Life on The Weald - July 2025

Dahlia - Red Labrynth

Tuesday 1 July

This was the first year that I had grown dahlias and I was very pleased with the first one to flower - Red Labrynth.

Tuesday was the hottest day of the year, so far, with a temperature in Hove of 27C, far too hot to do anything on the plot during the day, but we went up in the evening and Sylvi picked blackcurrants and did some very necessary watering.  All of the fruit seems to be doing well this year.

I planted out some Boltardy beet and a few perpetual spinach plants grown from seed at home.

That evening, the Met Office confirmed that June in the UK had been the hottest on record.  

Wednesday 3 July

Sylvi picked even more blackcurrants - about 1.3kg - whilst I planted out some silver beet and rhubarb chard and directly sowed some Teepee purple French dwarf beans.

3 July - Blackcurrants

The garlic had dried sufficiently for it to be put into storage in the shed.

3 July - garlic ready to store

Thursday/ Friday 4/5 July

We spent some time at home making blackcurrant jelly.

3 July - preparing the blackcurrants

After boiling the currants we left them to strain overnight to extract the juice and made the jelly the following day.

5 July - the first jar of Blackcurrant jelly 2025

After days of sweltering heat on there was a sudden change in the weather on Friday with grey skies and a strong, cold wind.

Saturday 6 July

I took the opportunity of watering the plants in the greenhouse.  We appear to have 3 aubergines growing.

6 July - aubergine

I think I mixed up some of the labelling when re-potting the chili peppers and am not sure which are Aji Limon  and which are Aji Red.  We will have to wait and see! (Aji is the Peruvian word for chilli, but common in other parts of South America. My eldest son had sent me his surplus seeds earlier in the year.

6 July - Aji

6 July - Aji

I also lifted a few Charlotte potatoes.

6 July - Charlotte potatoes

The red sedum (stonecrop) by the pond was thriving.

6 July - red stonecrop (sedum)

I was also able to pick my first fruit from the Acocha (Cyclanthera) plant.  Other names include climbing cucumber, Bolivian cucumber and slipper gourd.  As the fruits are the same colour as the leaves, they are difficult to spot and this one had been left too long to be eaten raw as it was a bit stringy.  Perhaps, at this stage, they are better stuffed or chopped and used in a stirfry.  When they are as advanced as this, the seeds have ripened and need to be removed.

6 July - fruit of the Acocha

6 July - Acocha seeds

Sunday 6 - Friday 11 July

Abandoning the allotment for a week, we took off in the campervan to the Isle of Wight for a few days.

7 July - leaving Portsmouth

We had chosen the hottest, dryest week of the year and I was a little worried how the plants on the plot might fare.  One of the highlights of our visit was a trip to the Garlic Farm.  I was impressed to discover that my elephant garlic  was of a similar size to theirs.

It may look like the Caribbean but this was our ferry at Fishbourne, waiting to take us home.

11 July - the ferry home

Saturday 12 July

The plot was very dry and many of the plants wilting in the heat.  A rogue, self seeded squash had appeared.  The problem with such arrivals is you never know what varieties have produced it and sometimes the result can be toxic.  The only way to find out is wait until it ripens and do a tongue test i.e. see if it tastes bitter, and if it does, put it in the compost.

12 July - a self-seeded squash

Thankfully, the peppers in the greenhouse had survived...

12 July - an Aji chilli

... the foliage on the potatoes had all died down, but the potatoes were fine and I lifted a few Charlotte.

12 July - Charlotte potatoes

The courgettes had put on a growth spurt whulst we were away!

12 July - a courgette

Sunday 13 July

At home, the tomatoes were beginning to ripen and we picked a few Sungold

13 July - Sungold tomatoes

Monday 14 July

Monday saw the return of our visiting fox.  It comes during the late afternoon and is clearly looking for food.  In view of the hot weather, we put out some water for it (we think it's her) but don't feed her.  We suspect that other plotholders may have been feeding her and she comes expecting to be fed.  She certainly has no fear of humans.

14 July - our resident fox

I did some much needed watering and Sylvi carried on picking yet more blackcurrants.

Tuesday 15 July

I planted out some boltardy and rainbow beetroot seedlings.

15 July - planting out beetroot

We picked out first Patty pan squash of the season....

15 July - Patty pan squash

...and some of the yellow courgettes were ready for harvesting.

15 July - Courgettes

Wednesday 16 July

The temperature was still above the seasonal norm and the ground was very dry so I gave the plot a good watering with the hosepipe - luckily our area is not subject to a ban as it relies more on the aquifer rather than rivers and reservoirs.  I also planted out some chard and rainbow beet seedlings.

Friday 18 July

I potted on the orange balm that I had grown from seed.  This was a new variety for me.  We are very familiar with Lemon balm which is prolific on the plot and spreads very quickly, but I had not come across Orange balm  before spottting a packet of seeds at a garden centre earlier this year.  In the evening I visited the plot to hand water the newly planted beetroot and chard - but soon afterwards that night we experienced very heavy rain.

Saturday 19/ Sunday 20 July

There were thunderstorms and heavy rain on Saturday and the rain continued well into Sunday.  In the greenhouse, the aubergines were beginning to swell and outside, the Crimson crush tomatoes were beginning to ripen and it seems I was mistaken about early signs of what I thought to be blight.

20 July - Aubergine

20 July - Crimson crush tomatoes

Monday 21 July

There was a heavy shower in the morning brightening up later in the day, cooler than the past weeks but the temperature rising to 19C.  I spent some time weeding around the borlotti beans and picked rather a lot of rhubarb.

Tuesday 22 July

It was time to do something with all the rhubarb that I had picked.  I soaked some in gin with the addition of a little sugar to start the process of making rhubarb gin  and with some of the remaining fruit made a rhubarb yoghourt cake.

22 July - rhubarb cake reday for the oven

22 July - rhubarb cake ready for eating!

I added star anise to each of the jars containing the rhubarb.  Alternatively, I could have added ginger or vanilla but decided to try anise this time.

22 July - rhubarb in alcohol

Wednesday 23 July

There was still plenty of rhubarb so I decided to make some rhubarb and ginger jam

Thursday 24 July

 In the morning we visited the Community Food Project in the morning. 

The Weald Community Food Project

Sylvi is one of the volunteer foragers who collects from local supermarkets on a Wednesday evening.  I took some kitchen waste to add to the wormeries but it was far too hot to do any work so we picked a couple of courgettes and came home.

24 July - courgettes

Friday 25 July

It was another day when it was too hot to do much work - I tried a little weeding but soon gave up in the heat. I did pull up a few "weeds" that my neighbour told me was "wild tree spinach".

25 July - wild tree spinach

I tied the cucumbers and tromboncinos to the frames that they are supposed to attach themselves to, picked a few achocha and then came home.

25 July - Achocha

Saturday 26/ Sunday 27 July

On Saturday, there was intermittet rain, which was cooling and I did some more hand weeding. On Sunday I continued with the weeding but it soon became too hot and I gave up again!

Monday 28/ Tuesday 29 July 

Monday was another very hot day, with the thermometer in the mid twenties, but on Tuesday the temperature dropped by 7 degrees C and there were showers.  At home the gin was beginning to take on some colour from the rhubarb.  On the plot the swetcorn was doing well (and no sign of squirrel damage yet 🤞) and in the greenhouse, the aubergine was ripening nicely.

29 July - a hint of pink in the rhubarb gin

29 July - Sweetcorn

29July - Aubergine

Wednesday 30/ Thursday 31 July

I had a meeting on-site with our carpenter and the contractors who will be fitting cladding to the allotment building.  The work has been delayed as there was more rot tothe timber frame on the eastern side of the building than we had anticipated and we may have to close the allotment shop for August.

30 July - the allotment building

30 July - the allotment building

The rest of the time was spent getting our campervan serviced and getting ready for another set of visitors at home (and another allotment weekend lost!)

John Austin

Hove, July 2025

 

Life on The Weald - June 2025

and sundry distractions

Elephant garlic

Sunday 1 June 

Despite a fall the previous day, I managed a trip to the plot with Sylvi who did a great job cleaning out the wormeries and providing a lot of compost for the bed I was preparing for the broccoli. Unfortunately, due to yesterday’s fall, I wasn’t able to do much physical work but did manage to plant out some Cavolo Nero and Kalettes that had been grown from seed at home. I also planted a double row of purple dwarf French beans, Teepee, in the bed where I had lifted the garlic the previous day.

Sylvi also harvested more broad beans.

Later, the pain from yesterday’s fall intensified, prompting a visit to A&E where I spent the afternoon. Rather badly bruised ribs, thankfully no sign of fracture, a badly sprained wrist and a minor fracture to the little finger. The consultant said the pain would probably intensify over the next few days, and the only treatment was painkillers and rest. So little chance of any allotment activity for a week or two!

Monday/Wednesday 2- 4 June

I had little sleep, spending most of the early hours sitting in my armchair. I tried to move about a bit, but spent most of the day on Monday in my chair dosed up on codeine, Paracetamol and Ibuprofen and managed an afternoon nap of about an hour. A scheduled evening session on the allotment with Luke & Nicole was cancelled.  I had an early night and did get a few hours sleep but got up around 4am for more painkillers and took to my chair again.

On Tuesday I was due to attend an event in Westminster in the afternoon for Medical Aid for Palestine and an evening with Suzie Ruffles and Masie Adam at The Dome in Brighton in aid of Friends of Brighton & Hove Hospitals - I pulled out of both as not sure if I could have managed the journey to London and laughing was not an option as any cough, sneeze, hiccough or laugh caused sharp pain to the rib cage. Wednesday’s social gathering for Friends of Hove Lagoon also went by the board. 

The garlic that had been picked at the weekend was drying in the sunshine on the garden table but Sylvi had to bring it indoors on Monday evening as rain was forecast.  I was very pleased with the Elephant garlic  and will definitely grow again.

Elephant garlic

It was actually quite a chilly start to the month with blustery winds on Tuesday and heavy rain on Wednesday so little would have been done on the plot anyway.

Thursday 5 June

Sadly, I had to pull out of a big event in Devon organised for the weekend for my daughter’s 50th birthday. We had planned to go down in the campervan on Thursday, calling in to see Sylvi’s brother en route. I was having difficulty getting in an out of bed unaided - getting in and out of the campervan was out of the question, as was the 4/5 hour drive.

With reduced mobility, I wasn't able to do much actively, but did manage to sow some Teepee French beans, perpetual spinach, Swiss chard and silver beet in trays at home.

Saturday 7 June

My old packet of tromboncino seeds brought back from Spain several years ago failed to germinate so I had ordered 3 plants online from a garden supplier.  These arrived today and I potted them up.  When up and about I will need to construct a frame for them to climb.

Sunday 8 June

I managed to visit the plot, where the chillies in the greenhouse had survived our absence, but were in desperate need of water.

Purple  jalapeño 

Purple  jalapeño

The 3 sisters bed was progressing slowly and the "surprise squash" given to me by Luke had fruited and turned out to be a courgette.

3 Sisters
Sweetcorn, squashes and climbing beans

Surprise squash is a green courgette

Monday 9 June

At home I sowed borlotti and cobra beans, boltardy and mixed rainbow beetroot.

In the evening Luke and Sylvi cleared the cage where I would plant out purple sprouting broccoli and Nicole weeded the peas.  I managed to sow a short row of boltardy beetroot. We harvested a few peas and mangetout

9 June - peas

9 June Mangetout

Tuesday 10 June

The Serbian Quince had produced a lot of fruits and none appeared to have been lost yet with the "June drop".

10 June - Quince (Serbian Gold)

Wednesday 11 June

Sylvi carried on clearing weeds from the cage where I then planted out 4 purple sprouting broccoli and 1 Kalette that I had grown from seed.   I lifted the Electric red onions and planted out two butternut squash plants (given to me by my near neighbour, Steve), in the 3 Sisters bed.

I laid the red onions out in the sun to harden

11 June Electric Red Onions

Friday 13 June

I lifted the shallots, cleared the bed with the Solent Wight garlic and planted 3 butternut squash plants that had been given to me by Sophie, a near neighbour on the Weald site. I had also been offered an unidentified squash by our Chair, Kate.  I then planted a Sweet potato  that I had bought when visiting a garden centre.

Saturday 14 June

Strolling past a neighbour's plot I spotted a number of Cream pincushions -also known as cream scabious (Scabiosa ochroleuca). These are usually grown as a garden ornamental and, although not considered invasive, they can outcompete some native species. Nevertheless they are attractive to pollinators, especially bees and butterflies, and very attractive to look at.  If they become a problem it is best to remove the flower heads before they go to seed.

14 June - Cream scabious

In the bed where I had directly sown a double row of Teepee purple dwarf French beans, I planted out another double row with the plants that I had grown from seed at home. 

14 June - Teepee purple dwarf beans

That evening, we enjoyed some of our red Duke of York potatoes, roasted in their skins, dusted with Parmesan

14 June - Red Duke of York potatoes

Sunday 15 June

At home the Cape Gooseberry  seemed to be doing well but I have not yet decided whether to keep it in a container or to plant it out, so I will leave it for a while to see how it fares. 

Our allotment shop was giving away any seed potatoes that were left and I could not resist the offer of some Sarpo Axona, a pink skin maincrop variety that I was unfamiliar with. The Sarpo homepage  describes it as a low-input variety that is blight and virus resistant, capable of smothering weeds which would be suitable for developing countries where blight and virus are major problems and where subsistence farmers cannot afford expensive chemicals.  I planted a few in a potato growbag, hoping for the best.

With some help from her eldest son, Sylvi picked the remaining broad beans and I planted out three tromboncino plants to grow up the frame that I had constructed.

At home, I sowed some more chard seeds.  The Cape Gooseberry  was looking healthy, although some creature had been nibbling the leaves.

15 June - Cape gooseberry

15 June - tromboncino frame

Monday 16 June

I continued clearing an area for planting out cucumbers and planted out some Kale and the mystery squash that Kate had given me, which she had lost the label for.

Tuesday 17 June

We had to take the campervan to Horsham for its annual "habitation check", ie  the electrical and other facilities, so while it was being given the once over we popped in to a nearby garden centre where we bought some Brussels sprouts plants, some  mixed beetroot seedlings and a red sedum rockery plant.   Later that afternoon, I planted out the beetroots and potted on the sprouts.

17 June - beetroot seedlings

Wednesday 18 June

In the morning, I planted out two yellow courgettes in the bed where the sweet potato was growing and I lifted the remaining Red Duke of York potatoes.  The temperature was rising and it was far too hot for any more physical work.  Sylvi joined me on the plot in the evening, when it had cooled slightly, and she spent her time tackling the invading brambles at the back of the plot.

Thursday 19 June

I planted out the borlotti beans that had been growing from seed at home

Friday 20 June

I planted out the Brussels sprouts where the Duke of York potatoes had been and covered them with a fleece tunnel. 

20 June - sprouts protected from pigeons

I also planted out some leeks that I had ordered online.

20 June - Leeks

i had also some Marketmore cucumber plants which I had bought online and decided to risk planting them out directly in the bed that I had prepared.. 

20 June - arrival of Marketmore cucumbers

We picked Raspberries peas and mangetout and back home the chard which I had sown was beginning to germinate. 

20 June - Chard

Saturday 21 June 

At home I sowed a few nasturtiums  for my daughter and some more borlotti beans for me.

Sunday  22 June

Peter, one of our committee members at the site, invited me to pick some of his morello cherries as he had "cherry fatigue".  Many were over-ripe and others too difficult for me to reach but I managed to pick enough to make some cherry brandy!

22 June - Morello charries seeping in brandy

We also picked a couple of courgettes which appeared to have suffered from the drought and inconsistent watering

22 June - deformed courgettes

Monday 23 June

I repotted the chillies growing at home and decided to transfer them to the greenhouse at the plot. One of the panes in the greenhouse had been damaged by strong winds but it is still warm and sheltered in there/

23 June - damaged roof of greenhouse

23 June - another task for Sylvi

It will be a few weeks before we can try the Cherry brandy, so in the meantime we will have to make do with drinking last year's rhubarb gin -  and that gives us an excuse for making more, before the rhubarb season ends.

23 June - Rhubarb Gin 2024

 Wednesday 25 June

The garlic had been drying nicely in the sunshine and was ready for storing.

25 June Garlic and Elephant garlic ready for store

Friday 27 June

The Calendulas in the 3 sisters bed were in full flower and the sweetcorn and squashes appeared to be doing well, but very little sign of the climbing beans, which I suspect have fallen victim to the slugs and snails.

27 June - Calendula in 3 Sisters bed

The loose pane in the greenhouse roof had now completely fallen in...

27 June - missing pane

...but despite the damage the chillies were thriving

27 June - a variety of chillies

Back at home the two chilli plants saved from last year were both fruiting in the conservatory.  I think one is a Jalapeño and the other a Habanero.  It will be interesting finding out which is which!

27 June - last year's chilli

27 June - last year's chilli

Saturday 28 June

There were lots of courgettes to be harvested.

28 June- courgettes

The sunflowers had not grown as tall as I expected but they will provide food for the birds (and probably the squirrels too!)

28 June - sunflowers

I spotted a mint moth on the blueberries.  Most likely it will have been visiting the rosemary bush nearby.

28 June - Mint moth

I split the recently purchased red sedum in two and planted them around the pond.

28 June  - the pond rockery

29 June

Along the haulageway by the shop compound, the Ragwort  was covered with caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth....

29 June - Cinnabar moth caterpillars

....and a red tailed bumblebee  was feeding on the bristly ox tongue.

29 June - red tailed bumblebee

30 June

In the garden the dahlias and echinacea were providing an attractive display.

30 June - Echinacea

30 June - Dahlia, Red Labrynth

And on the allotment the foilage on the Charlotte and Nicola potatoes was dying back.  We could have lifted them earlier but we still have some of our early Red Duke of York in store.

30 June - a row of Charlotte

30 June - a row of Nicola

Today the Met Office predicted that it could be hotter in the UK than Jamaica or Barbados!

Whilst it may not come as much of a surprise, given the relentless sunshine, the Met Office has confirmed that this spring has been both the warmest and sunniest on record.  Each of the spring months – March, April and May – have topped the tables for sunshine, with each month respectively the first, first and second sunniest on record. Spring had 653.3 hours of sunshine, which is 43% above average!

Perhaps the most striking statistic, and most worrying, is rainfall, or lack thereof. With just 80.6mm recorded to mid-May, Spring 2025 ranks as the driest spring in over a century. The previous record low for the full season was 100.7mm, set in 1852.   Whilst we don't yet face the disastrous consequences unfolding in the global south, these are very challenging times for gardeners in the UK and anyone concerned for the environment.

John Austin

Hove, June 2025