July on the Farm

The heat loving crops are in their element here and so are the weeds!

The last couple of weeks have seen the start of cosmos and phlox but with the lengthy period of very high temperatures and hardly any rainfall, I have been most thankful for some of the tougher crops like achillea, daucus and echinops, and the rudbeckia and zinnia which are just starting to flower. If these very high temperatures are to be the worrying new normal, I’m considering my summer crop planning very carefully to adjust to the conditions and minimise any gaps in availability due to heat stress.

The first dahlia were harvested for sale on the 8th of July, which is 20 days earlier than last year! I’m growing dahlia both outside and in the polytunnel to hopefully extend the season into autumn as far as possible. Some favourite varieties so far include, ‘Preference’ (pictured above), ‘Small World’ and ‘Wine-Eyed Jill’.

There has been plenty of material for the compost heap recently - weeds, grass cuttings, deadheads, spent spring crops, cardboard and kitchen waste. You can even compost perennial weeds! I have plenty of dock leaves on my field and these go straight in the heap. Their roots will not continue to grow unless exposed to the light.

My composting system is currently two adjoining bays made from wooden pallets held together at the top and bottom with thick wire. I’ve been adding to this pile for the past few months and keep an eye on the temperature with a compost thermometer, always aiming to keep it around 50°C for best decomposition. It’s best to try to add a 50:50 mix of ‘green’ and ‘brown’ materials to create a balance of heat, moisture and air. Examples of ‘greens’ are grass cuttings, flower deadheads, vegetable scraps and coffee grounds. ‘Browns’ include dry leaves, cardboard, straw and shredded branches. You can see the different layers of materials in the photo below.

I turned this heap into the adjoining empty bay last week to make sure it was well mixed - I broke up a few big lumps with a fork, added some water as it was a bit dry and covered with an old tarpaulin to keep the heat in. All of this will help keep the decomposition process going and I should be able to spread the finished compost on new no-dig beds for next year.

I’d highly recommend reading Charles Dowding’s guide to composting here.

It will soon be time to sow hardy annuals for next year’s flowers, including sweet peas, nigella, larkspur and orlaya. I keep notes on all of the flower varieties I grow by recording stem lengths, plant health, vase life and stems sold so I can make a decision on what to grow next year. Hardy annuals are best sown in late August and early September and protected over winter, which will give you early flowers in late spring/early summer next year. You can also do another sowing in early spring next year which will flower in late summer. I highly recommend choosing seed from Forever Green Seed & Bulb Co and Chiltern Seeds.