Triumph and disaster

At last we've had a couple of dry days and that hot yellowy thing in the sky even put in a few sporadic appearances. It only served to illuminate a growing disaster on the leek front, as I went through the bed and counted 10 that had definitely gone to seed. This equates to just under half my crop and if any more go then I won't be making many entries of leeks at shows this Autumn. They certainly haven't gone short of water and I think in view of tales of woe being recounted to me from all four corners of the land this is most probably weather related. A very warm Spring followed by a deluge of water over the last month or so, continuously low-ish temperatures, dull, miserable days have all contributed to sending the plants out of kilter so they don't know whether they're coming or going. You have to be philosophical about it and at least we've got some early leeks for the kitchen now!

One of my four cucumber plants wilted over night and closer examination revealed a rotting stem close to soil level. This could be cucumber wilt which I was recently fascinated to learn is a virus that overwinters in the belly of a little striped beetle so it could be that I lose the other three plants as the beetle traverses across the greenhouse border. I haven't spotted any beetles and to be fair when i've lost plants in the past it has only ever been one rather than all of them, so perhaps I just have a considerate little chappie who wants to be my pet? When I find him I shall pop him in a box and call him John.

I had a few Sungold cherry toms ripening in the conservatory. HAD! The conservatory is temporarily an Oscar-free zone as I also have my onions in there for now. Whilst Leesa and the kids were watching a recent deluge from the conservatory door, unsupervised little fingers were helping themselves to my ripe Sungolds behind their backs. Quite funny now I grant you, but woe betide if it happens in 2 months time......

I said a few days ago that I was going to leave my shallots in a pile and leave them to it, but the recent cool, moist weather meant that the tops just weren't drying out properly and I was concerned they could all rot if I didn't do something about it. So I topped and tailed them, having first checked that any decent ones had rounded up and any flat sides had disappeared. I was still left with quite a quantity of split and misshapen ones that will be used for pickling or cooking.

However, all is not doom and gloom. I have a decent selection of pickling shallots this year although I doubt very much I'll be giving Sherie Plumb, Andrew Jones, Ray Bassett or Ray Sale sleepless nights. Despite harvesting at 27mm I still had quite a few that swelled to larger than the 30mm maximum, a few that just about went through the ring with some pressure, and others that were evidently still at the 27mm mark. Weird.

And my Dorian peas have germinated so I'm hugely looking forward to showing Andy Murray how to beat the odds at Malvern in September. Remember Kipling Andy! I may have joked about winning the National with peas last year, but this year I really, really mean it.