Strawberries Survive the Rain

After overnight rain the rest of Sunday remained dry but once again with a strong to gale force wind blowing it wasn't all that pleasant outside.

We decided a trip to the plot was required as the tomatoes in the greenhouse would probably be ready for a water. It was a chance to see how much damage the wind and rain had done at the plot. Surprisingly we had plenty of strawberries to pick.

These are the variety Marshmello which have stood up to the rain very well. The weed suppressant membrane we had put down rather than straw has worked well and stopped the fruits form being splashed with mud during spells of heavy rain. We had a number of fruits damaged by slugs and snails but only a couple of small fruits had gone mouldy in last week’s damp conditions.

Our rhubarb clumps have enjoyed the cooler wetter weather this year and are continuing to produce succulent stems for harvesting. 

Last year our rhubarb suffered badly in the very dry condition and the harvest was small as the roots dried up from the lack of rain.

Our courgettes are struggling. I’ve never had a problem growing them before. I sow the seeds, they all grow, I plant them out and have more courgettes than I know what to do with. However, this year some of this plants definitely aren't enjoying the weather.

We've a couple of plants looking like this. I don’t think that they will recover. I think that slugs, helped by all the wet and windy weather, have nibbled through the stem close to the ground effectively killing off the plant. If all our other courgette plants survive we should have an ample supply to see us through summer. Perhaps some decent weather would help!