What started in May, continued in June. Showers and rain are now becoming a pretty normal daily schedule. We already got 50mm of rain past couple of days, and it seems this June will also be stormy. I’m almost sure we won’t have a hot summer this year. Temperatures are still mostly below 25°C(77°F), and although June is usually summer month here, this year we’re still wearing long sleeves. The good thing about this kind of weather is that we don’t need to heat or cool the house. With opened windows and closed curtains, it’s just perfect.

First Harvest This Year

The weather is affecting my garden a lot, and things are progressing a bit slowly this year, so this week was my first bigger harvest day. I harvested parsley a few weeks ago, but that was pretty much everything I’ve managed to harvest. This week was finally the time to harvest the leftover veggies and herbs.

I have a rule in my garden that I follow every year: “If it’s not a weed or grass I’m not removing it”. This rule brings me many surprises every year, and at least one or two unexpected harvests. Although I deep dig my garden every year, some seeds and last year’s veggies survive every winter and I manage to harvest them.

This year the surprise harvest contained lettuce, which decided to self-seed all over the garden, carrots, parsley, and celery from last year’s beds, and chard which managed to survive the winter. I’ve also harvested some baby kale which I’ve sown this year, and a couple of shallots for this week’s cooking. The unexpected harvest ended up giving me 3kg(6.6 lbs) of veggies, which is great for the insanity of the year we’re having.

Finally Fertilizing

When it comes to the garden work I’ve managed to do, there hasn’t been much done. Out of 7 days, I managed to enter the garden only 3 times. Still, I managed to finally clean 80% of the main garden, and fertilize the vegetables.

This week I managed to buy pelleted fertilizers, and I’ve used most of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchinis, which haven’t been fertilized yet. The liquid fertilizers can’t be used right now, so I had no choice but to buy some pelleted ones. The tomatoes and zucchinis look pretty good, despite the constant showers. Luckily temperatures are below 25°C, so there is not a lot of chance for the development of late blight.

Right now my biggest issue is lice, which are starting to gobble down my brassicas. I’m trying to remove them with the organic pest control spray, but the rain is making things difficult. I can’t catch the right time without rain to spray them. Right now I’m actually sacrificing a plant or two on each bed, and spraying the rest of the plants to keep them away from most of the vegetables.

Garden This Week

The main garden actually looks really good, considering what we’ve been through the past 2 months. Hubby finally managed to secure the anti-hail netting in place, so now I can work without problems. Most of the paths are clean and non-slippery, and most of the vegetables have been inspected, tied and the soil has been dug.

The only two beds that I haven’t touched are my peas and lettuce beds. I can’t reach them. The soil is so wet that I can’t even stand without slipping down the path. This side always takes a long time to dry, and it would need at least 3 days for me to be able to walk around, which with daily showers is entirely impossible. Unfortunately, chickpeas and peas will have to grow on the floor for now until I manage to reach them and lift them on the netting.

Plans For Next Week

Plans for next week include mostly yard and side garden jobs. I will try to clean and dig the main garden once more if we get some sunny days, but I’m not too optimistic about this. The forecast for the next 10 days is all over the place. I guess this will be one of those years when we won’t need any sun protection.