I’m not going to complain about the weather this week. What’s the point? It is what it is and my whingeing about is not going to change it, so I will embrace it and learn to love it. And actually I do love the early mornings and the sultry warm evenings when you can dine al fresco comfortably – very continental I’m sure.
In the past week the horseflies have made their presence felt, so I will moan about them instead. It’s actually a pre-emptive moan, because I haven’t yet suffered a painful sting, but it’s not for the lack of trying on their part. It’s just that my reflexes remain razor sharp and my swatting skills are undiminished by the passage of time….well either that or I have just been lucky so far. I imagine the latter is true. I was hoping that with the departure of the horses from the estate the horseflies would look for pastures new, but that does not appear to be the case.
Ordinarily this would be the week that we would be away on holiday. Last year in Cornwall we endured 15° for most of the week, grey skies and rain. This year good old sod’s law comes into play and it is sunny and in the 20’s all week. With it as hot and dry it is up in these parts it would have been a tricky time to have vacated the garden, what with the constant watering and quite a lot of picking to do because of the earliness of the tomatoes and cucumbers. We are taking our hols right at the end of August this year (30th to the 6th September), and by then I will be about ready for the break. If the summer continues in the same vein the sea might be warm enough by then for me to brave it for more than 2 minutes because of my ‘dead man’s fingers’ caused by Raynaud’s disease. On the other hand, if the sea is that warm there will probably be lots of jellyfish – you just can’t win.
Some of you are followers of my Moyns Park Organics Facebook page and will have seen my post from last week showing the sloughed (shed) skin of a grass snake. For those that don’t do the ‘socials’ the photo is below. I found it in one of the compost heaps, and I suspect that it had only recently been cast off by the giant serpent because it was completely intact and in good condition. What you can’t really see from the photo is that at the head end the skin is quite concertinaed, so the snake was quite a few centimetres longer even than that. The truth is he’s a big ole boi, and whilst one knows that they are harmless if you saw that monster slithering towards you it would give you the heebie-jeebies – well it would me. When extracting compost from the bins in the past I have found the empty egg cases of baby snakes, and have seen 4″ long snakelets, but I wonder how long it takes for one to grow to the size of this one? After doing some research I have discovered that my big ole boi might well be a big ole gal, because the females typically reach around 130cm (4.3 feet) whilst males are more likely to be 100cm (3.3 feet). The largest grass snake recorded in Britain was over 1.8 meters (6 feet). Yikes!
The shop is a bit sparse this week. The first batch of broccoli has finished and it will be a couple of weeks before the next lot is ready. It will be another week before the chard can start to be cut, and there are no beans. There are still cabbages and cavolo nero. Disappointingly my polytunnel courgettes are not producing large amounts of fruit, and the outdoor ones are being nibbled by something as soon as they form, as have been the patty pan squash; I am going to have to cover them I think. More positively the tomatoes this week are all mine. They will be mixed sizes for the time being. There are also plenty of cucumbers now too – I just need to provide them with lots of water during this hot and dry spell. The Maris Bard new potatoes have been lovely (though digging them has not been much fun), there are more to come. There should be some curly parsley next week.
The market garden is looking a mess at the moment because of the weather conditions (in part), but I was thinking just how tatty domestic gardens are going to look unless there is a dramatic change soon. Lawns are already parched and herbaceous plants are drooping and are shutting down to protect themselves, so only the serial irrigators will be able to maintain a good show, and then only until water usage restrictions are imposed upon us. It’s like 1976 all over again….well not yet, but it could be. For you youngsters, back then there were standpipes in the street in some areas such was the drought, and householders were advised to share bathwater. If that happens again I’m going first!
Right, I’ve got to get back to the garden to do the evening watering, so I’ll leave it there. Take care in the next couple of days when conditions look like being unbearable. I will probably take the Spanish approach and take a siesta at the hottest time of the day.
Phil