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Finished the modifications to the first compost bay and spent a couple of hours shredding material. Also finished the new bed, digging in the horse manure that was added last week. Winter brassica plants should be arriving this coming weekend. More tomatoes turning red and plenty of hot chillis and sweet peppers. Still removing aubergines showing signs of mould. Greenhouse much drier now so hoping I'm over the worst. Picked and ate a couple more cucamelons. They aren't fruiting very well. I followed advice I saw on a video and grew them through my tomato vines but now I realise they are too shaded and not getting enough sun.
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Collected the shredder yesterday. Modified first compost bay with corrugated sheeting and wire mesh. Now ready to divide it into two sections once we have the materials. Tried the shredder. After a little adjustment it seems to do the job. Now afraid the money maker aubergines have a soft spot fungal problem. More have rotted. Almost certainly made worse by the conditions. Warm and damp. Not much I can do now. I stopped misting them but now the bugs are starting to multiple. On bright side, first red tomato - I ate it, delicious; and first strawberries, so much better than any from a supermarket - so delicious. Snails still trying to get into the brassicas.
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Spent the morning pulling up nettles and brambles which had grown over some old corrugated sheets that came off an old barn years ago. I want to upgrade the compost area into a managed system as recommended by Monty Don on Gardeners World. The Webmaster remembered about them and guessed they'd be the right size to line and partition the bays. Fortunately they are, otherwise the scratches and stings would have been for nothing. Going to collect a shredder tomorrow, second hand from the Webmaster's dad. Hope making compost will be as easy as Monty made it look!
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Added extra support for the collapsed tomato plant. It looks ok but a lot of small green tomatoes knocked off. What to do with them? Spotted a few starting to turn red at last. Patty pan squash continue to provide three or four a day but still losing significant number to blossem end rot. Plenty of small butternut squash forming too. Finished filling new bed with soil plus a layer of horse manure. Needs digging in. Evening meal salad comprising all home produce including first kohlrabi and season's first beetroot.
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Moved soil from heap to new bed. Heap almost gone. Will be ready to start more managed composting regime soon. Harvested final beans from the oldest, autumn sown, bean plants and dug them up. Covered in rust spots. Made more space for the french beans which had been crowded out. Put higher cloche hoops over the broccoli. Cabbages and cauliflowers looking OK. In green house final check tonight one of the large tomato vines collapsed and it was raining small green tomatoes. Hope it was poor support and weight of fruit rather than something more serious. Picked black currents and collected windfall cob nuts.
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Potato crop (early Cassablanca) still disappointing. Nicely formed, nice size potatoes and delicious but very few. Had expected a lot more. Hope the main crop is more bountiful. Feeling a bit more optimistic about the aubergines. I think the few that rotted had been pressed against the window and got wet from the condensation when the weather changed. They were too crowded until I moved out the squashes last week.
Spent hours trying to identify what is causeing the discolouration and spots on the leaves of the peppers, chillis and now tomatoes. Some of those outside are just too wet but might be more serious in the greenhouse. Fungal infection or insect damage. Spent ages removing aphids and whitefly. How do they survive the sprays?
