Soaked It Up

The winds of Monday had died down although Tuesday was still a blustery day with some short showers.

We'd decided on a visit to the plot in the afternoon to see how it had coped with the wind and rain of the last few days. Our sweetcorn, cardoons and runner beans were at the top of the inspection list. Our sweetcorn has survived but is leaning rather alarmingly in an easterly direction.

We gave some thought to trying to straighten the plants up but decided that might do more harm than good so the plants have been left to their own devices. I’ve no idea how the crop will be affected we’ll have to wait and see as there’s not much we can do about it now.

We have two cardoon plants. One has been devastated by the wind and will need to be cut down to allow access to our autumn fruiting raspberries. The other which has some protection from the wind from our plot neighbour’s shed has survived intact.

Our runner beans, which I was most concerned about as they are in the middle of producing an excellent harvest, have survived the wind very well. Our last couple of climbing Cobra French beans had already become detached at the top of the frame but still remain almost upright even after all the winds. I had expected to see more leaf damage but they've survived very well.

We've already had 54.6mm about 2 inches of rain this month but the soil has soaked it up like a giant sponge. 

This bed was cleared of its crop of Marfona potatoes and it dug over very nicely. The ground was surprisingly dry considering all the rain of the last few days and a few more showers aren’t going to do any harm especially if these very breezy conditions continue.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett