I'm Just Singing In The Rain.....

It's the downside of June and the summer solstice has past. 175 days have gone by and there are now only 190 days left until the end of the year....where has all the time gone! If you are like me, you immediately begin to mentally inventory accomplishments as well as the 'stage' in which my flower and veg gardens find themselves. With an early spring this year, and all this rain that we have had lately, I am almost afraid to calculate to see if my plants will have time to reach their full potential.
Scratching my head and squinting one eye, I think about the beans that still need to be planted. Tch!
This is slowly leading to a somewhat dampened view of the rest of the season.

I have small and spindly plants here and there and the other "cold weather plants" are doing fine. For instance the courgettes are looking pitiful and giving the first smallish fruits, but the brassicas and peas are doing superbly.

Aside from this mixed scene...the grass paths and weeds are doing better than 'well' and giving the plots what can only be describes as a "messy look", from close-by as well as from a distance. Well, with this blowing rainy weather that we have been having here of late, I do not see a chance to correct it.

When I get squeezed like this I am not happy. I mean, I have things that need attention in the flower garden (like dead-heading) as well as specific chores in the veggie gardens...the problem is that now The cosmetic aspect of gardening has reached a level where something has to be done as well, because not only does it look unkempt, but also the weeds are taking nutrients away from my struggling, over-hydrated plants. What's next, a warm spell and a blanket of mildew all over everything?!

Ach, being housebound by the weather whilst the control over my gardens slowly slips-away through my fingers like egg white while separating the yoke in the kitchen...just sort of makes me kribbig, or irritable.

Well then, let me begin with some visuals now of how things are looking in the veg gardens, and give a bit of a report on this moist scenario.

As I said, it has been wet here day after day, and so you will notice that in the quality of the fotos. To start with--a view of the new garden which is almost completely full. In the foreground, to the left you can see wigwams of runner and French climbing beans, to the right again the rough-looking and uneven grass path with the onions at the far end. I have planted some marigolds in the section nearest the main sidewalk where I was standing to take the pic.
Then the white gauze covering of the pea racks. Beyond that are the potatos and finally all the way to the back, right up to the canal is the corn.


A closer look at the runners (Lady Di) and you can see smallish leaves and the spindly quality of the vine itself. The crimson blooms are attractive to see, though. I have not seen all that many honey or bumble bees with this cool and moist weather that we are having currently.


Over in the old garden, this northern half looks messy, but things are actually going pretty good and are on schedule (for the most part). In the foreground are the strawbs which are still covered and waiting for the very, very last harvest. Beyond the strawbs, and to the left you can see a rack of kapucijner peas bushing-up nicely. They already have many dark cordovan pods. To their right are two stunted courgette plants, and then right of those--the beets which are really showing off this year. All the way in the back is my little greenhouse. I believe that you can already make out the wildly verdant growth of my toms inside. They are in desperate need of pruning....and they will soon get it!


In the other half of the old garden, I have planted a trial block of buckwheat. This will be used for for green manure as well as for the bees. It is doing well, but ought to be taller at this stage.


Well, it has been raining a lot, but sometimes one simply has to knuckle-down and work out in it. This plot of broad beans is a case in point. I harvested the last of those then pulled the plants and left them to cover the ground. Next decent day, I will take them to the compost bin and chop them up, and plant this plot in buckwheat as well...or perhaps a different type of green manure.


So, by now I am dripping wet and have had some sort of mental break-down and I begin dancing over the garden lightly springing here and there, twirling and leaping in the air, clicking my heels. Grabbing a bean pole and swinging around it, stampiing in water puddles purposely--you know, doing my Gene Kelly imitation whilst singing, "I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain...what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again....."

After exhausting myself I trip the light fantastic on over to the greenhouse....slowly coming back down to earth as the music fades and the din of the rain coming down takes over the audio.

Now, remember those unruly toms that I was talking about? Well, here they are, looking in through the greenhouse door.


Then after their 'haircut'.


The musical orchestra was replaced by Nature's 'Rhythm of the Rain", but now it is time for an overture. Giving the Maestro the nod (I hear , 'tik,tik,tik'), I take out my sécateurs and wade into that green jungle that was once MY greenhouse as the Orchestra begins with Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia"...I sort of went mad there for a while, frenetically clipping and snapping right, left, up and down right along with the music.
Oh yes, some branches fell that had blooms and even fruits on them...mistakes, but in that frenzy, I maintain that in such circumstancs, some innocents must perish for the greater good of the plants and my harvest. It gives you an idea of how confusing it was in there in that tangle of branches and suckers.

---If you want to listen as I chop mercilessly, go to this link and prune along, or close your eyes and listen while imagineing me at work in there, stained with green sap,as the pile of cut limbs pile up and up and up mid-shin high---

http://youtu.be/qN2mv8739SU

This is the third pruning that I have given them so far. I will probably give them at least one more once they reach the top of the house.

Looking left you can see the 'Legend' tomatos. They are 'meaty' toms for making liquid concentrate to be canned.


Here you can see that they are making nice racemes.


Across the aisle are the 'Ferline' toms. They are for salads and just eating.


Looking down on the Ferlines from above you can see the racemes and the redish twigs marking the horizontal sub terranian stems that extend from the cane to the watering bottle.


I went inside to do this task in the claustraphobic confines of that greenhouse only because the rain began to fall harder and it was cooler than on a sunny day. Actually I am too tall to do it safely (I could easily break off a stem turning this way or that), but it had to be done.
The sound of the rain roaring down onto the glass roof while I worked inside made me see the good point of doing this now.

Can you recall the planting of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli a few weeks ago?


Well, here is the patch today, and although it was raining...there was one plant that had put up florets and they were just getting a little yellow flower or two budding. I am technically already too late to harvest. The flavour may not be optimal, but it will certainly be acceptable.


Oké then, I have gotten a lot done and managed to get wet in the process, but not soaked through and through. I suppose that that will happen on the way home on the bike. Sometimes here in Nederland, life's a water ballet, if you know what I mean.
Well, as I stood with my bike between my legs, I turned and looked over at the "Old Garden", and thought that in spite of the negatives...it all looks pretty good, and with a few tasks ticked -off the to do list, I didn't care if it DID rain on me all the way home.


Once home the work just continued, look at the harvests--


Broad beans, two types of peas, the first small courgettes, lettuces and a surprising meal of Purple Sprouting Broccoli! That isn't supposed to be ready until much, much later. There was only one plant that is sending up florets at the moment, though--ther rest are behaving themselves.

Man, I was shelling beans and peas for hours! I didn't really mind, since it wasn't raining in the multi-media room and I could simply sit and mindlessly watch the telly as I shelled-away. Here is an example of the peas:


So now...I have just heard that we can expect a dramatic weather change in the coming days--dry, sun and temps above 30°C. Whew, just the thought....

 

I think your garden looks great Sjoerd! We have had a lot of cool wet weather this year as well, with a few days of 35°c thrown in here and there. I picked the first zucchini from my garden yesterday

 

Sjoerd, Thanks for the tour. Everything looks wonderful. I understand completely about the frustration and the rain.

Have you grown the legends before this year? I grew some and am waiting to see what they taste like. Did you select them because of their disease resistance or something else?

 

Sjoerd that was a great tour!,..including the background music!,.."Singing in the Rain",..very appropriate for your weather as well as ours ,..digging soil is out of the question,..but work that includes dead heading,..pruning back,..good choice of music,.."Barber Of Seville".

The garden appearance in the last shot looks tidy and lush,..great job in the greenhouse as well,..and a fantastic crop you took home,..hope rain didn't fall on your way home.

I am shaking my head here in agreement with you,..its the last week in June and rain,and strong wind was the not so welcome sight this past while,..i hope your weather forecast comes true,..warmer dry sunny days.

 

Great tour and narrative Sjoerd. You sure packed alot of work into one day!
I could almost picture you doing your Gene Kelly imitation! :-D

 

Why, thank you very much, NETTY--Hey, and congrats on your first zucchini!

Hi there CAROLYN--Well, I knew that if anyone would understand the frustration and so forth with the rain...it'd be you after that tremendous downpour that you just had.
Yes, I have grown the Legend toms for several years...in fact I alternate them with paprika's (I grow the Legends every other year). I selected them for two reasons: First and foremost, I selected them because of their resistance to Phytophthora. Secondly, I needed a 'meaty' tomato ( our term is vleestomaat) for making and canning tomato concentrate for soups and sauces for cooking.
Thirdly, I also needed a determinate type, since the tomato type that I grow (Ferline) is indeterminate.
I wanted one sort of each type of habitus.
The other tomato which I grow every year is called 'Ferline'...and it is more for use in salads or eating on sandwiches or right out of your hand. It was also selected purely because it has a resistance to Phytophthora.
You may be wondering why I seem to have this obsession with resistance--well, its because I tried to grow all sorts of toms inside and outside my greenhouse and every time the plants were ready to be harvested they died.
I sort of had a bit of a tantrum one year and vowed never to try and grow another tom. It was at that point that I was given a pack of Ferlines from a pal in Great Britain to try.
After I was able to fuss and fume and childishly reject the offer...I eventually calmed and allowed my brain to take over and decided to give them a try--the last try (about that, I was unwavering, though).
Well, they worked and that was it, really.
Since then I grow them in my greenhouse without problems and harvest an enormous amount from the few plants that I have.
The season here is not a long one and each plant (main stem gives me ~6-8 racemes and the 'King Suckers' give me ~4-6 racemes on average.

PHILIP--I'n glad that you appreciated the posting this time...and were somehow able to put up with that song and dance routine.hahaha.
Glad you liked the harvest. I didn't fall, but did get a bit wet. One has to expect that here.
We are supposed to have days that are partly dry and partly rainy this weekend....and then next week sometime the roasty-toasty days are supposed to happen. We'll see.

Thanks, CHERYL--I got a lot done because I had to work fast because of the rain...and the breaks were kept to a minimum.

Thanks so much, TONI-- I'm glad that you liked the posting, annnnnd the free entertainment. Did you go and make yourself some popcorn? chuckle.
A special thanks for liking that pea pic. Oh Toni--they were so good. I did a little pea-tasting test the next day. I boiled a handful of each in separate saucepans, poured the water off and then plopped a nob-ette of butter on each...stirred it through and then tasted....first one, then the other (washing my mouth out with tap water after each tasting).

I liked them both, but there were distinct differences: The Pea, 'American Wonder' was softer and finer in flavour and texture, The 'Polis' was a stiffer pea and teensy-weensy bit less sweet perhaps. I liked them both. Both were good croppers, but I believe that Polis was a little bit heavier.

 

Wow, rarely do I get such a descriptive tour thru a veggie garden and an orchestral interlude in the middle with a greenhouse full of happy unsuspecting tomatoes about to meet a sharp pair of shears. I will have to show my wife the garden on the other side of the pond with the orchestra in the middle. An elixir for both our rainy days.

Thank you,
Jerry

 

Hi Sjoerd, I do understand all about getting a crop through the season before it sucumbs to a blight problem. Last year was the first that we grew under cover for the tomatoes. WOW what a difference that made, keeping the foliage dry all day everyday!!! we do spray copper for fungicide on the outside tomatoes to get through the season, otherwise by the end of August they are starting to whither quite badly. Two years ago we lost an entire crop of tomatoes to the blight. we had 40 plants in the 2 rows and threw ALMOST ALL OF THEM IN THE "DO NOT USE COMPOST HEAP". What a sad failure! This year we planted 21 tomatoes in the high tunnel, but not any of the legends. those we planted outside.(I hope, now that I am thinking about it, I don't know where Kevin planted them.) :-?

 

Ok, then, I'm going to take a leaf out of your book and do the Gene Kelly too. It's raining here as well, but unfortunately no end in sight. *sigh* I think I'll harvest the chickweed and make myself a salad with rain dressing while singing "Green Green Grass of Home". I wonder what might go well with the chick weed... Maybe a few tomatoes and sweet peppers harvested from the nearest shop.

I love your choice of work music. I often play the Radetzky March when cleaning the house. It's so energetic. Now, what would go well with scrubbing walls I wonder? Something hard and heavy I think.

Now I can't get "Singing In The Rain" out of my mind. I sometimes feel you're doing this on purpose.

 

I'm glad that you liked the tour this time, JERRY--I hope that your bride likes it too. Does she garden at all?

Hey CAROLYN.-- I just sat here reading your account of that big blight failure shaking my head up and down recognizing the familiarity of it. Truly sad.
When I found the Legend and Ferline sorts, I conducted "outside trials" along with growing them in my greenhouse. I had then unprotected as well as in small cages with clear plastic wrapped around--the top and bottom open to the air.
The outside plants ALL succumbed to Phytophthora. ...So, I discovered that the plants were resistent (to a degree), but not immune. Of course you realize he difference in terminology here, don't you.

Now, resistance or not...I would keep a close eye on your toms and taters if you get any "Smith Period's" there.

Hahaha, DROOPY-- I see that you use music to do house work. That helps doesn't it? Interestingly enough, I have used the Radetzky March too upon occasion. Il like its perkiness for certain types of energetic work indoors.
...annnnd,--I know JUST the melody for you and your drudgery wall cleaning...try Prokofiev - Dance of the Knights

http://youtu.be/fnDCukzReks

Actually next 'haircut', I may ask the maestro to play this number......
Happy scrubbing, little Noorling.

Mentioned "Singing In The Rain" on purpose?? Hee hee hee....would I do THAT to you, Droopers? Moi? Why, I'm not THAT mean.

 

We are watching, already I am seeing some spots on the bottom leaves of some varieties, so I have been pulling off the leave and wea re starting to spray copper already as well Thanks for sharing your experiment information. WE really appreciate knowing what is working or not working.

 

Bravo...enjoyed the latest episode of life at the lotties. Your crops are looking lush and green with all the rain. Hopefully not enough to cause blight.
I always enjoy pulling weeds right after the rain because they are plump and easy to pull out. Weeds seems to thrive in wet or drought.

Gardening, walking, housework or just relaxing...music make the task more pleasurable!

 

Oh Sjoerd, wow, is what I say every time I see your garden. Alot of hard work goes into something that wonderful. Here in Michigan nothing is that close to having vege's or fruit. We started out with way too much rain this spring, that the farmers couldn't even get their fields of corn planted on time. They say Knee high of the fourth of July-well not this year,farmers will be lucky if its ankle high.
As for my garden I have toms planted this year just a few pea plants, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers. ahh still no cover for my greenhouse again this year. But everyone else does fine with "no greenhouse" or covering, just an open garden. So I am going to make this work. We have installed a sprinkler system that waters and drips down. I been reading that this drip system may not be good on my toms so I am watching this very carefully. haven't taken any pict of my garden yet this year (we had more rain again this week too)maybe after all this rain stops I 'll be able to get out and get some picts taken. Though mine looks nothing compared to yours.
Thanks for the inspiration you give and your walk through. I love going through your garden especially your flower gardens with your trellis u have through out.

 

Yes you are, and you know it too.

I think I'll try the Dance of the Knights later today. I've still got some scrubbing to do.