1 August
A ladder was added to the list of essential tools to take to the allotment. Why a ladder you may ask – well we are well into plum ripening now and many of the choicest plums are above head height and a ladder is needed to reach them. The race is now on to pick as many plums as we can before the wasps move in and plum picking becomes a dangerous activity.
Our plum trees tend to crop biennially, this year is the year when we have a prolific amount of fruit on the trees albeit the individual fruits are smaller probably due to the lack of rain! The first plums to ripen are the ones on our Oullins Gage tree. These are a golden yellow and delicious when ripe.
One of our other plum trees – Marjorie’s Seedling has suffered from the weight of plums produced this year. The main branch, one thicker than my leg has snapped. It is holding on by a thread but the plum laden branch ended up trailing on the ground. We have made an attempt to prop the branch to try and save the fruit but this took lots of effort as the branch is really heavy. It’s hardly a surprise that the tree snapped.
I’ve cut back to branches on the old cordon apples to keep them under control and also to encourage the trees to fruit well next year.
The cauliflowers are now in full flow, a bit like buses, we wait expectantly for one to develop a decent sized curd and then before you know it all the plants have done the same. No doubt we will need to have a piccalilli making session.
At last the dahlias that I grew from seed are growing and producing flowers. So far I am pleased with the flowers but just wish the plants had grown a bit quicker.
5 August
I planted a edging of lavender around a couple of sides of our fruit beds and have decided that I want to continue this around the remaining edge of each bed. (I can count our fruit beds have three edge). With this in mind I have taken lots of cuttings and will just have to hope that enough of them root.
I’ve also taken some cuttings from the salvias planted in the front garden bed. After planting I found out that they may not be fully hardy, especially if we suffer from another winter like last year’s. Hopefully if the cuttings root I will have an insurance policy.
The dahlias too at long last are flowering – so far each of the seed sown dahlias have been different colours but then again that’s only four plants so far have fully opened flowers.
The onions and shallot leaves are beginning to lie down – a sign that they are at the end of their growing season and will begin to dry off – no doubt we will now have downpours of rain.
At the other end of their growing season are the carrots that have begun to germinate in the potato sacks.
There was more harvesting on the plot – loads more plums and also another lot of potatoes but many more things too see here for the full list.
It isn’t autumn yet is it? – Our blueberry plants seem to think it is as the leaves are turning red!
6 August
For a year or two now we have bought young brassicas plants at this time of year. We could grow them from seed but with so much else to be doing in the garden and on the plot it has been convenient to do things this way. We usually buy a collection from Dobies but this year we decided to add some cauliflower and cabbage plants from Marshalls. We have bought strawberry plants from them and been very pleased with the quality so have been really disappointed with the quality of the brassicas plants that arrived today. I hope the ones still to come from Dobies are better.
9 August
More French beans and lettuce were planted today and our first lot of calabrese.
I have been hanging on for a bit of rain so that I could clear the old strawberry beds but as we seem to be in a no go area for rain I decided to start clearing at least one. I really need to prepare a bed so that I can plant out sweet Williams and tulips. The going was extremely hard and at times a pick axe would have been a more appropriate tool than a garden fork. The ground is rock hard and bone dry – there is no way it will dig over until we have some rain on it.
13 August
The seed sown dahlias are gradually coming into flower; I’m taking photos and keeping a record of the colours so we can make a decision about whether to save any tubers or not.
Work on the plot is still mainly generally tidying and harvesting although the crops being harvested are changing the activity isn’t.
14 August
Onions and shallots are dying back. I’ve loosened the shallots so that they can begin to dry off which I expect will be the single for the rain that we needed all through the summer!
Although the apples that we think are Discovery are not quite ripe I have picked the best of them as the wasps have started to home in and excavate them. Care has to be taken when picking. This is also true when picking plums and greengages.
Our latest sowing of peas has produced very little – just a handful of peas.
17 August
We had a call from Taylor’s Clematis Nursery to say that they had received a delivery of clematis – Andromeda – which we wanted and had been out of stock so we collected it.
19 August
The rest of our potatoes were dug today. This is a record as usually we are still digging potatoes in September or even October. This year the plants made very little top growth and as this had died down there was little point in leaving the tubers in the ground. We had expected a poor crop but in the end have harvested a better crop than last year. It has defied everything we have been told about potato growing. It’s been exceptionally dry and the potatoes haven’t been watered other than being at the edge of an area being sprinkled. No blight or slug damage just great potatoes.
I’ve also started clearing the second of the old strawberry beds – it’s hard work as the ground is rock hard.
The runner beans have started to produce now so will hopefully make up for an almost non-existent pea harvest.
We’re still being attacked by insects that leave us covered in itchy red lumps – not sure what they are but I wish they would move away!
Is it autumn already? Our crab apples and blueberry bushes think so!
21 August
The second old strawberry bed is now also cleared – just one more to go now thank goodness.
The onions leaves have now bent over so have finished growing and now need to be dried off. The first bed of onions and one lot of shallots have been lifted and moved into the plot greenhouse to dry off. Ideally this should be done outside on top of the soil but with rain forecast we didn’t want the onions to get wet especially after being dry all season. No doubt this will guarantee that the forecast rain never materialises.
22 August
We have now lifted all the onions and just need to figure out where the second lot can go to dry off. Usually the plot greenhouse is empty by the time the onions are lifted and they can be popped in there but this year we still have tomatoes growing.
We’re still harvesting lots of fruit – the Victoria plum has taken over from Oullins gage in providing us with a plum fest. For our full harvest for August click here.
23 August
I bought lots of spring bulbs to add to the front flower bed. The intention is to have the perennials put on a show in summer though to early autumn and for the bulbs to give colour in spring. As the bed isn’t very large I’ve chosen short growing bulbs such as miniature daffodils, crocuses and tulips.
I planted the bulbs in gaps in between the perennials with some labels to try and avoid the bulbs being accidentally dug up when planting more plants and bulbs later.
25 August
We planted the last new clematis. One of the earlier planted varieties was looking at death’s door and I was advised it had maybe fallen foul of clematis wilt. The plant was deeply planted so I hope, that by cutting back the top growth and removing all leaves to leave just a 20 cm high ‘stick’, I may be able to save it. I’ll have to wait until next spring to find out whether I have been successful.
Pink and white cyclamen hederifolia have self seeded all over the garden. They pop up in the most unlikely places. I really like them but some needed to be removed from an area that we are thinking of converting to an alpine bed. These have been planted in a trough.
A highlight today was the picking and eating of our first ever home grown nectarines. They were delicious but we are not convinced that they are nectarines as they feel, look and taste more like peaches. They are supposed to be nectarine Fantasia but I wonder whether we have been sold the wrong tree?
26 August
The young brassicas plants ordered from Dobies arrived today. What a disappointment! We have had such good plants from them in the past but these were battered and not likely to grow. They are even worse than the ones from Marshalls received earlier and they were bad enough!
27 August
Some of the pears had fallen from our young trees so we had our first taste this year. They are delicious and we can’t wait until they start to fruit more prolifically.
28 August
We received an email from Dobies today, unlike Marshalls their response was far more what you would expect from a reputable company. They were very apologetic and have promised to send more plants or failing that a refund. Now that is what I would expect.
29 August
A few years ago I planted some bearded irises in the garden. Most of them failed to produce any flowers – maybe I planted them too deeply – but quite a clump had developed. The centre of the clump was just a mass of tubers so I decided to split them. I have planted some back in the garden and the rest have been planted at the plot to use as cut flowers. This time I’ve planted them with the tubers sitting on the surface so hope to get some good flowers.
I don’t know whether or not it will work but I have taken some cuttings from a laminum growing in the garden as well as some more from one of the salvias which doesn’t seem to want me to succeed in propagating more of it.
On the plot I cut out all this years fruiting canes from the summer fruiting raspberries and remove yet more of the runners that the strawberries are throwing out at an incredible rate.
The plot is starting to look a little bare with plenty of empty beds which have been rotovated to prepare for some later planting.
