As for my leeks I am mildly happy with their progress although I have noticed a seed head starting to emerge from one of them. I had expected this as the growth at the top started to elongate (see photo below). This can be due to a sudden growth spurt induced by a deluge of water i'm told, but is also a fair indicator it's about to go to seed, and the latter has now happened.
I may have another 3 or 4 that appear to be going the same route, but the majority look sound thus far. Earlier in the year I attended a talk by John Soulsby and he ventured that leeks go to seed because of a lack of water and not because of temperature extremes. Well, these leeks certainly haven't suffered a drought recently, so I can only assume I didn't give sufficent water to some of them when the were under the lights in Winter or in the greenhouse during Spring. I can accept this small failure rate and the rest of them look good, and I now have 18" collars on them.
My ground is absolutely sodden, wetter even than a whore's knickers, and I had to run for cover to escape another amazing downpour Sunday afternoon. This is now quite comfortably the worst year weather wise that I can ever recall for growing exhibition veg and as I write I'm awaiting yet another deluge after yet another 'amber alert' was issued for our area. Lots of growers all over Britain are bemoaning the lack of sunshine so anyone winning a red ticket this season will have done exceptionally well. I'm now starting to fear for onions in the ground, the Vento and onions sets 'Setton' that I'm banking on for a set of 4 for the Millennium collection class at Malvern. Everything else should be fine (certainly anything under cover) but I don't think we need much more precipitation, and when the sun shines you can almost hear the plants growing. My Blyton Belle marrows have started to extend and I am now tying them to the vertical supports. I won't be allowing any fruit to form for the first 3' or so. The NVS have included a class for marrows in this year's National Championships, and despite the fact they've made a huge error in calling for a dish of 3 rather than 2 and expecting novices to enter, I shall be attempting to bench a set.
My runner beans were sown late with half an eye on getting a set for Malvern but it won't be the end of the World if I fail as i've always considered runner beans a bonus entry. These are just starting to get going now.
My globe beet 'Pablo', another requirement for the Millennium class, are at the seedling stage in this old water tank. I have other rows alongside my leek bed so I should have plenty to choose from.
My phone has been bleeping like mad with email blight alerts so i'm really glad I sprayed with Bayer Disease Control as a preventative measure. In dry moments (!) I've re-sprayed the foliage and so far so good. It's quite interesting watching the online blight map as the little 'x marks the spots' creep ever closer to your postcode area. So far we've only had notifications of full Smith periods rather than confirmed cases in LE11 but it's nice to know you're prepared.
I had set up my usual yearly crop of Kestrel potatoes in buckets for a local show last Saturday, the idea being that I could bring them indoors if frost was forecast in Spring. In the end time issues prevented me from competing in the show but as it's been 14 weeks since setting them away I thought I'd best start drying them off as the compost is absolutely sodden. I have 8 buckets in all and I laid them on their sides to let any surplus water run out and prevent any more rain getting in. A quick furtle in the compost failed to reveal any decent tubers anyway, but they may be a little deeper so we'll have to see. I don't get great shaped spuds in the rigid buckets but they were always good enough to win locally, so these may end up in the kitchen or for trug displays.
And my onions in pots continue to swell and the foliage still seems to have a fair bit of vigour so I'm wondering how these will end up as I'm currently averaging 16.5-17.5" circumference. I've never had onions this big at this stage of the season before and I've been advised to forget about the 1.5kg class and just let them grow. The only concern I have is being able to get a matching set shape-wise, as when you look at them all closely there are a variety of different forms, some squat, some rounded and some a more elongated flask shape (the shape I personally prefer). There is one that is bigger than the rest and I think could end up 4 or 5 lbs which will make up one of my set of 6 at Harrogate where you only need a single specimen. I've cut right back on the watering now to encourage ripening and swelling, and also to minimise my chances of them getting botrytis or other soft rots. Having the foliage supported with no chance of it flopping over and thus ending all future growth really allows you to squeeze out every last drop of weight potential.
And finally, I have to say that I was unashamedly rooting for Roger Federer in Sunday's Wimbledon tennis final but Andy Murray's tears at the end almost had me getting my glass eye out for a polish. If he'd only say sorry for wearing that Paraguay shirt before the 2006 World Cup Finals I might even start to support the miserable little snivelling sod. I mean....I always support Scotland when they get to the World Cup Finals! When I say I support Scotland......I mean that my grandad once told me that his great grandad supported them in a World Cup Finals once.
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