Sun, sun, sun....

   So much sun does get a bit boring really. Over the last week there has been a few rain showers and a day or so overcast otherwise it has been sun all the way! That means watering and lots of plant growth. I am now spending the better part of one hour in the evening going round the plants watering. Still, the results are very good so I will persist.

Galina tomatoes in the poly tunnel

 

Nigels outdoor green chili (actually outdoors!)   

    The tomatoes are loving the warm to hot weather. The plants are looking good and every day there are more tomatoes set. The Galina tomatoes which were the first to start to set are now starting to ripen. They are a yellow grape variety although on the larger side. The outside tomatoes are doing well and I am watching out for them as the chickens will be at them as soon as they show any sign of ripening. I have supplemented my tomato plants by taking some of the shoots that would normally be thrown away and potting them up. They soon produce a good root system and at the end of the day they are "free" tomato plants. Much of the transplanting is now         done and my attention turns to things like    "sorting out the compost heap" which I have  done and pruning the vine, also done. That  involves getting out the long ladder and  being perched some twenty feet up in the air
 reaching out to cut off the shoots with a pair    of secateurs.  

Wautoma cucumber in the poly tunnel

   I have sorted out the meat chicken coop  and the associated run and also cleaned out  the turkey coop which is housing two geese  this summer. Six more meat chickens have    now  arrived and two geese.
   Charlotte potatoes are now being dug on a   regular basis and it is a good crop. I am      sure it will improve as I make my way down the rows. A new sowing of coriander has been made in the poly tunnel and the peas there are now coming to an end. More lettuce transplanted and I am fearful of a lettuce shortage with the failure of  the salad bowl and Little Gem lettuce which was supposed to be a stop gap between the last of the Jack Ice and the start of the Great Lakes! The next sowing of lettuce has germinated but it no where near ready to transplant yet. May be we will not eat very much lettuce? Experience says if I have a shortage whatever is short will be required. All in all its go go go!