or less, and has allowed me to make good use of the few tubs I have available. Lettuce, chard, and beetroot have rubbed shoulders – or roots – and kept us well supplied. That said, I have to admit that some of the plants were just too close, and I should have left them more room. I’ll know better next year!
lettuce and chard overflowing their pots
Not everything has been entirely successful. The herbs I planted have not grown as fast or well as I had hoped. The thyme has not flowered, which has disappointed me because I was hoping it would attract bees. I think it may have been too cold and wet for it, and it has also been crowded by some of the leafier plants. The rosemary never came up, which is also disappointing because
it can provide useful food for bees in winter.
plucked seedlings
I lost a number of seedlings, plucked by birds looking for something to eat. I’m guessing that they may have been younger birds, perhaps recent fledglings learning how to forage, because the damage all happened in a short period of time around the end of June. I’ve not lost any later seedlings this way. If they were adults that pull up seedlings regularly, I would expect to have lost some of my later sowings too.
I also had an attack of powdery mildew on the beetroot leaves. Looking around, it seems that one way to deal with that is to spray the plants with milk! Incidentally, if you go looking for the article referenced on that page, the link they give is incorrect. The original paper was in the journal of Crop Protection, not Crop Science. If your Portugese is any good, you can also take a look at a technical note by the same author, which you can get without paying for it!
I’ve mentioned the ants on my sunflowers, they were farming aphids. I read in several places that mint deters ants. Not having any mint to hand at the time, I put down the contents of a few mint tea-bags, and that seemed to do the trick! That same link actually advocates planting sunflowers so the ants will herd aphids onto them, taking them away from other plants. I didn’t read that bit first time round, it seems there’s more to companion-planting than meets the eye!
peas
The peas I planted actually produced some decent pods. I think I will try a few more next year, cascading out of the pots where they will not compete with other plants. The spring-onions are doing well too, as is the basil, of course. We have been having some very good salads lately!
We have 6 large tubs for our terrace garden, plus a number of smaller pots, which provide a good deal of growing space. We shall add more tubs next year. We paid more for the pots and soil than we have saved on the food we have grown so far, but I think that it will only take 3 or 4 years to pay back the initial investment. Meanwhile, we’ve been able to go shopping less often, saving us time, and money on petrol, and we have been able to supplement our table regularly, with good-tasting, pesticide-free produce. All things considered, our first summer of organic terrace gardening has gone very well so far, and it’s not over yet!
(part of) my garden
(Possibly) related posts:
- Gardening update
- Meanwhile, in the garden…
- Gardening over for the year…?
- Garden visitors
- My Secret Garden
Tags: Pesticide, Basil, Chard, Growing vegetables in pots, Lettuce, Natural pest control, Organic, Spring onions, Sunflowers, Thyme
Posted by Tony on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 20:15 in Economise, Gardening.
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