In a kitchen garden, there is always something that succeeds better than expected, while others are affected by miserable weather, pests, diseases or just have not wanted to grow as it should. It is rarely the same one year after another, but each season usually offers both its surprising joys and unexpected disappointments.
In the mini kitchen garden, it is bed no. 4 with pole beans, cucumbers and zucchini, which is standardized in the category "Disappointment of the Year". The earliest crops in the bed (overwintering bulbs and beets) succeeded very well, but then it went seriously downhill.
The stalk beans suffered from the intense stress of being planted in the middle of the heat and drought. They pretty much came to a standstill after putting in the first prayers, and never really got going again despite careful watering. Here, too, it did not help that the bed stands at the back of the kitchen garden under a couple of very large birch trees, whose roots are known to soak up all the water for miles around. The yield was just 3 kilos, which is less than 1/3 of normal.
The cucumber plants of the bed got off to a good start (as it is called), but the hot summer and especially very dry weather were unfortunately the ideal conditions for the development of spider mites. In a normal Danish summer with regular rainy days, the mites are not usually the big problem in the open air, but this year they have held a party in the cucumbers. 14 small school cucumbers were created until the leaves dried in and the plants gave up producing more.
However, the zucchini plant has done as well as one might expect given the late planting under the stalk beans - 8 fruits, but the plant is now affected by mildew as it pretty much always happens for courgettes at this time.
All in all, there is no hope here in mid-September that much more will come out of that bed, and at the same time it has become rather sad to watch. You should preferably stay in a good mood to go to your kitchen garden, and the good mood is definitely not what bed no. So I have done as so often before: cleared a bed that one can only get depressed by ?.
Instead, spinach has been sown, here about a month earlier than I had anticipated the space would be vacant. Spinach sown in September-October in the open can easily survive a normal winter and will in the following spring contribute to both early green on the table and spring joy in the mind ?.
Written by Peter Norris, September 20, 2018
I en køkkenhave er der altid noget der lykkes bedre end forventet, mens andet bliver ramt af elendigt vejr, skadedyr, sygdomme eller bare ikke har villet gro som det skulle. Det er sjældent det samme det ene år efter det andet, men hver sæson byder som regel på både sine overraskende glæder og uventede skuffelser.
I minikøkkenhaven er det bed nr. 4 med stangbønner, agurker og courgette, som er normineret i kategorien “Årets Skuffelse”. Det tidligste afgrøder i bedet (overvintrende løg og rødbeder) lykkedes såmænd meget godt, men herefter gik det alvorligt ned ad bakke.
Stangbønnerne led under det voldsomme stress det var at blive udplantet midt i varmen og tørken. De gik stort set i stå efter de havde sat de første bønner, og kom aldrig rigtig i gang igen trods omsorgsfuld vanding. Her hjalp det heller ikke, at bedet står bagerst i køkkenhaven under et par meget store birketræer, hvis rødder er kendt for at rage alt vand til sig i miles omkreds. Udbyttet blev på blot 3 kilo, hvad der er under 1/3 af det normale.
Bedets agurkeplanter kom godt fra start (som det jo hedder), men sommerens varme og især meget tørre vejr, var desværre de ideelle betingelser for udviklingen af spindemider. I en normal dansk sommer med jævnlige regnvejrsdage plejer miderne ikke at være det store problem på friland, men i år har de holdt fest i agurkerne. 14 små skoleagurker blev det til indtil bladene tørrede ind og planterne opgav at producere mere.
Courgetteplanten har dog gjort det så godt som man kunne forvente i betragtning af den sene udplantning under stangbønnerne – 8 frugter, men planten er nu ramt af meldug som det stort set altid sker for courgetter på denne tid.
Alt i alt er der her midt i september ikke håb om, at der kommer ret meget mere ud af det bed, og samtidig er det blevet temmelig trist at se på. Man skal helst blive i godt humør at gå i sin køkkenhave, og det gode humør bidrager bed nr. 4 bestemt ikke til! Så jeg har gjort som så ofte før: ryddet et bed, som man kun kan blive deprimeret af?.
I stedet er der blevet sået spinat, her omkring en måned tidligere end jeg havde regnet med at pladsen ville være ledig. Spinat sået i september-oktober på friland kan sagtens overleve en normalt vinter og vil i det følgende forår bidrage til både tidlig grønt på bordet og forårsglæde i sindet?.
Skrevet af Peter Norris, den 20. september 2018
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