The weather was pretty good for a Bank Holiday with some long sunny periods and warm. We had a little light rain which started early in the evening and continued into the night.
It was our first visit to the plot since Saturday morning’s frost and the news was a bit mixed. The good news was that our carrots have started to germinate under their environmesh frame.
Our first sowing of peas “Carouby de Maussane” are also pushing their first tender shoots through the soil. We've normally sown this variety in the luxury of the home greenhouse and transplanted them into the plot. It’s not proved very successful at all in the past so this year they've been sown directly in the ground but a couple of weeks later.
Now for the news of Saturday morning’s frost damage. It’s caught the foliage of our kiwi, broad beans and grape vine.
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| Broad Beans - Witkeim Manita |
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| Kiwi |
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| Grape Vine - Boskoop Glory |
Surprising the most damage seems to be to our broad beans which I thought were supposed to be as tough as old boots. Obviously they've put on some soft growth due to a few weeks of mild nights and a frost has been a little bit of a shock. The kiwi is often damaged by frost and usually makes a full recovery although we've yet to see it produce a fruit. That’s another problem altogether though and down to pollination. Not all the shoots on the grape vine have been damage so I'm sure that too will make a good recovery. I noticed that one or two potato shoots had also been caught by the frost even though they’d been covered with some straw.
Apart from the broad beans, which look very sorry for themselves, I'm anticipating everything will make a full recovery. Of course there is no way of knowing at the moment the effect that cold morning has had on all the fruit that is just setting or is still at the flower stage.
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Let's hope the damage is only temporary. I'm surprised that the Broad Beans suffered so badly. Like you, I though they would survive pretty much anything.
ReplyDeleteI hope it is frost damage to the beans and not anything more mysterious.
DeleteWhat a shame, I do hope you've seen the last of it.
ReplyDeleteApart from the beans the damage is fairly routine as we always seem to have a frost or a few very cold nights at the beginning of May.
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