Friday 14 February 2014

Sunshine after the storm

I feel almost guilty that we have not been the victim of a flood, because so many other people have! On Wednesday on our way home we crossed the River Thames at Marlow, where the flooding is really bad, so we were able to see for ourselves what the situation is like. Fortunately we got home before the worst of the storm hit, and it was a rough night, though I don't think we had 100 mph winds like some places did. Yesterday I was out in the garden taking a close look.

There is not a lot growing in the garden at present, so damage was insignificant, but I did have to re-tie a couple of the PSB plants and hammer their stakes in a bit further. They had been loosened by the constant buffetting of the wind.

PSB "Early Purple Sprouting"

The PSB plants lost a couple of leaves, but otherwise they look OK (though too small for my liking!). The shoots are forming nicely:

PSB "Red Arrow"

I'm just a bit worried by one thing. Take a closer look at the stem of the leaf seen in the photo above at bottom left:


What has caused that, I wonder? At first I though it was chafing, caused by rubbing against something, but it doesn't appear to be near anything, and in any case that wouldn't explain the little black pinhead dots surrounding the "abrasion". Is this a sign of disease, perhaps? I'll be keeping an eye on the plants to see if any more of these appear.

Elsewhere, the plants seemed to be enjoying the brief lull between storms, and basking in a bit of unaccustomed sunshine:

Crocuses


Crocus

The rhubarb has made another couple of leaves since I last looked. Just need them to get bigger now...

Rhubarb "Timperley Early"

The weather forecast is for another storm to cross the British Isles today, so it sounds unlikley that I will be doing any gardening!

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P.S. Since I wrote this, the wind and rain have indeed returned. I bet sales of polytunnels are booming this year!

6 comments:

  1. I'm glad to hear that you escaped the worst of the storm. You know your weather is bad when we hear about it on the news here. Weather only makes the international news when it is particularly bad. And I love those crocuses. I keep hoping for mine that are planted by the front door to get into big clumps, but I'm not sure they like it there.

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  2. Looking at your pictures Mark it is almost as if the bad weather has never happened to you, although I am sure it has

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  3. I feel the same like you about the storms and flood because my situation here in Croatia is similar to yours in England. Only 120 km away from here, rivers flooded wast regions of land and I am thinking of sowing the peas!... Have no idea what was that on your plants.

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  4. It looks like chafing to me too. Could something have blown against it and damaged the outer 'skin'. Something dark coloured that left spots? Just guessing. Have you removed it?

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  5. We've got wind and rain again here, though it can't do much more damage to my greenhouse than it's already done. It's a good job it's quite mild and we're not getting frosts as there's hardly any panes of polycarbonate left in place to protect the plants I'm overwintering in there. They needed replacing really anyway, so I'm not too upset. It won't be long until rhubarb will be on the menu going by your photo. I've inherited a decent patch on my new allotment so I'm looking forward to a few crumbles.

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  6. Not gardening weather at all! My rhubarb was on its way out but has been covered up again by some garden compost.

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