Mid-August

We came back from a fortnight away to find that the garden had run riot!  Mostly, alas, it was the weeds that were rioting.

So we've started weeding the flower beds and I have weeded the melon bed - thus liberating two very small melon plants that were in danger of being suffocated by bindweed and thistles.  The runner beans are looking excellent, and the chard is magnificent.  We also found two marrows which we have picked. We are now getting a fairly steady supply of luscious zucchini. We are also doing well for carrots, cabbage and (to my surprise) broccoli. The bramley apples are almost ready for picking. The plums are ready. And we are getting a steady crop of cherry tomatoes from the hanging baskets.

Things, alas, are not so happy up on the allotment.  A helpful allotment neighbour had volunteered to water the greenhouses while we were away. Noticing that the potato plants were beginning to turn yellow he did not think: Oh - it's been very dry this year, they must want watering. No. He decided that they were struck with blight and has been busily digging them up.  They are not blight struck (hasn't really been blight weather up until this weekend) and some of them hadn't been in all that long so weren't at all ready for digging.  Still, at least he put the resultant potatoes in paper sacks for us to pick up when we got back. He gave the two rows of peas he felt obliged to pick (waste not, want not; they would have been a bit hard when we got back - never mind the winter stews I use the slightly older peas for) to people in hospital. It is, of course, good to be charitable. But he might have asked!  The tomatoes in the greenhouses are doing well, however. A mixed bag of heritage seeds, so lots of different colours and shapes. And very tasty they are too. There are cucumbers very nearly ready for picking.  So it's not all bad up on the allotment. The Under Gardener wasn't very happy when he first saw it - but his forgiveness has been bought with a lovely bunch of beetroot!!

We are eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables now. It's rather nice to wander out in the mornings and evenings and decide what to have for breakfast, lunch and tea!

Up on the allotment:

Some allotmenteers are adding livestock. So far we have chickens, bees and goats

Cucumber so very nearly ready for picking

There are tomatoes of various hues in the greenhouses

Round, yellow ones are almost the dullest!!

We are looking forward to trying the nearly black ones

Potatoey destruction by our  trying-to-be-helpful neighbour

A young, healthy currant bush

And a young, healthy gooseberry bush