Deadline for reports was about three days ago but as I no longer have someone to swear at me if I am perceived to be late or include too many ‘gramatical errors’ (sic), I have stuck to my usual report writing schedule, by submitting mine in my own time.
No More Bull Shit – herewith the mid-term garden reports.
Beans, Broad
A good start to the term, and working hard in the early weeks, they seemed to get lazy and did not capitalise on the good work early on. The results were, frankly, disappointing with grade E across the board (or is it 1 now?)
Beans, Runner and Green
Runners and Greens have had a good term. It is clear that MFL and PE are their strong subjects, and they have easily adapted to the European-style heat and the need to compete in hot weather. They need to keep on, though as there have been signs of letting up in recent weeks and some of their work has started to look a little shoddy.
Courgettes
A truly memorable term for the Courgies, with early efforts, leading to excellent results to the point of being embarrassingly good. I have rarely seen such excellent results with undoubtedly so much more to come. Well done – a super effort.
Peas
Another one who looked to have settled into the new year, but seemed to become distracted and unruly, never really progressing. It appears that there was some disruption with bullying by sparrows which might have been an issue. The second intake of peas seemed to have settled this problems with Special Needs fleece being used to provide protection, but unfortunately the late start for these and lack of nursery education has meant lower than expected grades.
Potatoes: Swift, Duke of York, King Edward, Sarpo Mira
Spuds have had a variable term. Swift did do well to begin with, but could have done better with a more conducive setting as a lack of resources seemed to hamper development. The Duke of Yorks have struggled too, with their results showing a wide fluctuation from 9 to 1 in grading. It is too early to report on King Edward or Sarpo Mira.
Salad
In general salad has a had good term, although the dry weather has affected their ability to concentrate for too long. Too often they have complained that slugs and other bugs are distracting them and hampering their progress, but when they have established a good working routine the work produced has been of a fair quality. There is no doubt that they could do better if they tried, particularly the chard and rocket which have had a particularly disappointing term.
Tomatoes
What an excellent set of results. Tomatoes have been a revelation this term. They have been excellent individually and have also shown the ability to excel in small group work as sweet millions have produced some very impressive early results with the Jersey Devils promising to submit course work of very high standard. Mrs B, the head of tomato assessment and monitoring has been particularly impressed with this years tomato cohort and they will undoubtedly be contenders for the the “most improved” prize on speech day.
Basil
Well done to basil on yet another excellent year. Italian has been a strength of this year’s intake – “molto bene!”
Squash: Crown Prince and Blue Kuri Kabocha
Squash have been very active this term, bordering on the unruly, although they have seemed to settle into the new premises. The work produced has been extensive, though it remains to be seen how focussed and concentrated this has been and how this is actually going to translate into favourable results: i.e. good sized ripe squashes.
Kohl Rabi
Kohl Rabi were late starters this term with a lack of nursery time leaving them behind other veg in the early years group. Only time will tell if they are able to make this up but they are trying their best, with an A1 for effort, despite the distractions of cabbage white butterflies.
Kavolo Nero
Early work was hampered by the bullying sparrows while their later efforts have seen no homework handed in for weeks due to the destructive influence of cabbage white butterflies. Between times there have been some excellent pieces of work and when the butterflies have gone there might perhaps be more good work to come.
Mixed Ability Class: Carrots, beetroot and chard
This has been the best ever intake of carrots. They have been well-mannered and orderly and have delivered excellent results showing the way to beetroot and chard which have sadly failed all their exams so far. Beetroot tried re-sits later in the summer but once again succumbed to exterior distractions. Chard appears to be doing better in working towards some re-takes in the autumn for which we hold out high hopes. While this, along with the success of carrots shows that the standard of gardening is at times excellent, overall there is a feeling that it “Requires Improvement”.
Next report deadline: some time in late summer / autumn-ish.
Midlife Gardener 