I think it probably helped. One way or another, the beans have survived without snapping off. Before long I will need to tie them in to their supporting canes. Such sustained strong wind is unusual for us - it normally lasts the inside of a day - and it has had a very drying effect. The surface of the soil in my raised beds was like powder. What a relief it was to get some gentle rain early on Thursday morning, although the total amount of rainfall must have been quite small because it didn't last very long.
Since I was not working on Thursday, I took the opportunity to sow some more seeds. This time it was three short (1.2m) rows of Radishes. The varieties were Sparkler, Saxa and Cherry Belle. Sparkler is a red and white bi-colour, and the other two are plain red.
Sowing Radish seeds is easy, because they are very big, and you can place them in position exactly where you want them. I just made 1-inch deep grooves in the soil about six inches apart, with a stick, plonked the seeds in, covered them up, firmed them down and watered them in.
They are now covered with a long cloche in order to protect them from wind and from cats. I also put some sticks at the ends of the cloche to signify that animals are not welcome inside! With this protection they will probably mature quite quickly, maybe in about 6 weeks, as long as I remember to water them occasionally.
As well as the Radishes, I sowed another pot of Leek seeds. They are "Winter Giant". The seeds were given to me by someone I know via Twitter. (Thanks, Chris).
These ones have been sown about a month later than my first batch, so hopefully this will help to give me a longer cropping-season. Winter Giant is supposedly big and very cold-tolerant, so maybe they will keep going through next Winter. I will keep the pot indoors until soon after germination, and then it will go out into one of the mini-greenhouses to join the others:
