Growing well

The warm, damp summer has provided ideal conditions for weeds—and for some of our vegetable crops. The onions look set set to be some of the largest we’ve grown, some varieties of parsnip are doing extremely well (particularly Tender and True), and the carrots are looking healthy. The shallots are on par with previous years, while the brassicas are the usual mixed bag—neeps are very good, cabbages are good, cauliflower and calabrese are poor, and broccoli is okay.

The lettuces are thriving this year, with these ones having been cropped three times so far. Normally, I’d sow two large beds and one small with lettuces but there’s been no need for that this year. We’re managing very well with one large and one small bed. The fennel is doing well although some of the leaves are showing tinges of yellow, the giant parsley is growing slowly (as expected) and the sorrel is more like a weed than a cultivated crop. Elsewhere in the garden, the broad beans are stunted, the peas are feral, the garlic is mediocre (as usual) and the courgettes are very, very slow.