There is never a happy medium where our weather is concerned. Only a couple of week’s ago we were struggling to keep our plants watered. The soil was dry and we were lugging watering cans around in conditions that really were too hot for any kind of strenuous activity.
Now we are dodging the frequent, sometimes heavy, showers. At least we have had a break from watering.
On the allotment, we have managed to get a bit of weeding done. It’s not only the desirable plants that have welcomed the rain.
We tidied the leek bed. The rain has really encouraged the leeks to have a growth spurt.
I decided to thin out some of the carrots. I had sown the seeds a bit too thickly in the expectation that much of the seed would fail to germinate – it didn’t. The bed was also weeded.
The bed housing the red onions and shallots grown from seeds was also tidied up.
The variety of the shallots is Zebrune. One was accidentally harvested when the bed was being tidied. The shallots have only produced one, rather large bulb. Does anyone know whether this is usual for this variety?
Most of our between showers activity has been harvesting.
I picked our first ripe blueberries of the season. I’ve no idea what the varieties are but the three bushes produce ripe berries at different times. The berries aren’t as large as some plants produce but they are still tasty.
We have picked lots of jostaberries. Both blueberries and jostaberries are protected under netting as left uncovered the birds would strip the plants of fruit. We have five jostaberry bushes and only four are covered. The bush that isn’t under cover hasn’t a single berry left on it. Not only do the birds eat the berries but the wood pigeons break some of the branches when they clambered about.
We have also been harvesting cucumbers as we have needed them, but the time from greenhouse to plate is so short that I haven’t any photos.
We decided to head for Temple Newsam despite the rain and, between showers, managed to squeeze in a walk and a couple of games for Ruby. We almost had the place to ourselves. It was so quiet that some of the waterbirds, with their young brood, felt comfortable enough to laze on the grassy area beside the lake. The rain doesn’t bother them.
The moorhen chicks have enormous feet.
We also managed to keep dry during our afternoon at Nostell. We’ve just a couple of new flowers to add to our Nostell list. One was a thistle which may be a milk thistle.
The other was Himalayan balsam, a plant that is very invasive and can cause problems if left unchecked.
We spotted a very hairy caterpillar as it crept across the path in the wooded area. The nearest that I can get to identifying it is that it may be the caterpillar of a fox moth. Does any caterpillar expert have a better idea?
In the park, we noticed immature acorns on the oak trees.
Finally, some of last week’s meals that made use of our harvests. Some of our cabbage, onion and frozen pepper went into a sort of hash. I also added celery, carrot, mushrooms and flaked almonds. White wine and soy sauce was also added.
Some of our courgettes were used in a turkey stir fry. Our frozen peppers, spring onions, celery, mushrooms, orange juice and soy sauce were also used.
More courgettes and one of our onions went into a chicken and courgette curry. It was loosely based on this recipe but I used tikka masala paste, chicken stock and tinned tomato instead of the curry sauce.
That’s all my news for last week and so as always until next time stay safe and well.
Once again I am linking to Harvest Monday on Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.
Great harvest, Sue. I am waiting for the first zucchini to grow and will use your recipe. Beautiful and delicious blueberries. It has now ripened in the forest not far from my summer cottage. I’ll go pick it up.
I hope the birds don’t get to the blueberrues before you Nadezda
Lovely seeing your crops and harvests. Wonderful having all those blueberries, I have one ripe one so far!I always have to laugh at the size of moorhen chicks feet, still, they do grow into them. Could your caterpillar be a white ermine moth? Lovely meals.xxx
It could well be an ermine moth, Djna
I’m not sure which is worse – too much rain or not enough! We are getting much needed rain here today, with more forecast this week. At least we won’t have to water, though the weeds are loving all the rain too.
The weeds certainly are loving it, Dave
We are dodging the showers here too. There’s lots of weeding to be done when it’s not raining. Our cucumbers are doing so well, we can’t keep up with them there are so many.
We go from no rain to too much, Margaret – no happy medium
It’s been raining off and on here too. Get caught out in it and you’re soaked. I would have preferred to have seen gentler more consistent rain rather than short sharp sudden downpours. It gets a better chance to soak in and do more good if it’s more consistent.
It’s very difficult to identify those fuzzy caterpillars, isn’t it? My best guess would be fox moth too.
I’m fed up of the rain now, Debbie