Weekend 5 August
On the plot
- Planted more alpine strawberries, they are well worth the effort and just seem to go on fruiting throughout the season - last year into November.
- Also planted out foxgloves to grow on - Excelsior Hybrids they were superb this year, so we had to have some for next year too - some will be brought back home later to plant in the garden.
- Planted out Sweet Williams to hopefully give plenty of cut flowers next year.
- Harvested Juliette potatoes.
- Planted more Salad Bowl lettuce
- Lots of butterflies around now but too many of them are cabbage whites.
- The gladioli that were planted in pots and then transferred to the plot are beginning to flower.
- The cardoons and globe artichokes are flowering well. We inherited the globe artichoke which is a spectacular plant (not as good this year though), which the bees just adore being swallowed up by. We never have actually eaten the buds but maybe one day we will try them.
- A hardy cyclamen that somehow found its way to the allotment by mistake is flowering in the grass under the plum trees. I think some seeds must have somehow been transferred from the garden, we just have to remember to strim around it every year.
- The outdoor tomatoes have developed a few fruit but still a long way to go before we get and red tomatoes.
- Courgettes are going strong and have even frozen some. They are really easy to freeze - just chop up and put in bags in the freezer.
In the garden
The bed of mesembryanthemums looks spectacular in the sunshine. They are a throw back to my childhood when we always seemed to have some in the garden but the colours available now are much more varied.
In the green house
The grapevine continues to think that it is a triffid and the grapes continue to develop.
Out and About
Quite a few fields alongside the motorway have had their crops harvested and straw is baled up in large cylinder shapes enclosed is black plastic. A circus was once based in a field near our home and cylinders of hay were delivered. I watched from a bedroom window as the lorry driver discussed his load with one of the circus people. Maybe they wanted the traditional cuboid shapes for the big top, however the elephant wasn't as fussy and behind their backs proceeded to unload the lorry by rolling the bails down the tailgate of the lorry! I wish I had, possessed a video camera at that time.
We made it into the local newspaper, the Wakefield Express featured our appeal for a new fence!
There seems to be lots and lots of Himalayan balsam this year.
Weekend 12 August
On the plot
- As usual still lots of weeding. It's one of those endless jobs when you have allotments. The ground is so hard that we have to water before being able to pull or dig out the weeds.
- Planted out small lavender plants to grow on.
- Planted out a couple of potentilla shrubs which were taken as cuttings last year.
- Planted out a dahlia that seemed to have been left behind in the greenhouse.
- Planted some chrysanthemums for cut flowers later in the year.
- The sunflowers have developed into sturdy looking plants - not flowering just yet but soon. We grow short varieties that I can look in the eye. At five feet one and a bit (I always wanted to be five foot two but never quite made it!), the varieties that we grow are just shorter than me. I never have understood the point of growing the tall varieties that you can only appreciate from a bedroom window.
- The climbing French beans don't seem to be progressing as well as the runner beans. The runner beans look great with red white and pink flowered varieties. Just small beans at the moment which seem late this year.
- Cut back some of the new canes shooting out from the blackberry - we only need a few to train for next year and if left to their own devices the canes will take root across the whole of the plot.
- Continued to pick berry fruit.
- Whilst weeding around the outdoor tomatoes I heard a rustle in one of the plum trees. At first I though it was a blackbird trying to beat us to any ripened fruit. It wasn't a branch had broken off and fallen to the ground. It was loaded with plums so it could have been the weight of the fruit that was just too much for the branch.
The courgettes continue to grow - some would be more accurately called marrettes (think about it). Anyone anything really exciting to do with them please leave a message on the blog - click here.
In the garden
The fish are causing havoc in the pond again, they are having a second go at spawning and making quite a song and dance of it.
A young robin visited our bird table. It was just starting to lose its spotted breast. It hadn't yet developed its characteristic red breast - more of a pink blush.
In the green house
We have moved most things out of the greenhouse now - the grapevine doesn't like to share!
Potted up a dipladenia (house plant) as it didn't seem to be doing too well - I think it may have been in too sunny a spot on a west facing window sill.
Out and about
The rowan trees now are in berry. Wonder how long the birds will leave them
Weekend 19 August
Out and about
We spent this week in the Ardèche region of France. We stayed in a renovated olive mill that was built some time in the 18th century. There were no longer any olive trees on the land around the property as they had been killed off during a particular cold winter. According to the owner olive trees only produce olives after 20 years of growth and so it is quite a disaster when old trees are killed.
The mill was situated near to a small village called Saint Genest de Beauzon. Unfortunately the river which runs (or should run) alongside the mill was almost dry and was really no more than several small ponds. Unlike England, the region had had very little rain over the summer. The owner told us that the week before kingfishers and herons had been seen fishing in the puddles but the kingfisher decided to lie low whilst we were there. We did see a couple of herons fly overhead maybe on their way to England to investigate our pond whilst we were away. We saw buzzards flying and calling overhead and wagtails drinking from the puddles along with other birds usually found in most British gardens. We also saw and heard woodpeckers. In fact we heard quite a few unidentifiable birds. Well unidentifiable to us as we are not too good at recognising bird song.
The owner also told us that there were wild boar in the area but they were most likely to be seen in October when the sweet chestnuts drop to the ground. Unlike their Dordogne neighbours who have much more expensive taste and feed on truffles. We did see lots of damselflies and dragonflies as well as quite o few lizards and a couple of water snakes. The owner told us that he had come across a snake when cutting one of the hedges. He saved this piece of information until the time of our departure. He also told us that the red bugs that congregated under the lime trees were called gendarmes. Not sure if this is because they march around on patrol or that they are said to give off a bad smell when defending themselves.
We saw lots and lots of butterflies in all sorts of colours, (yellow, blue, orange, brown, speckled and streaked), including the large swallowtail butterfly and a white admiral.
All in all no work done on the plot, in the garden or the greenhouse although I did water the potted geraniums by the mill.
The fields of sunflowers were just about flowered out and setting seed.
Lovely weather all week but we came back to the cold and rain. The garden and plot seem to have survived our absence though and all my houseplants have survived too.
Weekend 26 August
On the plot
- Back to it after our holiday in France! Thanks to our allotment neighbours who looked after things whilst we were away. Looking forward to Barry’s blackberry jelly made from our blackberries. It was good to have ripe berries picked whilst we were on holiday as in the past over ripe or shrivelled berries have spoiled the rest. This time we cam back to a supply of fresh shiny berries.
- Lots of weeding to do – how come the weather hasn’t impeded their growth.
- The sweet peas, dahlias and roses needed deadheading or in the case of the sweet peas seed pods removed. I don’t know if we will have any more sweet peas though as the plants have started to get a bit of mildew which is often a sign that they have decided to call it a day. A couple of the roses have signs of black spot too!
- Lifted the garlic, onions, shallots and more potatoes. The potato variety Belle de Fontenay has suffered badly in the wet weather but other varieties have fared better. We always grow several varieties as an insurance plan against the weather. In dry seasons one variety may perform best whereas in wet, cold, miserable seasons like this a different variety will be more successful.
- Picked lots of runner beans some to freeze, some to give away and of course some to eat!
- Pruned back the apples which are a sort of a cordon. We inherited them after they had been left to run wild for a time and so they tend to have forgotten their training!
- Picked some plums and some greengages but most failed to make it home as they were eaten on the spot. Not all by us either!
- Still waiting for the outdoor tomatoes to get going – they have a few green fruits but the plants should be at least twice the size that they are.
- One major disaster whilst we were away was the invasion of the Cabbage whites. Quite a few newly planted cabbages had been shredded by the caterpillars of Large and Small White butterflies. Most butterflies are welcome on the plot but there are always those intent on spoiling things. Anyway we are now here to fight back!
- Tidied up the strawberry plants. It was very time consuming but well worth the effort. Left to their own devices the plants are like children and just run wild and become unruly. Mae and Marshmello varieties had lots of runners, some which I potted up and others given away. The variety Florence didn’t really have many runners so I kept all of those to myself. Let’s hope next year the rain doesn’t spoil the berries!
- The plums and green gages are delicious but we are having trouble actually getting any back home. We tend to eat them on the spot.
In the garden
The garden has survived our desertion although the fish soon came begging when they spotted us. Either we have unusually intelligent fish or the person who suggested that fish have a very short memory was ill informed.
The crab apple tree is literally weighed down with fruit, lots of crab apples have fallen around the tree too. This year we are having a go at crab apple jelly and it tastes good. Also tried crab apple and rosemary, and crab apple and mint but haven’t tasted that yet!
In the greenhouse
Everything except the grapevine was removed from the greenhouse whilst we were away and placed in trays on the patio. Everything seems to have survived OK.
The houseplants have thrived too – maybe it is the intensive care treatment they got before we went away that is paying dividends.
Out and About
Hawthorn now has berries. The one on out plot has developed into a sturdy little tree not after a few years of training a whip that must have grown from a seed deposited by a passing bird.
