Having been growing veg for only a year – and through a hot, dry summer complete with hosepipe ban – too much water isn’t something I’ve had to contend with before now.
The place is a bog. As far as I can tell, the lettuces and spinach love the rain – as, sadly, do the weeds. I barely recognise the garden from weekend to weekend and it isn’t much fun trying to weed it in the rain. Actually, the countryside in general isn’t much fun in the rain and I fled to London for a weekend, which hasn’t helped.
The tomatoes are definitely struggling and the indoor hot-climate plants – mainly aubergines and chillies – are beginning to wither and go pale from lack of sunshine.
I can’t tell what effect the wet might be having on the carrots and all things underground, but I assume they must be gasping for some sun by now. I know I am. I can barely see the parsnip tops for weeds, nor the tiny kale seedlings, and our garlic needs to come up and dry out, but there’s been no day for weeks with enough sunshine to do it. Last year, my fennel bolted for lack of water; will it do the same this year for lack of light? I’ve no idea. I feel like a total beginner all over again.
I do have some tips from our expert gardener, Sarah Wain. It involves standing by to move protective cloches back and forth according to wind/rain/sun – rather impractical if you are 50 miles away. In a nightclub.
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Without action, Sarah says, our tomatoes are likely to end up as “tasteless sacks”, as well as being hit by blight, “which can be the death knell of the whole plant”. Sod it all. There’s nothing to be done and I’m off to warmer climes for a week. By the time you read this, I’ll be back with the sunshine – fingers crossed.?
Expert advice
Tomatoes aubergines and peppers grown outside would benefit from protection from the wind and rain, which stresses the plants and stops them growing. It is best to create a guard on the windward side with some sort of cloche either designed for the purpose or created using thick polythene. The structure needs to be movable, so that when the sun comes out you can move it to one side; if the plants are really small leave it in position until sustained warmer weather is confirmed as the plants will definitely benefit from some cosiness.
Ideally with tomatoes you should control the amount of water they receive. If you have plants with ripening fruit it will suffer from too much rain/water and not enough sun. The fruit just end up as tasteless sacks, which is why tomatoes grown under glass give you a more satisfying crop.
In addition if you can keep the foliage of tomatoes dry at all times then they are not likely to suffer so much from the dreaded blight which can be the death knell of the whole plant. A copper based spray, such as Bordeaux, creates a barrier between the plant and the rain. On the downside this is not an organic solution to the problem; organic gardeners need to be devilishly clever and devise cultural methods and techniques to try and avoid the problem (hence the physical barriers).
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At West Dean we have covered our latest planting of dwarf French been modules with barn cloches thinking that they would rally with wind and rain protection as they have just been planted out and you can see them respond accordingly.
Generally other crops, apart from soft fruit, are enjoying all the rain - so do weeds unfortunately so you need to keep them under control.
Sarah Wain, Gardens Supervisor, West Dean Gardens. UK