Late August

I'm not absolutely sure that that pumpkin is a pumpkin.  We picked it on Sunday (and VERY heavy it was too).  I knew that the skin hadn't hardened enough for storage but we hadn't intended to store it anyway.  I am also aware that not all pumpkins are orange - and I had bought a pumpkin seedling with a picture of a blue-green fruit.  But when I got it inside and began to cut it up - it looked more squash like to me.  And it's roasting well and making nice soup.  But I have a suspicion it is probably a marrow gone demented.  I'm not really sure what it is.  It's a cucurbit of some sort!!!!!!!  A lesson to me that I really ought to grow my veg from seed.  Garden centres are a bit inclined, sometimes, not to be quite as accurate as you might wish with their labelling.

The other plants are doing quite well.  The weather has changed this last week to a more autumnal feel.  But at the same time, the days are warmer than they were for most of August and there is a lot more sunshine.  So finally things are starting to flourish.  We are getting zucchinis of various sorts and the cucumbers are starting to come along nicely.  We are getting squashes from the plant in the allotment greenhouse, although not yet from the plant in the garden, happy though it seems.  But if the weather holds and we don't get any early frosts - there is still time.  We are getting lots of tomatoes, lots of chard, a reasonable number of runner beans, and are about to pull the last cabbage from those poor plants that we put out last year and which got battered nearly to death by all that snow over the winter.  They took a long time to recover, but have been well-worth waiting for.

The Builder has now dug the allotment bed which has had a mountain of manure on it for the last year.  And he has been weeding everywhere.

There are SIX plums on the plum tree.  We thought there was only one. They are very nearly ready to eat.  So too are the apples.  There are quite a lot of apples this year - although I am planning to prune the trees quite hard this year so we may not get many next year.  And I must, must, must prune the cherry trees.  It's nearly too late for this year.

By way of an experiment, we have just sown a packet of early peas behind the leeks. The Organic Gardening website says that if the weather holds fair to the end of autumn, there might be a final picking. But I must remember next year just to keep sowing into August.  I stopped this year for some reason

The chooks seem to be quite happy. We get four eggs on most days.  One of the black hens (Schnitzel, I think) tried hard to go broody yesterday, but I think we have dissuaded her.  Ruthlessly picking her up and moving ehr out of the nest box while offering tasty tidbits seems to have convinced her of the error of her ways.

More photos here