Life on The Weald - August 2024

and other distractions

1 August 2024

We hadn't seen the plot since 16 July as we had been on holiday touring the Basque country and were not sure what we would find on our return.  Much of the chard had bolted and run to seed...

1 August - Rainbow chard

... the cobs on the sweetcorn were beginning to swell; there was considerable leaf growth on the squashes, but few female flowers and no sign of beans climbing the corn on our 3 sisters bed.  They seem to have been victim of the snails and slugs.

1 August - sweetcorn and squashes

The broccoli was protected from the pigeons but not from snails who had stripped many of the lower leaves, but thankfully they had left the kalettes alone.

1 August - purple sprouting broccoli

Among the squashes, I spotted what I thought was a patty pan squash ready for picking - which I did.  It was growing where a patty pan had been planted but it was not until I picked it that I realised it was not a patty pan but an unripe Turk's Turban  which had trailed across the bed from where it had been planted.

1 August - not a patty pan but a Turk's Turban

1 August - an unripe Turk's Turban

I am hoping that it will ripen indoors.  There was a rather large courgette, the size of a marrow, and quite a lot of Cobra climbing French beans ready for picking.

1 August - French beans, courgette and squash

The lawn at home was rich with clover and a few dandelions but also the rather pretty flatweed (also known as catsear/cat's-ear or false dandelion).

1 August - Flatweed

2 August 

The birds appeared to have feasted on the blueberries whilst we were away, but we did manage to harvest a few.  There was also a plentiful supply of blackberries from the brambles that seem to have taken over the the bottom of the plot.

2 August - blueberries

2 August - blackberries

I was also pleased to spot a Gatekeeper (Hedge Brown) butterfly on the chives. We have had few butterflies and moths this year and they are important pollinators.

2 August - Hedge Brown butterfly

5 August

More butterfly good news, as I spotted a Red Admiral on the nettles.

5 August - Red Admiral

The Marmande tomatoes were much smaller than past years but to date have not been attacked by birds or slugs, so I decided to pick them as soon as they begin to ripen ie change colour.  Once the ripening process has begun, they no longer depend on the plant for nutrients and they begin to produce ethylene gas which stimulates ripening so they will continue to ripen off the vine with nodetriment to taste.  They don't even need to be in the sunshine - they will ripen perfectly well in a paper bag or kitchen drawer.  Putting them in a bowl with ripening bananas will also hasten ripening as the bananas also give off ethylene.

5 August - ripening Marmande tomatoes

7 August

The Charlotte potatoes had been in the ground longer than I had expected and the foliage had died back.  We didn't need to lift them earlier as we had a plentiful supply of first early Red Duke of York.  Charlotte are a second early and I was worried that having left them in the ground, the slugs might have got to them. The area where they were growing was now covered in field bindweed! - but we were lucky.  They were large and undamaged. We also picked a ridge cucumber.

7 August - field bindweed on the potato patch!

7 August - Charlotte potatoes

7 August - Charlotte potatoes and cucumber

The Teepee French beans were flowering and I am hoping for a good crop.

7 August - purple Teepee French beans

There were several flowers on the squashes but still mainly male ones!

7 August - squashes

A pile of Wood chip and leaf cuttings had appeared in the central car park the day before, so it was a good opportunity to continue to repair the footpath and the area between the beds.

7 August - Woodchip

7 August - renewing the footpath

9 August

With a plentiful supply of woodchip I extended the footpath, removing bindweed and couch grass and laying cardboard topped with the woodchip.

At Seedy Sunday, in February, I had bought the last odd few remaining maincrop Pink Fir Apple and Orla potatoes and planted them in grow bags. All the foliage had now died back so I emptied the Orla bag and one of the two Pink Fir Apple bags leaving the other for later.  They weren't heavy croppers but the Pink Fir Apple were delicious.

9 August - Pink Fir Apple potatoes

9 August - Orla potatoes

More work on extending the footpath....

9 August - extending the footpath

9 August - extending the footpath

10 August

Today was a day for finally doing something that I had been putting off for months - clearing the shed!  I hadn't realised how much space we had.  I also discovered another pile of plum stones with tiny holes where the kernel had been extracted - i'm told that these tiny holes are typically the work of field mice.

10 August - inside the shed

10 August - plum stones

10 August - inside the shed

11 August

I decided to lift the red onions.  Some had previously grown scapes which I had broken off. These ones will need to be used soon as they probably won't store well as they coould rot from where the scape (flowering stem) was removed.

11 August - Red onion that had bolted - scape removed

14 August

With people coming to stay at the weekend and the prospect of a garden party, it was time to tidy up the back garden.  I was delghted to see a Mint moth on the Lemon balm.

14 August - Mint moth

The large pot in which the Moroccan mint was growing had developed a large crack and when I tried to move it, the pot fell apart.  Little wonder as the plant was completely pot-bound.

14 August - pot-bound mint

I saved a few bits of root and repotted them and disposed of the rest.  There are many varieties of mint and it is so easy to grow - but best grown in a container or it will take-over a vast area.  For general culinary use, I think Moroccan mint is the best.  I gave the rest of the garden a general tidy-up and mowed the lawn. It was sad to see the flatweed go but they probably wouldn't have survived the grandchildren's kick-about at the weekend!  I was very pleased to see the proliferation of berries on the Spindle bush (Euonymous).

14 August -fruit of the Spindle tree

16 August

Part of the tidying up process was to store the onions that hadn't bolted. We have found a use for old tights, other than repairing a car fan-belt!  They are excellent for hanging and storing onions.

16 August - storing onions

It was the beginning of the big weekend when family descended upon us for a weekend of celebrations in advance of my 80th birthday the following Wednesday - but it was also my step-son's and two of my grandchildren's birthdays within days of each other, so a big party at a beach-side venue on the Saturday and a garden party on Sunday.

17 - 25 August

17 August - 4 days premature

18 August - in the garden with family

18 August - in the garden with family

 And we also celebrated my grandson Shay's and granddaughter Kitty's 18th birthdays.

Kitty and Shay celebrate their 18th

My big day, and a rather nice T-shirt

21 August 2024

Obviously a lot to celebrate. Having reached 80, I have a letter from the DWP to say I will get and extra 25p per week because of my age! Last of the big spenders.

We had some family staying with us until Thursday 22 when we set off to North Wales to take Ross, our nephew, home.  Having dropped Ross home, we stayed at a hillside campsite in Denbigh in our campervan where we experienced 70mph gusting wind.  We headed south the following day intending to spend a few days in the Cotswolds and west country but after one night near Cirencester and torrential rain we decided to cut short our break and return home on 25th.

22 August - preparing for departure

23 August - Denbigh

23 August - Denbigh

25 August
Having got home in the late afternoon I ventured to the plot in the evening to see how things were and was pleasantly surprised. There was a Turk's Turban squash. some Patty pan and French beans.

25 August - Turk's turban 

23 August - Custard Patty pan

23 August - Cobra  climbing French beans

26 August

We seemed to have left the wet weather behind and it was a glorious day.

26 August - looking south

I weeded one of the vacant beds to begin preparation for the autumn planted onions.

26 August - bed preparation for onions

The Borlotti beans were ripening nicely and the snails seem to have left them alone whilst they have munched the leaves of the French climbing beans.

26 August - borlotti beans

27 August 

We harvested one of the remaining cucumbers and a few Cobra beans...

27 August - cucumber and Cobra beans

...and lifted some more Charlotte potatoes

27 August - Charlotte potatoes

28-30 August 

We spent a couple of days tidying up before heading off again.

I was pleased to spot a buff-tailed bumble bee on the winter savory.

28 August - bumblebee on the savory

Sylvi emptied the bottom trays of the wormery which were full of worms.  The compost had not fully rotted down but, nevertheless, I spread it on some vacant beds to complete the process and get it integrated with the soil.

30 August - compost from the wormery

This was our last visit of the month and on Saturday 31 we set off for a weekend in London for the 2024 Big Half

John Austin

Hove, August 2024