Well we are back on watering duties. The rain that has fallen hasn't managed to spare us this chore. We don't want to let our remaining plants wither and all our earlier efforts to go to waste so we have no choice but to keep carrying the cans.
If I needed any confirmation that it was important to wear a sun hat when working on the allotment, then the state of my allotment sun hat provides it. The hat is supposed to be mainly dark blue, as is shown by the folded back lining at the top of the photo, but this year the sun has faded it so much that it is now mainly brownish.
At least the rain that has managed to fall means that we are not watering quite as often and we are managing to carry out some other necessary jobs.
I've started cutting back the redcurrant bushes that had formed a dense thicket. Having harvested as many berries as we wanted we left the rest for the birds. From the amount still left on the bushes the birds had been hardly grateful. They are so contrary, when the nets are on they will go to great lengths to try and access the berries and chortle angrily when we are picking. Remove the net so they have free access and they are not interested.
Martyn has been preparing beds for overwintering crops and sowing green manure. The bed above on the left has been sown with grazing rye. No doubt someone is wondering why I am watering weeds.
The bed on the right is ready for overwintering onions and garlic. Another bed has been prepared for overwintering hardy annuals which I hope to sow this month.
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| 27 August |
Of course, much of our time is spent harvesting. With freezers almost full to bursting this is now mostly done on a as needed basis. Some fruit, however, is still being picked for storage. We are also introducing many people to the joys of greengages. So far everyone has found them a delicious revelation.
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| 28 August |
We took a friends on a tour of our allotment plot and couldn't really send her away empty handed now could we? From the foodie photos that I am being sent, she is making good use of the contents of the above collection.
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| Marjorie's Seedling |
The fruit on our third plum tree, Marjorie's Seedling is now ripening. This has been an unusual year with all three plum trees and both greengages producing a bounty of fruit. I guess they'll all take a break next year.
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| 30 August |
Martyn lifted the Charlotte potatoes which were really planted just to work a really poor bed which hadn't grown anything other than a large clump of horseradish. We didn't expect much of a crop from them but they have produced better that some of the other potatoes. These were planted much later and it does seem that the later the tubers were planted the better the plants have grown. We are wondering whether being planted in cold, wet soil, the early potatoes suffered from two bad experiences. The later plants have been treated to a little watering, but the earlier potato tops had died down well before we had time to include them in the watering regime. We still have some potatoes in the ground but whilst the tops are green we are leaving them to hopefully get a bit more growing done.
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| Charlotte |
In case you are wondering what on earth we are doing with all the cabbage and cauliflower, some of the harvest shown below was shared with my sister.
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| 1 September |
There is one thing that is puzzling me regarding our Sungold tomatoes. Why are some of the fruits turning red? It isn't a seed mix up as the red tomatoes are on plants that also have the more expected orange colouration.
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| Sungold |
The apples below were taken from a tree in our garden. It hasn't had lots of fruit but most of the apples it has produced are quite large. They are cooking apples.
When picking flowers, I noticed this little lady. She spent ages trying her best to push her ways inside a rosebud. She was determined to reach the nectar deep in the bud.
There were plenty of other flowers that would have provided less of a challenge but there was something about this bud that she couldn't resist.
If she had waited just a day longer the flower would be open and she would have had less of a struggle.
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| Baroness Rothschild |
This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on
Dave's blog Our Happy Acres
Posts
Red Sungold - Whatever next? Some superpollinator at work? Any discernible difference in taste?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Mal. We have so many tomatoes that I cooked them to make tomato pulp to freeze. If we get any more I'll do a taste test.
DeleteWell if you have that many toms I guess pulping is an option, even for Sungold! We seem to manage to eat ours at the same rate our 5 plants can provide them. Mind you our wee greenhouse is at home, not at the plot.
DeleteWe have two greenhouses, Mal a plot one and a garden one and some plants in the ground on the plot outside.
DeleteThe red fruits on the Sungold tomato are most intriguing! Do you have several plants, or is it just one that has done that? I wonder if it could be a genetic mutation harking back a few generations.
ReplyDeleteI think it was just one small plant growing outside on the allotment, Mark. Mutant tomatoes - eek!
DeleteYou're getting lots of lovely plums and that's very interesting about the later planted potatoes. So much of gardening depends on timing and the weather. It's amazing how well your brassicas have done considering it's been such a dry hot year.
ReplyDeleteI've been putting off watering the mature plants, but they'll need to be watered eventually.
The brassicas have been treated to lots of watering, Phuong. Strangely after a few cooler days, yesterday was very warm again, and for the first time this year a couple of cauliflowers blew.
DeleteWe never manage to keep our sungold long enough to cook them. It is very unusual to have red ones. You could email the seed company with a picture of the plant and ask them why this is happening. I have some late potatoes that are nearly ready to pick as the tops are dying off. I planted them at the beginning of July. It will be interesting to see if they are like yours and have produced more than the potatoes I planted at the more usual time.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if you have the same experience with your potatoes, Joy.
DeleteRed Sungolds - that is an interesting development! Your observations on the potatoes tell me I'm not the only one who struggles sometimes to figure out why one thing does well in the garden and another struggles. Though we have had the opposite problem from you with too much water. It looks like your friends got a lovely assortment of fruits and veggies along with the tour!
ReplyDeleteGardening can be puzzling at times, Dave. We keep getting photographic evidence of how my friend is using her food parcel.
DeletePossibly the answer is that it has been stressed by the weather this year. The following James Wong article positively advocates it (stress) for ripening toms.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/14/gardens-by-james-wong-ripen-your-tomatoes
I’ll have a read, Mal
DeleteHi, I am interested to know which hardy annuals you are going to sow to over winter. I have allotment beds free now and ready to plant so some advice would be great.
ReplyDeleteHi, Anna in the past I have grown cornflowers, nigella and calendula but I may add to that this year. I’m going to check which seeds I have left over and take it from there. I’m guessing most hardy annuals should be OK but of course success will depend on how severe the winter is. I never managed to sow any last autumn so haven’t experience of how things work out if we have a bad winter. Having said that the only thing to lose is the cost of a few packets of seeds.
DeleteIt sounds like either there is a volunteer tomato plant intertwined with your Sungold plant or the Sungold produced a sport. It's good to see that all that lugging of water has paid off, I would never guess that you have been dealing with a drought from the looks of your harvests.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly isn't a second plant Michelle. I've picked off the red tomatoes so I'll see if any more develop and take more notice of where the fruit is on the plant I just wish we could stop having to water now but we daren't ease up yet.
DeleteHow fascinating re the sungold! Love your fabulous harvest and that bee battling to get into the rose!Struth....your poor hat!!!xxx
ReplyDeleteI just wonder what the sun would have done to my head if I hadn’t kept my hat on, Dina. The little bee was certainly tenacious.
DeleteThose Marjorie's seedling plums look very special Sue!
ReplyDeleteWe have had a brilliant plum and greengage year, Kathy.
DeleteThat's certainly well illustrated advice regarding why it's so important to wear a sun hat Sue!
ReplyDeleteIntrigued by the red Sungolds. Mine have stayed their usual colour.
I was really surprised when I noticed what had happened to my hat, Anna
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