Your onions have bolted, your cabbage plants have collapsed. What’s going on – and how can you fix it?
YOUR kitchen garden never recovered from May's gale-force winds: This paper's long-time weekly columnist and experienced GYOer, Michael Viney, wrote recently about the devastation that this May's exceptionally scorching, salt-carrying gales – "an gaoth ruadh" – wreaked on coastal gardens from Donegal to Mayo. For any exposed plants, the result has been what Viney describes as "a dismal, autumnal withering". But even for those whose gardens lie relatively far from Ireland's windswept coasts, those fierce spring winds caused horrible damage. In the OPW's walled kitchen garden in Phoenix Park, for example, the leaves of young cabbage plants were ripped and shredded, while gooseberry bushes were split apart.
Tip: Shelter, shelter, shelter. Although Viney's garden lies just a few miles away from the exposed Atlantic coast of Co Mayo, he says that "thanks to the tunnel and wildly high hedges, Ive had few problems". Similarly, the professional gardener and author Klaus Laitenberger, who also gardens in an exposed and windy spot, in Co Leitrim (milkwoodfarm.com ), advocates the use of hedging or artificial windbreaks to protect vulnerable plants. "For every 1m of height of a good windbreak, you will get 10m of protection on the leeward side", he writes in his book Vegetables for the Irish Garden.
Suitable salt-tolerant hedging plants for exposed coastal gardens include Olearia traversii, Escallonia macrantha, Eleagnus x ebbingei, Hippaphae rhamnoides, Fuchsia magellanica and Tamarix tetandra. For any wind-exposed garden, high-density windbreak netting is available from Fruithill Farm (fruithillfarm.com) in different lengths and widths. Protect vulnerable plants with Bionet or garden fleece, or buy a polytunnel from Colm Warren Polytunnels (cwp.ie)
Many of the seeds you sowed outdoors didn't germinate: This has been an unusually poor year as regards the germination rates of traditionally direct-sown vegetables such as peas, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radishes, French beans and runner beans. The prolonged dry spell in mid-spring meant that the soil often wasnt moist enough for successful germination, while those seeds that did germinate were sometimes eaten by hungry/thirsty birds – such as the young beetroot seedlings in the walled garden that the OPW gardeners discovered were being eaten by blackbirds. The cold wet weather of June didn't improve germination rates either.
Tip: Although certain vegetables, such as carrots, will only truly thrive when direct sown, many seeds can be module-raised in a polytunnel/glasshouse/cold frame or – at worst – next to the shelter of a wall or building, before being transplanted into their final position in the garden. This way, you can give the seeds ideal germinating conditions through regular watering, warmer temperatures and slug protection (use copper or iron-based slug pellets such as Ferramol). Next time, try sowing seeds of peas, radishes, herbs and salad crops into lengths of guttering, as first advocated by the late organic garden Geoff Hamilton. Other crops, such as French beans, broad beans and runner beans, do best in root trainers (Haxnick's rootrainers are available from good garden centres including Mr Middleton, mrmiddleton.com), in six-packs (lettuce, brassicas), or in individual pots (courgettes, cucumbers, sweetcorn).
Your onions are flowering rather than swelling: Technically known as "bolting", the premature production of onion flowers has been a widespread problem for many gardeners this year, particularly as regards the red onion varieties, which are more prone to bolting than the white or yellow onion types. Often seen when onion sets are planted too early, bolting typically happens when the actively-growing onion plants enjoy a period of mild weather before then being exposed to cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, this year's late, cold spring (frost in mid-June) has resulted in a higher than average rate of bolting. Once this occurs, the onion deteriorates quickly, making it unsuitable for storage, so pick off any flower-heads and then harvest and eat as soon as possible.
Tip: Next time, plant heat-treated, white or yellow onion varieties, store your sets somewhere cool but frost-free and don't plant them before April. Plant into firm ground and avoid overfeeding, which is also linked to "bolting".
Your young cabbage plants wilted, then keeled over and died: Like many brassicas (a very large plant family that includes everything from cauliflower to calabrese, turnips or radishes), cabbages are very vulnerable to sneak attack from the cabbage root fly, Delia radicum, at this time of year. The nasty white larvae/ maggots live below ground, where they feed on the plant's root system before eventually tunnelling up through the stems and causing the plant to collapse. Three generations of the pest are produced each year, with the first generation typically appearing in April/ May.
Tip: Use only well-established, module-raised plants, which are more resistant because they have better-established root systems. Protect young plants from the Cabbage Root Fly as well as from any potential problems with the caterpillars of the Cabbage White Butterfly by covering them with Bionet (available from Cork-based Fruithill Farm, fruithillfarm.com). Bionet is also an effective way of protecting young carrots from Carrot Fly damage. The organically-acceptable, Irish-made bio-insecticide, Supernemo (nemo.ie), will also kill the Cabbage Root Fly larvae without leaving any harmful chemical residues in the plant or in the soil. Meanwhile, for effective biological control of the Cabbage White Butterfly larvae, use Bacillus thuringiensis, which is also available from Fruithill Farm.
Your pumpkins/courgettes/squash/ cucumbers/ tomatoes/ sweet corn/ haven't grown that much since you planted them: Even experienced gardeners such as Madeline McKeever of Cork-based Brown Envelope Seeds (brownenvelopeseeds.com) have been having problems with these heat-loving plants this summer. "I think what I have learnt this year is not to rush, and to grow normal vegetables for this climate", she says, adding that she won't try such tropical plants outside before June again. "We live at the same latitude as Newfoundland, not Guatemala."
Likewise, the professional gardener and founder of Dunmore Country School (dunmorecountryschool.ie), Tanguy de Toulgoet, says that his sweetcorn, cucumbers and courgettes are still suffering from the effects of frosts in mid-June (he does, however, have good outdoor tomatoes and has already harvested a bumper crop of broad beans and potatoes and some indoor tomatoes). His advice?
“I think the secret is to sow varieties of vegetables well used to our climate. The other secret is to sow a good number of varieties over a long period of time. Never put all your eggs in the same basket,” he concludes sanguinely. “A difficult year like this one will then become a ‘not too bad’ one.”
The annual garden party of the Organic Centre in Rossinver, Co Leitrim, this Sunday, July 17th, from 11am-5pm, will include a talk by head gardener, Julia Lehmann, on her recent studies of peat- free compost, as well as the launch of the book Organic Gardening is Simple, by gardener Jill Scott, and a cooking demonstration by chef Neven Maguire. Admission €7, concessions €4, children and members free.
The OPW’s Victorian walled kitchen garden is in the grounds of Phoenix Park Visitor Centre, beside the Phoenix Park Café and Ashtown Castle. The gardens are open daily from 10am to 4pm
Fionnuala Fallon is a garden designer and writer
WHAT TO: sow, plant and do now
Sow outdoors in pots or modules, for later planting in the tunnel or greenhouse when space permits for late autumn/early winter protected crops: Calabrese*, kales such as Cavalo Nero, dwarf green curled and Ragged Jack, Florence fennel, kohl rabi, Swiss chards, early peas, dwarf broad beans, sugar loaf chicory**, basil, coriander, dill, plain leaved and curly parsley and sorrel. Covering while outdoors with a fine-mesh- covered frame or cloche will give young seedlings protection from pests (such as cabbage root fly and cabbage white butterflies), and also scorching sun, strong winds and heavy rain. Inside the tunnel, if you have vacant space now, you can still sow dwarf and climbing French beans* (otherwise in pots or modules for planting later).
Sow outdoors in modules, in a seedbed for transplanting, or in situ where they are to crop: beetroot, brocoletto ('Cima di Rapa'), carrots, cabbages ('Greyhound' and leafy non-hearting spring types**), overwintering spring-heading cauliflowers**, peas* (early dwarf vars. only now), Florence fennel, Witloof chicory (for winter forcing), sugar loaf chicory, radicchios, endives, salad onions, claytonia, landcress, lettuces, kohl rabi, Hungry Gap kale (for spring cropping), radishes, rocket, Swiss chards and leaf beets, summer spinach, summer white or yellow turnips, Chinese cabbage, Choy Sum, Pak choi, mizuna, mustard Red Frills and other oriental leaves, Chinese kale (Kailaan), lamb's lettuce, salad mixes, herbs such as parsley, chervil, coriander, dill, fennel, buckler-leaved and French sorrel. Also sow some single, quick growing, annual flowers such as limnanthes (poached egg flower), calendula, Californian poppies, nasturtiums, phacelia, etc. to attract beneficial insects such as hover flies to help with pest control, and bees to help with crop pollination. Sow fast-growing green manures such as buckwheat, red clover, mustard (a brassica so watch rotations) and Phacelia, to improve the soil, "lock-up" carbon and feed worms (after digging in), on any empty patches of ground cleared of early crops that wont be used for six weeks or so, or which need improving. (*Early July only, ** mid-late July)
NB Sow in the evenings if possible as germination can be affected or even prevented by too high a temperature – this applies particularly to lettuce.
Do: Plant out any well-established, module-raised plants; earth up potatoes; continue to harvest earlies; spray maincrop against blight; keep seedlings and young plants well watered; keep glasshouse/polytunnel well ventilated, put up protective netting (Bionet) against carrot fly, cabbage root fly, cabbage white butterfly (inspect for caterpillars also), support tall plants (beans, peas, tomatoes), hoe/handpick weeds, protect vulnerable crops against slug/snail damage, start harvesting produce.
All sowing details courtesy of Nicky Kyle at nickykylegardening.com
