This is the scene along the drive of Moyns Park, piles of timber awaiting loading on to trucks to be transported to sawmills where it will be graded by quality. There are various locations around the estate with similar sized stacks. The smaller sized branches and brash is chipped, so little is wasted. It is the result of a massive clearance in the woodland following decades of neglect, allowing light to penetrate the canopy thereby encouraging more diversity of flora and fauna in what has hitherto been a pretty sterile environment.
Elsewhere on the estate the wheat is currently being harvested, in what has been a perfect weather window in which to gather in the crops. The large field directly behind our cottage was cut early last week, the combine harvester working long into the evening, lights blazing, dust swirling, looking like a fire breathing dragon, devouring all before it.
We had a very pleasant couple of hours on and around the River Stour on Monday, kayaking from The Henny Swan down to Great Cornard and back, and then having lunch in the riverside garden of the pub. It was an extremely hot day, and it felt almost like being at the seaside – there were lots of people dressed only in their swimming costumes, with children constantly dashing to and from the river to swim or to launch their paddleboards. It was a joyful scene of families having fun on a beautiful summers day.
Further to my tale of woe last week regarding the copyright infringement, I have been in contact with the company that issued the notice to me. I argued my case and begged for leniency (I’m not above a bit of begging for a good cause), and am hoping that they will at least reduce the amount of compensation that I will have to pay. I’ll let you know next week if I was successful or not.
On my patch everything is fairly parched. I am lugging hosepipes and sprinklers between the crops that appear to be most in need of a drink. The beans have been the highest priority, as they are particularly thirsty, and without irrigation the pods soon go tough. The squash and sweetcorn are the other items that need to be kept watered. The Cabbage White butterflies have found their way under the netting protecting the brassicas, so today I had to resort to using a biological control to deal with the very hungry caterpillars. Bacillus thuringiensis is an organically approved treatment that is only harmful to the target pest so it does not affect other insects that may also be on the plants, such as Ladybirds. Even so, I only use it as a last resort when damage to crops gets to an unacceptable level. On this occasion I left it a few days too long before applying it, so some of the broccoli plants are beyond recovery.
Part of the squash patch, with sweetcorn and climbing beans beyond
The cucumber crop has suddenly collapsed! A combination of red spider mite, powdery mildew, and exhaustion has seen them give up. There are a few stragglers, but not enough for me to include in the shop. More positively the courgettes have recovered and are finally producing quite well, and I have added Patty Pan squash this week. There are lots of French and Runner beans, loads of tomatoes, some red peppers, 3 types of lettuce, flat leaf parsley, summer greens, bunches of beetroot and rainbow carrots, and new season onions. The apples will mostly be Discovery, but there is another type (variety unknown) that is ready and is tasty, so if I don’t have enough discovery (there is a lot of bird damage) I will substitute the others. Apologies for the lack of garlic last week, the shipment to my supplier went missing in France. Normal service will resume, with garlic, ginger and turmeric all available….I hope!
It’s Bank Holiday weekend next week, which usually seems to mark the end of summer. All of a sudden there is a different feel to the air in the mornings, and the days of course are rapidly drawing in. We have at least had a good August, so it could have been worse. We sat out last weekend and watched some spectacular shooting stars, and we didn’t even need blankets or coats to keep us warm. Sadly we didn’t see the Northern Lights at the same time, which some did, and not very far from here.
Have a good week, and keep up with the dead heading in the garden, it’s one way to prolong the summer.
Phil