Don’t get me wrong, the weather has been amazing….but just a little bit too amazing! Frankly it has been exhausting, not only for me (and probably you too), but also for a lot of the plants. Many of them have just given up, such has been the relentless intensity of the heat. I have had sprinklers going, but I can’t have them watering everything, so it has been a case of trying to prolong the life of specific crops, but it’s questionable how much good that it has done. The worst to suffer have been the summer squash, the spaghetti and patty pan have rolled over with their feet in the air, and the courgettes are clinging on by the skin of their teeth. I have included them in the shop, but I really don’t know how many fruit I will be cutting. Fortunately the winter squash has done most of its growing, so my only problem with that crop is the damage being inflicted by rodents on the skin – mostly by voles I think. I will be gathering in as many as I can tomorrow and putting them in the polytunnel and greenhouse to cure, ready for storing.
It would seem that today is the last of the very hot days. From tomorrow it’s down to the mid-20’s, and thereafter it will hover around the 20° mark, which ordinarily we would think was very pleasant for mid-September. Anyway, it’s going to be much more comfortable, day and night.
The hot and sticky nights have made sleeping a challenge too, and on top of that I was coming home from work to demolish the old garden shed and clearing the base for the new one, which was delivered and erected on Friday. It’s very nice, in fact one could almost live in it, well if it wasn’t for all of the stuff that has got to be stored in it. It has got guttering around three sides of the building, so I need to install a nice big water butt to capture as much of the runoff as possible.
This week’s main photo was taken this morning at Clare Country Park, I couldn’t resist taking a snap of the morning sunlight shining through the spider’s web. He’s a handsome spider too!
At home we are going into the third week of the scout jamboree. The ging gang goolies are wearing a little thin now, and the basic camp grub is giving me rickets and scurvy, so mutiny is only just around the corner. However the end is in sight, or at least the beginning of the end. The units are all in place, as are the appliances, the electrical work is complete, and the new floor is down. On Wednesday the work surface is being fitted, after which the kitchen will be usable, because after that it’s just some making good, a bit of plumbing and then decoration. Phew!
You will remember that I attended my friend Paul’s funeral the week before last. Well I was a little tight for time, so I parked in the ASDA car park because it was close to the church. Yesterday I received a parking fine in the post. I was parked for 2 hours 20 minutes and you are only allowed 2 hours….sick as a parrot, and £40 worse off!
From my earlier comments you will not be surprised to learn that some produce is in short supply this week. I am hoping that there will be enough runner beans that haven’t gone stringy and tough – I do conduct quality control tests on them as I pick them (I like chomping on a raw bean), but at this time of the season it’s best to string them I think. There will be plenty of French beans, which are very prolific but take such a long time to pick. Beetroot is doing well, tomatoes continue to ripen, there is still chard, and this week red kale. There are lettuces, but I don’t think that there will be enough red peppers for me to include them in the shop. One new addition is leeks, which will actually make quite a nice change. Granted, you will be sick of them by the end of winter, but right now they will be welcomed. I will pick eating and cooking apples again this week.
I took this photograph last week, the blackberries are good this year. These are growing in the hedge that divides the orchard from the main market garden. There should be a fair number of sloes and bullaces in the hedgerows ripe for picking next month.
It’s a lovely time of the year. The misty mornings have been beautiful, with really heavy dew soaking ones feet until mid-morning when the heat of the sun evaporates it. Forget working late into the evening though as the sun is setting before 7.30 now, and on Friday and Saturday mornings I needed my headlights on for the journey to work.
How’s the head you ask? It’s good thank you. The last of the scab has gone and I am now just left with a pink indentation – I’m a quick healer aren’t I?
Have a splendid week, it will be safe to draw back the curtains and enjoy the early autumn as conditions become more comfortable.
Phil