Reaping the Rewards. 10th July 2020.

The potatoes are up and bagged and will keep us supplied until early next year. We grow earlies rather than main crop as there is a blight in the soil at the allotment so we always dig up the crop as soon as we see signs of the blight on the leaves. If left the blight would attack the potatoes. They come up slightly before their alloted time but the kestral variety which we have been growing for the last few years have still produced a good crop. Kestrals are resistant to slug and wire worm too and are a delicious slightly waxy potato.

The carrots are our best crop ever. We have grown carrots on and off over the years but never very succesfully. The main problem is that the seeds are so tiny that they are hard to sow evenly spaced. Left too close together you end up with small carrots but if you try to thin them it allows the carrot root fly in and you end up with half eaten carrots. This year we discovered carrot seeds ready spaced on tapes of tissue paper (Thompson and Morgan). You just lay the tape on damp ground and cover with a sprinkle of soil. What a revelation. We have evenly spaced carrots which are a decent size and no carrot root fly damage.

We learn something new every year which makes gardening interesting. We also spend as much time trying to avoid or protect our crops from pests and diseases as we do growing. It’s just the way it is especially if you want organic fruit and vegetables.