18th - 22nd August

Last week was a complete washout. On Monday I had a dizzy and fuzzy head all day that worsened through nausea and one of my trademark thumping headaches (I don’t get them a lot, but they tend to accompany any virus I have. By Tuesday I was in the throes of diarrhoea and feeling sure I would be vomiting. So that was 2 days in bed followed by not feeling great until yesterday. Bending over made my head go funny as did any exertion, so no gardening. I did harvest some courgettes on Thursday as well as some salad leaves, spinach and a large cucumber. Today I harvested 12 more courgettes and made recipe number one from my book ‘What Will I Do With All These Courgettes’ – a simple soup that only used up one courgette, albeit one that weighed a pound. It also called for an onion, chicken stock, pepper, rosemary and oregano and the ease of it is that you just put all the ingredients in a pan, heat to boiling then simmer for 20 minutes then blend and serve or store. I had a taste before freezing it and was very impressed. We also have 6 sweet peppers on the window sill in the final stages of ripening. I figured that if I pick them, then the plants can put energy into making more. We used one of them in our dinner tonight and it is the first home grown pepper I have ever had, and I could certainly taste the difference even in the overall flavour of the dish.

 As I was washing up I saw the sprouting broccoli on the garden table and remembered that I really must plant that out soon. We go on holiday for a week on Saturday and they will be better off in the ground. I had completely forgotten them over the last week. My sage and oregano still sits in pots on the table as well. I fear the slugs having a feast if I plant them out.

The flowers in the garden still look great and we have had 2 roses in bloom again the last 2 weeks. The tomatoes are doing well but all fruit are still green. We have had an almost total lack of hot sunny days this month (maybe the forecasters were right about August after all) and so ripening has not begun. A small dream of mine is to return from holiday to find the plants sparkling with juicy, red, ripe tomatoes. They’d better get a move on as after our holiday it becomes September very quickly.

 

 

19^th August

I had borrowed some electric hedge clippers from my Dad a few weeks ago and not yet got around to trimming the privet hedge with them due to time and the weather. Yesterday he called to ask for them back as he was borrowing them from someone else too. So after work I set about attacking our overgrown hedge. I was ably assisted by my 2 hedge clipping protégées and in between heavy showers we accomplished the task both on our side and our neighbours and made a huge sprawling pile of green waste.

 

 

20^th August

I made a visit to the allotment and weeded sections 2, 3 and 4 of all the milk thistles and whatever else was easy to grab in a hurry. I gave the last section a quick hoe then placed down the black weed suppressing membrane and held it down with a few thick wooden batons that I have been acquiring from the skip at work. I checked the rocket protected under fleece within the chipboard frames. I don’t recall rocket being an expensive item in restaurants but if it is, I’m not surprised due to the slow growing nature of mine. I found another crown prince squash growing under the rapidly advancing foliage. Maybe I should just be a squash grower as the cucumber, crown prince, pumpkins, courgettes and last year, the butternut squash, all grow well with me – maybe it is my love of manure that helps. I could barter the surplus for other types of vegetables.

 

21^st August

Finally, I have planted the purple sprouting broccoli. I even had a few left over to plug the gaps left by 3 failed Brussels sprouts plants. Mind you, the replacement broccoli doesn’t look too vigorous. I harvested 2 fairly large cucumbers, 9 courgettes and a batch load of spinach. We go on holiday on Saturday for a week so I cut as much as I could.

Looking at some other plots it seems they have nearly finished for the year. So many people were growing large quantities of onions and potatoes that now they are dug up their plots look pretty vacant.

 

22^nd August
I chopped up and froze some basil into ice cubes for recipes after the season finishes. I also chopped and froze 3 red peppers and boy, are they different from the ones you buy in shops! They are a vibrant red, with very noticeable scent and the dark red juice that is left on your hands really tells you they are home grown and brimming with goodness.

Next post: 25th August