Today's news from the madhouse! - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Sunday 6 July, 2008

by Rosemary at 8:12pm in Anything goes Comments closed

It's been a mixed bag, weatherwise. We had heavy rain this morning, changing to dizzle in the afternoon; now it's bright and dry but cloudy. It's very warm though - good weed weather.

We've done a fair bit of weeding today - in the peas and beans, the beetroot and the carrots. The beans are woeful - last year we could have contracted with Tesco. This year we've got about 5 plants out of 16 sown. I stuck the last of them in the ground today in a forlorn hope that they might grow. The double row of peas that were direct sown aren't doing much either - the ones started in the guttering are covered in flowers and peas - you can see where this is going, can't you?

Next year, we're not going to bother with onions. I don't think there is a taste advantage in growing your own and organic and / or British onions aren't hard to get. To be honest, we lose so many is store that it's a lot of bed to use for not much return. We'll grow shallots, leeks, garlic and spring onions though.

The sweetcorn looks a bit better - it was quite yellow but a couple of feeds of comfrey seem to have helped. Dan fed all the tomatoes this morning - fingers crossed, they're looking good. Now there's something with a taste advantage over shop bought.

I read this week that 80% of strawberries in the shops have a cocktail of pesticides on them - the organic strawberries tested had none. This was at the end of an article titles "Pesticide shocker" - the shock in question wasn't the 80% with a cocktail but the fact that the EU is proposing to deregister a number of pesticides currently on the market. In response, the NFUS combinable crops chairman is quoted as saying "These proposals woudl make it more difficult for Scottish farmers to continue producing high quality food at affordable prices. Scottish consumers repeatedly say that they want more, affordable, fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown locally". No doubt - but, for me, high quality means the absence of a cocktail of chemicals. Anyway, we had a lovely summer pudding tonight - strawberries, raspberries, black, red and white currants - pesticide free and delicious.