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Tuesday, 21 July 2015

And the show goes on...

Well, my Summer-maturing Endives worked as well as usual - in other words they were a complete waste of space!


Every single one of them has bolted.


Ironically, both of my two endive varieties are ones supposedly ideal for Summer cultivation. They are both ones I bought in France. I want to quote you some words from the packets. The variety "Chicorée Frisée de Meaux" says "...resistant bien à la chaleur et à la sécheresse", which translates as "...has good resistance to heat and dryness". The other one is "Caillard" which simply says "Pour recolte d'Été" (for Summer harvest). Hmmm.

I'm not giving up though. I have another lot coming on. Maybe they'll do better.


In fact, I have a third batch as well, though they seem to be fated too. I sowed the seeds thickly in some pots, and then thinned them out when they had formed their first pair of leaves. However, the day after I thinned them, one of the pots was decimated by birds (presumably pigeons), and then the second pot was attacked by slugs! Slugs and snails don't often go for Endives, on account of their bitter taste, but I guess sometimes they enjoy a change!


Still, I had enough left, so it wasn't a disaster. Nevertheless I felt that it would be a good idea to get them into the ground ASAP, so I have removed the bolted Endives and replaced them with a mix of young Endives and Lettuces of various sorts.




Over there on the left you can see my row of Spring Onions too (rather beaten down by recent heavy rain). I have never had much success with Spring Onions, but these ones don't look too bad. They are still very small, but doing OK so far, so you never know...


Prompted by the completion of this task, I also sowed a tray each of Radicchio and (more) Endives for growing in the Autumn. My successional sowing this year has been spot-on, hasn't it?!
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9 comments:

  1. Sue Garrett21 July 2015 at 13:01

    I'm the same with spring onions nowadays but in the past they were just fine - what has changed?
    "I'm not giving up though. I have another lot coming on. Maybe they'll do better." would make a good gardening mantra,

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    Replies
    1. Mark Willis21 July 2015 at 13:08

      It's an interesting point. Are you using the same technique for growing the Spring Onions? Are you growing them in compost or allotment soil? Are you buying your seeds from the same source? There are so many variables!

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    2. Sue Garrett21 July 2015 at 20:38

      We used to direct sow on the plot with success and then that became unsuccessful so we have tried filling the drills with compost, as we do for carrots. Then we tried growing in large pots using various composts and now in the Woodblocx filled with topsoil which look like yours. We've also tried different varieties of seed.

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  2. Daphne Gould21 July 2015 at 13:38

    It is the way of things. I've pulled some bolting lettuces. I can't seem to get them to mature in mid July - August. But I keep trying. I've got another succession growing indoors to plant out in about a week.

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  3. Michelle21 July 2015 at 14:26

    Endive and escarole always bolt in my summer garden. I think the difference between regular and bolt resistant varieties is like that of cilantro/coriander - difficult to detect.

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  4. Jo21 July 2015 at 14:39

    Perhaps endives are best left for growing through autumn and winter. My spring onions have done really well, I shall do a post about them soon but yours aren't looking bad, they do take some time to reach a decent size.

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  5. Jo@awholeplotoflove21 July 2015 at 15:10

    I've always struggled to grown spring onions, both in the soil & compost & using different varieties too but then they tale a lot longer to mature than I think they do! It's a shame about your endive I hope you get a good crop from your new plantings.

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  6. becky308621 July 2015 at 19:05

    Everything bolts early here. Yours look like they got quite large before they did bolt though.

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  7. Margaret21 July 2015 at 19:23

    That's too bad about the endive - but it's great that your are not giving up. Sometimes it seems as if all it takes is a bit of a tweak in terms of timing for us to go from famine to feast.

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