back to British weather

After ten days of glorious sunshine we are now back in the grip of a typical British summer. Today it's been quite chilly with a brisk easterly wind blowing so it was a case of much pottering in the greenhouse to keep warm.

The tomatoes are coming along nicely as this plant shows. I have ten plants in the greenhouse with a couple of 'tumbler' types ready to pot on and put outside when I can find some space. 

As last year it looks like I'll be harvesting bumper crops of soft fruit again. Some of the gooseberry branches are so laden with fruit they're in danger of breaking and may need to be propped to keep the fruit off the soil.

Blackcurrants, raspberries and strawberries are all bearing an abundance of small fruits as well. Broad beans are absolutely laden with flowers and if they all make pods I'll have a surfeit of a veg. that no-one else in the house will eat.

Beans in general seem to be doing very well but we do need some more of that hot weather to get the pollinating insects flying. No insects means no beans.

As an experiment I've been feeding my brassicas on diluted urine and it seems to be doing them a power of good. It's also useful for newly potted plants as the nutrients in it are all in ionic form and thus instantly available to the plant. It does, however, contain salt so should not be overused.

healthy cabbages fertilized with urine

You could look at it as the ultimate in recycling and it is certainly organic although the Soil Association would not classify it as such due to its potential to contain heavy metal residues and drugs, particularly hormones. Such considerations don't bother me as I live in the country, eat very little processed food and am not taking a cocktail of medicines or supplements. I should point out that I don't produce enough urine every day to fertilize the whole garden so the plants that get this treatment get it about once a week.