Thursday, July 05, 2012

Mudsville

All the received wisdom is that you shouldn't attempt to work the ground when it's wet.  Not hard to work out why; it compacts, sticks to your booits and you end up reet clarty.

But sometimes you just have no choice.  Time presses; stuff has to be planted.  Things that should have been done earlier have to be done now.  So it was yesterday that I was plodging through the clarts hitting fence posts with a sledgehammer.

Here are the posts, the first stage of the trellis for the vines (which are coming along nicely).

I also managed to get in a decent number of Climbing French beans (you'll remember that it took three sowings to get any at all but at least it looks as though I'll get some this year.  In truth, I prefer them to runner beans but A N Other has a different preference so I grow both!


And I seem to have acquired a mutation.  Well, not me personally; I've always had green skin and three ears (two in the normal places and a final front ear).  But have a look at this on the blackberry.  One major stem has gone all strap-like and little shoots are growing directly out of the strap.  Weird.  Anyone else ever seen one like this?


6 comments:

Tanya. said...

I grow both french and runner beans as we like both equally but they were slow to get going and this is the first year I haven't been harvesting them in June. Your grapevines are looking nice and healthy.

I have never seen a blackberry act like that before...but it's growing so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Nice to see some sunny photos...want to send it our way?

Gordon Mason said...

Thanks Tanya. It was but a brief sunny interlude. Today rain is falling in torrents. No change there then!

Sue Garrett said...

Torrential here this morning plus thunder (very loud thunder that rocked the house) and lightning.

As for the flat stem it can happen in lots of plants (I have seen it before but can't remember what type of plant it was in/on whatever),

It's called fasciation and is caused by some sort of damage to growing shoot buds. This can be caused by a whole host of things including pest and weather damage.

Sue Garrett said...

I should have added fasciation doesn't cause any problems to the plant so just leave it and cut it out as normal during pruning.

Gordon Mason said...

Thanks Sue, that's helpful. I've sent a pic to the RHS too.

Weather here (as everywhere) is pretty grim too. The river through the local park - the Sheaf, after whuch Sheffield is named - is managing to stay within its banks but only just. Another 6" and it'll be out.

Nutty Gnome said...

It's reight clarty up 'ere an'all, despite our well draining soil...too much soddin' rain!

Everything is very slow growing this year - the beans haven't even reached my waist yet and they're usually at the top of the poles by now! :-( I'm glad to see that you use the same dodgy cross-bracing and string technology that I do!!

I've had that problem on raspberries when they've been damaged by high winds in spring. The fruit grew, so I just let them get on with it and then cut off the weird bits when I got round to pruning.

Well p***ed off with the rain.
Hahaha...the comment moderation word is 'rotgrow'!!!