There's very little gardening for me to report this week, as for various reasons I didn't visit the allotment much last week. Martyn was on solo duties on Thursday whilst I spent the day waiting for joiners who once again didn't show up. They were then supposed to arrive on Saturday but guess what? Now they are - maybe- coming on Monday! No show on Monday so now they promise it will definitely be Tuesday. It's beginning to feel like groundhog day!
We managed an afternoon at the allotment on Sunday when Martyn lifted more potatoes. This time the varieties were Kestrel, Cara, Vivaldi and Sarpo Mira. The results were varied. Cara produced the highest yield but most of the tubers had been attacked by pests. On the other hand Kestrel produced some good sized unspoiled tubers but a lower yield in terms of total weight. I'll do a post about all our thoughts on the potatoes that we grew this year at a later date.
Whilst, Martyn was busy lifting potatoes, I cleared and dug over the bed where I sowed hardy annual flowers last autumn. I plan to use the bed for the same this year so need it ready for sowing this month. I've posted a video here.
We are picking plenty of ripe tomatoes, some of which are being cooked and frozen to use in dishes later. It's quite a modest harvest this year compared to what many of you are producing.
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| 2 September |
Martyn, came home on Thursday with a good haul of raspberries. The All Gold really have excelled themselves this year. The berries are getting smaller but there are still plenty of flowers and the bees are busy pollinating them.
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| 5 September |
Martyn also had a surprise addition to his gatherings - a lovely Clapton cauliflower. Clapton is a club root resistant variety that we have grown for a few years now.
The Python climbing French beans, that were mistakenly bought as a purple variety, have been quite a find and will be grown again in spite of not being purple. The purple colouring tends to be lost from beans once cooked anyway - unless you know of one that retains its colour.
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| 8 September |
The squash haven't done well this year. The butternut squash haven't produced a single fruit, Crown Prince have produced about three undersized specimens and the Uchiki Kuri have produced the four that we cut on Sunday. I'm not sure how big these should grow but they seemed undersized to me.
One triumph this year is that we have actually managed to grow some spring onions. After struggling to grow these for a few years, we decided to try sowing the seed in a crate containing multipurpose compost and it has worked!
No doubt the dahlias are now on borrowed time. Night time temperatures are falling and the first frosty night will bring about their demise. I just love the form of the pompom varieties
Finally, the birds have contributed some welcome colour to the garden. This cluster of sunflowers have sprung up alongside one of our bird tables as a result of some messy feathered diners.
This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on
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