This week In Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden we will be planting out some winter broccoli in to new vegetable cages. We have two identical cages put up side by side. One is covered with white insect mesh and the other in covered with new black insect mesh. We are running a trial to see if the plants grow differently according to the colour of the mesh. We love the look of the new black insect mesh so are keen for it to perform well We have already started using it elsewhere in the Kitchen Garden and it seems to be going well.
We will also be pinching out the tips of tomato plants in the greenhouse. Once the plants have set six trusses of tomatoes we take out the growing tip so that the plants can concentrate their energies on growing large, ripe fruits. Our beefsteak tomatoes are groaning under the weight of the huge fruits, so these will be pinched out with three trusses per plant.
Our cucumber plants are currently attempting to take over the whole greenhouse. We will continue tying these in to the roof bars. This gives them plenty of room to grow and casts dappled shade onto the tomatoes below. You need a small step ladder to harvest the cucumbers though...
As always we will be continuing to water and feed all our crops. We have had some heavy rain recently, but it is always best to check the beds. Last week we harvested some new potatoes after a weekend when two inches of rain fell on the garden, yet the soil they were growing in was still bone dry. We always make a point of wandering round the whole garden sticking a finger into the soil to test for moisture, no matter what the weather has been like.
This week we will be harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, new potatoes, broccoli, kale, salad leaves, blueberries, tayberries and raspberries.
