*** Middling August on the plot (Part 1) ***

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.****** Middling August on the plot (Part 1) ******.

After one of the hottest & driest Junes for many a year July offered a more changeable weather pattern with hot, cool & even the odd rainy day. This month of August – up till the present time – is following the general pattern set during July. We have had a couple of showers in this region of the UK but nothing to “write home” about. The night of the 9th – 10th it seemed we had some rain but again it was nothing to get excited about. So it has been a case of traipsing up & down the length of the allotment with two heavy cans of water for about 2 & 1/2 hours a couple of times a week! It is getting to be a bit tiring now as I seem to spend more time watering than actual growing!

Having said that the allotment is looking really good with lots of things to harvest, like these Blackberries for instance:

I was cutting out the new, long branches a couple of days after taking this photo & getting myself almost sick on the fruit!!! I also got lots of scratches for my efforts as well! :-D

I picked these 3 punnets of blackberries on the 14th July. The bush didn’t look as if I’d taken even one when I finished!

We have had a couple of days with some showers this week & already some of the berries are getting mildew or botrytis.

Or these purple plums …

They may be Victoria plums. I have no idea. Shame the fruit isn’t clearer in these pictures of the trees. :-(

What about these yellow ones?

The apple tree is loaded down with so much fruit that the branches are really struggling under the weight of it! Lots of smaller apples are falling off the tree daily!

These Beetroots were from some seedlings a lady on the other side of the central path gave me. I’ve eaten quite a few now!

August begins with our first tomatoes beginning to ripen as well! :-)

As there are 3 or 4 different varieties they produce fruit differently. These cherry tomatoes being the smallest obviously produce ripe fruit earlier than the bigger ones.

The above photo is from the plants that the lady who gave me beetroot seedlings gave me when she discovered she didn’t have enough space for all the plants she had brought down to the allotment. Even though they were tall & spindly I planted them & the majority took quite well. :-) A couple did die but the majority are doing just fine. Gerry’s plants were just the opposite! Strong compact plants that made faster progress than any others. Yet they are beginning to produce ripe fruit a week later than the others. I suspect they are both the same variety from the fruit. They may both be “Gardener’s Delight”.

The 6 plants my daughter gave me for my birthday are producing enormous fruits. No wonder they are called “Money Maker”!

The great majority are from my own seedlings that I started off on my balcony. They looked pathetic when I put them in the ground & I honestly didn’t expect many to survive. But I don’t think I lost a single plant! Now they are producing big tomatoes. This variety is called “Alicante”.

I’m growing some Pinto beans & Chick peas in the greenhouse apart from the 4 pots of tomatoes for the Harvest Thanksgiving. Gerry is growing Runner beans & Sunflowers in pots for the same occasion.

On Sunday August 8th the sunflower competition took place on our allotment field – Gerry & I won first prize!

Here’s a photo Gerry took of me in front of our prize Sunflower! It measured 8ft 5in tall! Now we have a couple that are even higher! Shame the competition wasn’t held a week later – but we would likely have won all the same!

Here is the results sheet for the sunflower competition on Sunday 8th August. Jerry’s name & plot No. is high lighted in yellow. We won a bottle of wine though we haven’t received it yet!

For a little extra colour we have this Butterfly bush now coming to the end of its flowering period. The sweetcorn is planted in a bed close-by while the Jerusalem Artichoke (?) is flowering almost at its feet.

Jerry’s Artichokes are in full flower & this is a rather longer view than I’ve posted other times. To the left can be seen one of the 3 yellow plum trees.

More colour here with the Gladioli in full bloom! They bring some warming touch of colour.

For those of you still following my EXPERIMENTS here is a photo of the 1st Pinto beans I sowed, now with their 1st pods.

Here is a photo of the Garbanzo beans – also with their first pods.

The Lentils are looking rather sorry for themselves now but I don’t have a more recent photo than the last one I put in my last blog. I have sown a few more rows where the potatoes had been & they are coming on very well now.

Gerry’s squash plants are coming on a treat. Anybody who saw my last blog will remember how small they were. Now they are the size of Melons!

Here is a photo of Gerry’s mini sunflowers. I want to save some seed from these to sow again next year. The only problem being that he doesn’t have the packet any longer & isn’t sure if they are F1 hybrids. If that were the case then the seed would be useless!

I sowed some Sweet Peppers on my balcony about the same time as the Onions & Lettuces. Although they have been in the ground since April they haven’t looked very good. I thought I wasn’t going to get any peppers at all this year. But lo & behold as I was weeding them a week ago I came across the very 1st fruit! Now several other plants also have fruit! :-)

If you have difficulty seeing the 1st pepper, look just under the word “Pepper”!

I’m going to make a 2nd part to this month’s instalment while my computer seems to be working better. I’ve been having a lot of problems with it lately & was almost resigned to the fact that perhaps it was on its last legs. But it may only be a problem with my internet connection. Anyway that counts for the “promised” 2nd blog not appearing & for my limited presence on the forum these last weeks.

Well, on to part two …

• 15 Aug, 2010
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