Shoots and leaves...
The whims and woes, highs and lows, of trying to grow fruit and veg in Nordic latitudes.
It was Open Day at the local plant nursery Tahvoset and it was packed.
I bought some more strawberries (Korona) to fill the gaps in the new row and also three raspberries. it seems a bit silly buying raspberries when we have a forest full of them but, the wild ones are so small, sometimes it is nice to have the bigger ones for making cakes and desserts. We also bought a Mahonia which I will plant in Espoo (the bees love Mahonia flowers) and I also bought another red gooseberry bush. They are so delicious and we never seem to have enough after the deer have taken their share. We were very envious of Tahvoset's automatic watering system - they have some huge polytunnels and everything is automated. It is a massive nursery (the biggest in Finland by a long way) having grown from a tiny family business to being a major Nordic grower than exports to Russian and around the Baltics, but I guess they are also feeling the pinch at the moment due to the "dip" in the rouble. So, with the dry, sunny weather we had to spend a few hours watering everything (not automatic...). P&T have already set up the pump and the hosing so we can water the fruit bushes and the pumpkins and squash without having to lug watering cans across the field. But up in Rosendal the water pressure out of the well is not great so it takes forever to water the saskatoons and the blackcurrants. Nearly everything we planted is coming on nicely. The french beans are through, as are the carrots, beetroot and parsnips. The polytunnel veg are doing fine as well. The fruit bushes look really healthy this year. All in all, we must be at least a fortnight ahead of last year's planting schedule. I still want to plant some rainbow mangold and Carita has some leeks ready for us to plant out. This week I will also plant out the brussels sprouts and, I still need to buy some more tomato plants. Was going to do that today but didn't have time. Did plant a few rows of lettuce in a raised bed in the polytunnel. We (actually, the neighbouring farmer's son) are excavating the ditch on the back field. P reckons that if we improve the drainage out there we can either use it for grazing the sheep or for growing something. I think it is too cold and dark (and already occupied by too many deer). Will take some more photos of everything soon.
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July 2020
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