Ac Baker

Lots of good advice here, and I'll back up the PSA testing.  My understanding is the prostate cancer is very treatable these days, but also pretty prevalent from age 80. Catching it early is a great benefit.

Home-made elderflower kombucha .. yummy!!

So, our 'forest garden' has suffered a significant loss.  As we get hotter, drier summers in England, the shady spot the previous gardener chose to plant purple gooseberry plants is no longer suitable.  Most of them have died due to drought (it's a well-drained area), and successive heatwaves, when we've just not had to the water or the time to keep them watered.

Are there any edibles which people are growing successfully in these hotter conditions in England & similar climates (spells of 30-40C daytime, 20+C night time now)?  Perennials a definite plus!

The site is heavily shaded from the West & South-West, and starts to lose the sun after c. 2pm.  Plus there are six dwarf fruit trees (apple, plum & pear) which will be drawing up the moisture to a fair degree.

Many thanks!

I think these days, permaculture is a community of methodologies, helping us to get back into good relationships with our biosphere and all living beings including ourselves, developed by observing surviving, thriving Indigenous communities and contrasting with "industrialised" society.

But to a gardener, I'd say, "learning to work with nature, not against it".

Timothy Norton wrote:I thought this was an interesting graphic.

I think that's by Graham Burnett of Spiralseed Permaculture?

All very exciting.  What dear little potato plants. And, yes, a 'before' test would be interesting.

The tomato plants you so kindly posted me me, were noticeably yellow and purple by the time I got them in the ground.

My soil of course is quite different from yours, being a 100 year old allotments site in central England.

I think I've mentioned that I've been mulching them with dandelion leaves, nettles and compost, as well as watering them daily.

They've all greened up really beautifully now in my soil despite the heatwave.

So hopefully that's good news regarding the plants themselves!

A lot of people in this part of the world are struggling.  The heatwave is due to ease on Saturday, thankfully.  

We've been managed to water the tomatoes and pumpkins every day, and they're looking pretty good.

We're getting a lot of donated 'past their best' vegetables and fruits from the local greengrocer, because it's so hot and they're not lasting.  But I'm pleased to say that some of the produce is still usable straight away by an experienced kitchen expert. So the Mutual Aid kitchen have had some spinach greens, some cauliflower, some aubergines, some courgettes on top of the redistributed produce the central food project have been able to supply.  There's never enough variety of vegetables otherwise!  (The rest goes for compost for later in the year).

Signing off to cool my head .. !!

Great question.

The general feeling seems to be, you can't be sure until the plants are quite well-grown ..

Bush tomatoes "often" flower at the end of their side stems, then stop growing more leaves at a height of 3-5ft.  

Vining tomatoes "often" continue putting on more leaves beyond flowers, and can grow twice as tall/long if there's no frost to stop them.

So, only time will tell ..