Tuesday, August 19, 2014

2014 season in a nutshell

Thas been a very productive season for us here in Clacton but with some challenges.  We are used to having very dry summers here but this year there has been enough rain and we have hardly used our large rainwater tanks.
We have had a massive harvest of apricots and peaches this year which we have bottled, jammed and dried, we gave away about one third of the fruit.
Tomatoes in the poly tunnel have been great but in the greenhouse all the plants have been killed by a mosaic like disease that makes the leaves dry up and fall off.
Four trees have died very quickly from unknown disease (only a week from full health to death!)
Lots of chicks hatched, we are still waiting to see how many are cockerels!
Two of our large grapevines have suffered badly from a white mildew like disease on the fruit with brown patches on the leaves, the grapes become leathery and crack, we had to cut off the grapes and feed them to the chickens.  The grapes in the poly tunnel are already sweet and being enjoyed as desert grapes.