Shoots and leaves...
The whims and woes, highs and lows, of trying to grow fruit and veg in Nordic latitudes.
Having resorted to The Fence to save our not so indigenous saskatoons from the indigenous wildlife (actually white-tails are not so indigenous at all), we now have to worry about the birds. I am inspired by the fishing line tactics used on the Tori in Helsinki so will probably do something similar here. It would be devastating if we never got to taste these! I have no idea when saskatoons are ripe to pick but we'll keep an eye on them. They will certainly be easier to harvest than the sea buckthorn berries of which we inevitably lose more than half to the magpies before we get round to picking them. Trouble is, if you pick them too soon, they just taste evil.
0 Comments
Things are making very slow progress. The French beans don't like the rain and it looks like the strawberries will produce a profusion of massive fruits with no flavour, unless we get some sunshine. Still picking asparagus and I managed to weed the carrots, parsnips, beetroot and mangold though it was hard work as the seedlings are barely one centimetre high. I was tempted to leave the weeds until the vegetables are bigger and leafier and easier to see but it was getting a bit over-crowded under the fleece. The broad beans (flageolets) are doing fine.
The aubergines are starting to produce those beautiful dark purple leaves that gradually turn green with deep red veins. The coriander has taken really well and the red peppers are in flower too. Despite the miserable weather outside, everything is doing really well in the tunnel, probably because the heat is reasonably moderate. Daytime temperatures are reaching 35-45 Celsius max.
Yesterday was quite cool outside (which is often the case at mid-summer!) so it was bearable in the polytunnel and I managed to string up the cucumbers, weed everywhere and water everything. The tomatoes are already in flower and some of the butternut squash are starting to produce male flowers. Hurricane is doing very well.
Finally found some time to start a Facebook page for Rosendalfarm. I'm not promising to update it every minute of every day but given the rainy weather, I should be able to post something in between the rare sunny spells. For the time being there are just a few photos most of which are already on here!
We're building a compost pile out on one of the small fields behind the pond. We will be layering peat, farm manure, more peat and then garden rubbish. This won't be used until next year. Thomas is getting to grips with the new trailer.
We still have this bitterly cold north wind which is spinning around the Baltics with gusts ripping through the polytunnel... it is remarkably resistant. Outside, the wind is accelerating evaporation, so the surface of the vegetable garden is rock hard. It didn't rain in the night so I have been watering by hand.
I planted out the parsley, some French beans that I germinated in pots in the polytunnel, filled the gaps in the broad beans and the other French beans and also sowed some radishes and Mesclun which will need to be covered. Picked some more asparagus too and did a bit of weeding. Everything is looking fine but could do with a bit more rain. It could be a bumper year for berries but the bees don't like the wind. The strawberry plants look amazing with huge clusters of white flowers on every plant. These are Korona - an early-cropping variety with exceptionally large fruits. Let's hope they taste as good as they look. There were a lot of events in the local community this weekend but we didn't get to many of them. I did buy a few herbs at Tahvoset's open day and planted them in the veg garden this evening (except for the coriander which is in the polytunnel).
This afternoon we tied up the greenhouse tomatoes and I also planted out the cucumbers, aubergines and the red peppers in the polytunnel. This afternoon I planted the kale and some french beans in the vegetable garden and did some more weeding. I also planted out some parsley grown from seed. It is going to rain tonight so everything will get watered in nicely. This evening I planted out the bell peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and tomatoes in the polytunnel and watered everything, Also picked some (more) asparagus and did some weeding in the veggie garden. Planted some marigolds around the carrots.
Peter farrowed the back field several times. Tomorrow we will pop over to Tahvoset nursery for their open day, drink a coffee and walk around. Not planning to buy anything (though I would like to get some larch - one of my favourite trees). Tom starts work there on Monday. There is also a big expo in Karis. It's one of those weekends when everything is happening: Red Cross flea market in Fiskars, PojoDagen (live music and food) in Pojo and an antiques and flea market in Ekenas. Probably won't make it to all of them. It's still windy and at times the chill factor makes working outside not so fun. This weekend we have been weeding in the polytunnel and planted out the Uchiki Kuri (potimarron squash) and the Autumn Crown butternuts which we started indoors. We installed the frame for the cucumbers and have planted some "Shirley" tomatoes in growbags in the polytunnel. Next weekend I will plant out the aubergines, the peppers and the cucumbers. Peter planted the Annabella potatoes and I planted the leeks which we got from the neighbour. Both are going in the vegetable garden extension. The broad beans have germinated nicely and are off to a good start. The asparagus are still cropping nicely too. No sign of the runner beans, french beans, carrots, beetroot or parsnips for the time being but the rucola germinated quickly and I've covered it with fine netting as the tiny leaves were already being nibbled. The bees have worked hard on the gooseberries so I can probably cover those soon to protect them from the nibblers (deer - Peter saw a roe deer strolling through the clover field next to the polytunnel).
We went up to Rosendal to check the new watering system in the Saskatoon orchard. Not only are the new pipes working perfectly, but the bees have found a new place to drink. There were bees like this one, sipping water, along the whole length of the pipe! Tom says this is a beautiful example of a symbiotic relationship between technology and nature. I guess he's right. I'm starting off some courgettes indoors in small pots. Also sowing some French beans and basil in pots in the polytunnel.
We put in a solid day's graft today. Started after the rain stopped, around 10am and worked right through until about 8pm. We managed to get a huge amount of work done, especially planting. No frosts forecast this week (no rain either) but the forecasts have been rubbish recently, so we have pretty much given up relying on them. It was supposed to be sunny on Saturday but we had cold winds, rain, hail the size of peas and thick cloud. Peter installed a drip watering system in the saskatoon garden (orchard?). These are cheap and cheerful tubes made from recycled tyres. They are porous so the water seeps through along the length of the tube. And it works! We had to relocate one of the big water containers but we will figure out that arrangement at a later date. Haven't weeded around the sakatoons yet though! In the vegetable garden we made some more raised beds (out with the mint and the French sorrel) and planted two sorts of carrots (Nantaise 2 and Rote Reisen 2) and two sorts of beetroot and two varieties of parsnip (Gladiator and White Gem). The carrots are under plastic (those cheap and cheerful tunnel thingies with holes in from Lidl, we took the remaining stock from our local branch). I also planted some French beans (Fin de Bagnols), a few runner beans and some parsley and rocket. And I planted out the globe artichokes that I had wintered in the root cellar (they don't look too happy at the moment). We weeded the paths and around the blueberries - in fact I must've spent several hours weeding today. I also weeded inside the polytunnel. The pumpkins and squash have germinated at long last. They were smothered in weeds but now they look fine. Everything needed watering which takes ages as we haven't hooked up the pump yet (because it is broken and we will probably have to buy a new one). Peter managed to get the lawnmower working (oil change etc) and so he cut the grass around the house in Rosendal and around all the fruit bushes in Oventräsk. The fruit bushes (blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries) are covered in flowers. I think we are in for a brilliant crop providing the wind stops for long enough to let the bees do their stuff.
We also earthed up the Timo early potatoes. The ground is still quite cold so although they are covered in fleece, I'm not convinced we will have a bumper crop in time for Juhannus. Pulled some more rhubarb but I think this will be for giving away as it seems to give me mouth ulcers (just like mandarines and oranges). Argh! And the big fields are now planted, R is growing barley up at Rosendal. He had the whole family out there this weekend getting the fields ploughed and scattered, as it were. Hard work when the ground is so heavy. They smell wonderful. And, there are lots more popping through so we'll be eating them for a while. I'm not complaining. Will probably steam them slightly while cooking the rice and then stir them into the risotto. I don't have any white wine here so I am going to use sparkling apple juice (just a dash). And I will also stir in a few wood sorrel leaves which I think will add a nice citrus tang.
Asparagus risotto is now on the menu. The spears look really good this year, thicker than previous years. It might be all the rain, or maybe they liked the mulch (straw) we threw on in the autumn. I have so far resisted temptation to harvest them as all the books say the plants need to be left to develop for at least three years after planting. But the three years are up, so there is no stopping me now! I love showing the asparagus bed to visitors as most people have never seem them growing before and are surprised to see how the spears seem to pop up randomly from the ground!
And after we've finished harvesting them, we let the fronds grow - they are very pretty and look wonderful in a bouquet or in a vase with roses, or anything else that is vibrantly colourful. It has been so cold and windy we have decided to install the full-length doors on the polytunnel. I was worried that the winter squash seeds might have rotted before germination so dug a few up but they were fine. Just not showing any signs of germinating. We need to increase the temperature in the tunnel (we have no heating in there - we rely totally on Nordic sunshine!) It has been getting up into the 30s inside the tunnel during the day but at nighttime the temperatures go right down to almost zero.
The problem is, the temperature can get way too hot when the doors are closed. That is not a problem before the seeds germinate, but once they are through, they are fragile and need protection from the heat. And lots of water. The weeds seem to be doing fine. Time to unroll the weed barrier. |
Archives
July 2020
|