This week we finally got some much-needed rain. It wasn’t too much. We got 20mm of rain over 48 hours. The slow and steady rain managed every drop to be soaked in. Still, even with the continuous rain, the garden was accessible after only 12 hours. Since the past couple of days have been very cold, I went to check the garden, especially tomatoes and cucumbers, which are very weather sensitive.

Diseases have started

Just as I suspected, the diseases activated again on my cucumbers and tomatoes. Blight is now starting to eat the tomatoes, and mildew is all over the cucumbers. The biggest problem is that I can’t do anything about it since the rainy weather is continuing, and there’s no time to spray the plants with anything. It’s raining at least once a day, and spraying now would just be nonsense. I can only hope my plants will survive until the weather changes again.

Good thing is that fruits on both cucumbers and tomatoes are still completely healthy and I can still harvest them. I had an unexpected harvest while I was checking the garden.

Unexpected harvest

I wasn’t planning to harvest anything, but when I started walking around the garden, I realized that there are new cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, cucamelons, and beans for harvest. Also, I harvested some more brassica leaves as well as some carrots, parsley, and onions. I ended up filling my big harvest bag.

Also, my side garden chilly peppers have started making new peppers like mad. The change in weather helped them, and now they are growing better than before. The dash of cold air seems to increase the number of flowers. Right now I’m harvesting the peppers while they are still green. I’ll use them as pickled peppers, and later in September, I will leave some to ripe and dry them for hot spice. Harvesting like this helps me have fewer plants and get more out of them.

Transplanting leek and onion seedlings

This morning I also managed to go to the garden and do some seedling transplanting. A few weeks back I have sown my autumn seeds, but since the weather has changed, I decided to change my seedling care and transplant the leeks and onions to the garden.

I’ve used a method that I’ve been testing out recently and which seems to be working for now. Instead of waiting for the seedlings to grow big enough to separate them and then waiting some more time to root them well, I’m transplanting my seedlings as soon as they look strong enough. I dig a hole, take the seedlings out of the container and slide them in the hole. I don’t do anything to the container soil. The garden soil is pressed around the seedlings to act as a container.

This way the seedlings don’t feel the transplanting difference, they continue growing happily in their compost and they just grow in the garden soil. Once they get big enough, I will separate them and transplant them around the garden. I did the same method with my perennial flowers in July and even with extreme heat, they are growing well.

In my garden, the biggest problems are bugs and insects that eat all the seeds and kill the germinating seedlings. This way is keeping them away from the seeds, and once the plants get big enough they can’t harm them in any way. I’m still not sure if I’ll do the same with my brassicas or keep them on the balcony.

Next weeks plans

As I mentioned before, I’m starting an autumn garden on the balcony, and this will be my main priority next week. We should get more rain in the next couple of days, so I’m not planning anything for the main garden. Most of the work is already done, and I can concentrate on other things.

I will transplant the cucumbers and zucchinis to the balcony containers and sow some fresh autumn lettuce. I’m still not sure if I will grow the winter lettuce here or in the garden. The garden is full now and there’s no room, so I will need to make a good autumn plan next week or I will have lots of plants without room to plant them.

Hopefully, the autumn weather will be nice, and the plants will have a longer garden life this year.