The First Rhubarb
About 12 years ago I bought a couple of rhubarb plants from the garden centre. Over the years I have divided them 2 or 3 times and now I have a bed of 10 or so plants at the Orchard. I don’t remember whether I bought the original plant with this in mind, but I have come to realize that my plants are unbelievably early. This week, on 18th March, I had my first rhubarb crumble of the season! And the stalks I pulled, unforced, were thicker than my thumb! Delicious!
Damping Off
I really am rubbish at seedlings. The plague that swept thropugh my brassica seedlings a couple of days ago has now attacked my tomatoes. When I went down yesterday I noticed that they too had withered and keeled over. There were a few survivors, so I moved them away from the casualties, but I don’t hold out much hope.
I have to study the causes of this and try to avoid it. 2 ideas come to mind. The first is my garden hygiene. When I make my own wine I am scupulouus about sterilizing everything to prevent tainting from unwanted bacteria, moulds or yeasts. Yet with my seedlings I have been simply washing the old pots out in hot soapy water. So I will try rinsing them in a sterilizing solution from now on and see if that helps.
The second is how I water. While the seedlings are small and fragile, I will try watering them from below rtather than above, i.e. resting the trays/pots for 10 minutes in water then leaving them to drain. (With tomato blight, which too is a mould, I have avoided it in my greenhouse by not splashing water on the leaves. Hopefully the approach will work with other moulds too.)
Any suggestions from anyone out there in Blogland much appreciated!
Jerusalem Artichokes
My Jerusalem Artichokes arrived this week and I put them out straight away, about 15” apart, in a bed next to the seakale at the Orchard. I have 4 left which I will put out at the Allotment at one end of this year’s potato beds. (I am going to start establishing some of the perennials from the Orchard at the Allotment, as a precaution for if and when the site is no more.)
Artichokes are not perennials, but I will be treating them as such because it is so difficult to find every single tuber when you harvest. And if part of a rotation these missed tubers will then send up shoots in the middle of what ever replaces them. Artichokes make a good screen or windbreak – it is said they store up the wind to give back later, hence their nickname “fartichokes”.
Daffodils
When we took on the Orchard there were lots of daffs coming up around the edges. And each year , without any attention at all, they come up again like clockwork. So this week I have collected my first bunch for the kitchen table. I noticed too that some hyacinths were already flowering , and some chunky tulip leaves had already pushed through in the flower bed.
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