Friday, April 27, 2012

Pea teepees

So, here we are, hurtling towards the end of April, sunglasses and factor 50 in one hand, umbrella and wellies in the other. I could take the easy route with this blog post and make some side-splitttingly ironic comment about the drought conditions and the current weather. But I won't.

Well, maybe just a little one? Just quickly?

*clears throat* "I'm glad the hosepipe ban is still on. I'd get dreadfully wet going out to water the garden otherwise" Boo, boom, tish!

Anyway, despite the monsoonal conditions of late, things are still growing in the suburban veg plot - and in the suburban veg greenhouse and the suburban veg front bedroom, aka the propagation facility.

The rain did refrain for long enough earlier in this week to allow me a quick walk around outside to review the current situation.
I have planted two varieties of peas so far - Meteor and Kelevedon Wonder. Both are reputed to cope with early sowing so hopefully they will be coping well with the return to more typical seasonal temperatures. I've come over all a bit rustic of late, so in place of a formal line of peas (that I usually struggle to suitably support, I've gone for some homegrown pea teepees. And by homegrown, I mean they've been constructed from rather large prunings from the strawberry tree and the forsythia bush. They look pretty attractive actually (she says modestly) and I've just got to hope now that the peas appreciate them enough to hang on.




Over in the greenhouse, the tomato seedlings are growing strongly and will need repotting sometime soon. I've got 3 strong seedlings of each variety: San Marzano (plum), Gartenperle (cherry) and St Pierre (salad).



The pear tree blossom is out in force on both the winter nellis and the conference pear trees. I think we've still got some cooked pear left in the freezer so I'll have to get that defrosted and cooked up in a tarte tatin to clear some space. Hopefully the wet weather won't affect the pollination of the pear trees too much. Wet weather can reduce pollination rates as, generally speaking, bees and other pollinating insects fly less when the weather is wet. Though the moment the sun comes out, I can usually spot plenty of fluffy bees hovering around the winter nellis tree.

Winter Nellis pear blossom
Conference pear blossom

The broad bean flowers are also proving popular with the local bees. And is it just me, or are they even louder than previous years? I've got 2 types of broad bean in flower - Sutton, which has a purple tinge to the outer petals (or tepals, or sepals... damn you, plant morphology module. I'm sure I was happier just thinking they were all petals) And my old reliable Claudia Aquadulce are looking as gorgeous as ever. I can almost taste my first broad bean risotto!


 What's flourishing in your garden this week?

19 comments:

  1. apparently its the WRONG type of rain so the goverment tell us! i havent seen weather like this for a few years I cant go in the back garden as its too waterlogged, and the allotment has all but come to a standstill as its far to wet to dig the soil or plant. i did manage to plant a few peas like you have the other day though.

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    1. My raised beds are still okay as there's a good layer of decent top soil/compost above the clay soil. But the 'lawn' is a different matter altogether - my chickens are staging their own Glastonbury out there. All that's missing is a Greenpeace field and Coldplay...

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  2. Gosh it all looks rather nice and sunny up your way (and I'm sure you're not geographically too far from where I am!). My veg patch is thoroughly waterlogged and something (a fox, maybe?) has been having a good rootle round (and leaving it's mess behind) so no more planting for me until I can get the beds netted off and cleaned up. At least my broad beans (Karmazyn, the pink heart shaped ones), garlic, potatoes and red onions are growing well and my winter veg is keeping me fed (kale, sprout sprouts and, haha, never ending caulis). It's giving me the space to think where to put everything else! Oh yes, the fruit trees are loving this rain. Although the plum blossom has fallen, there's plenty of star shaped thingies left. (wish I was doing your course, then I'd know what to call them!)

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    1. Definitely more rain than sun around here. I grab every opportunity in between showers to dash out and take some snaps. Thankfully the rainy weather seems to have stopped the local cats from using my raised beds as litter trays - they seem to prefer it when it's dry and dusty. I like the sound of heart-shaped broadies - never come across these before. And I'm thinking your star-shaped thingies will be the calyx. It's the base of the flower and then will eventually become the bottom end of the fruit. More obvious in apples/pears than plums where it almost disappears.

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    2. Aha, calyx, hmmm? I do like to (sort of) know what I'm talking about! Glad you mentioned that plum calyxes visually disappear, I thought they'd dropped off and I was going to be left with no plums this year. I'm hoping all the fruit trees will deliver as this is into their fourth year. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! x

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  3. Have you noticed the lovely scent of broad bean flowers? Probably not in evidence in wet weather.

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    1. I'm hoping it stops raining long enough for me to check the scent out... We're forecast a bit of a sunny spell on Monday so maybe I'll get the chance then?

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  4. Our garden is doing well. Lots of glimmers of hope through the rain and grey cloud! Your pea teepees look really good!

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    1. Well, today looks like being a sunny day so hopefully I can get out and have a bit of a potter even if only for an hour.

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  5. I do like your pea teepees, I recently acquired some wrought iron that used to be a fence which I am attempting to grow mine up but its flat - I do like the teepee shape better but hopefully the iron will still look good.

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    1. I'm sure the wrought iron will work - and I really like that idea (see this post: suburbanvegplot.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/growing-on-coast-california-style.html). I'm keeping this in mind for when I have more veg garden space as I think it's so pretty. You could always weave a bit of coarse twine through and around the fence to give the peas a bit of a head start.

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  6. The pea teepees look great, and I'm also impressed that your peas are outside. Mine are still residing in their modules in the greenhouse. Even if I managed to get outside in between the rain, the allotment is like a bog so I don't think the peas would appreciate their feet standing in that.

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    1. They were sown in situ in mid March (before the deluge) but with lots of back-ups in modules and pots just in case...

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  7. Wow! Having teepee envy here, they look fantastic!

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    1. Thanks - it was a bit of inspiration actually as I'd been tripping over the prunings for months. They're too big for the green bin and we don't have a wood chipper.

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  8. Nice pea teepees! ;) The sweet peas look so healthy and cute!
    Everything look so good!

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    1. After the rain we've had lately, everything is certainly very green!

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  9. Love the tepee. Delighted to see what attractive flowers Sutton has as I'm growing them for the first time. I've been wondering about the pollination and pears issue too. Here although we are not in a drought area we welcomed the rain after a dry March but you can have too much of a good thing!

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  10. Well, from what I can see now, pollination seems to have gone well. There are plenty of little fruitlets forming on both pear and apple trees.

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