The Veg Plot at Midsummer

21st June is officially Midsummer's Day, but it doesn't seem like Summer here! After an exceptionally dry Spring we have had a lot of rain during June. Although we humans see this as undesirable, the plants have been very relieved to get a good drink at last. Many of those in my garden have put on a real growth spurt. This post is really a sort of Situation Report...

The Oriental veg are doing well. We have been using these as salad ingredients. I deliberately sowed the seeds very thickly because of this. If I had wanted to grow them to full maturity I would have sowed them much further apart. The Bekana (on right in photo below, with yellowish-green leaves) is my favourite because it has a thick succulent rib as well as the leafy bit.

Mustard, Komatsuna and Bekana

Komatsuna "Torasan"

Bekana "Tokyo" - beginning to bolt now

Mustard "Osaka Purple"

The Daikon radish is "Daikoning" as Ali from Mud Pie would say... With the sudden abundance of water, the roots are swelling very rapidly. How will I know when to harvest them, folks? Is it simply when they look big enough to be useable? Do they go tough if you leave them to grow very big?

The cucumber plants are beginning to set fruit at last. The foliage of these plants is looking very ragged as a result of the strange weather conditions we have had - especially the wind. I think they would prefer to be in a greenhouse right now!

The Hamburg Parsley is doing OK, in an unobtrusive sort of way. The foliage looks very like flat-leaf parsley. I have tasted it and it is a bit like parsley, but maybe not so strong. I can't tell what the roots are like really, but I suspect they are still very tiny.

The "Little Gem" lettuces have been my best ever. They have hearted-up nicely and have been completely untroubled by slugs. In our supermarkets you see the hearts of Little Gem on sale, but never a whole lettuce of this type. I think this is a shame, because all but the very outer leaves are good to eat, and it seems such a waste to throw away so much of the lettuce.

The Celeriac is looking promising. I'm feeding it with general-purpose plant-food once a week and watering it every day. As the "bulb" grows it splits the lower leaves, which flop over. You should remove these and any sideshoots that appear.



The only place I could squeeze in a few Endives was at the base of the Broad Beans. This is not an ideal position, and I rather fear the Endives will bolt before they are fully mature. I find them to be very temperamental. If the soil is too dry they bolt, and if they don't get enough sun they go thin and leggy. They would prefer some really moisture-retentive soil in full sun.

Finally, there are lots of flowers on the tomatoes, but the only fruits that have formed are on the bush-type ones. The big ones, like this "Rainbow Beefsteak", have a long way to go yet.