Bank Holiday Bonanza

Bank Holiday Monday was harvest day for at least some of our two major crops . . .

Firstly the onions - some were mega-specimens (like this one) - others that had been rather shaded didn't grow that big at all.  We did however harvest a fair quantity - here seen drying in the sun:







Next up - the potatoes - which I rather thought had 'blight'.





I'm informed however, that they do actually also 'die-back' in this way, so the yellow stalks and dried brown leaves weren't necessarily signs of anything very dire . . .

Had already started digging them up by then, so decided to lift half the plot, and leave the rest for now - even so this yielded an unfeasibly large quantity of potatoes!

We've stored some of the better specimens in a dark cool place, but the majority (which seem to have the rather unpalatable sounding common scab) are being peeled, turned into mash, and frozen.

Chandeliers and Stumperies

Had a couple of days away over the bank holiday weekend visiting family, including a visit to Ickworth House near Bury St Edmunds.  Unusual house - built around a central 'rotunda' - particularly enjoyed the rather fine selection of chandeliers . . .

Was also rather taken with the concept of a 'stumpery' - the various tree stumps created some fantastic shapes . . .   

The tour of the gardens was also enlivened by the stalking of a robin, to see who could get the best close-up shot - almost as though we were some kind of bird paparazzi!

Wood Stock

One thing we have been busy with in the last few weeks is sorting through the wood 'stock' for this winter.  This involved testing the wood that was seasoning outside for its moisture content, and moving the dry stuff into the bays inside the wood shed.

We also stocked up on pine off-cuts from the local timber yard - got a trailerful for a tenner - so not bad.  This filled one of the outside bays and should season pretty quickly, so it could be used this winter if need be.



Today we took delivery of a small truckload of wood from land being cleared for building work in town.  The workmen are being quite entrepreneurial and are flogging the wood at a fairly bargain price - got this little lot (and more) for £50.


It needs seasoning and splitting of course, but this should give us a good head start on the wood 'stock' for winter 2011/12 - although cutting some of it down to stove-sized bits could be interesting (the house brick gives you some idea of the 'scale' of the problem!):

Blight!

Just realised what's hit all our tomato plants this year - it looks very much as though we have 'blight' in the greenhouse.  Ironically we'd put the 'mould' down to lack of air circulation, but opening the door is probably what let it in in the first place!





We are still harvesting tomatoes, as noted in the previous post - some of them are rather weird looking specimens mind you  . . .

Bit worried now that some of the potatoes in the adjacent veg patch may also be showing signs of blight - but they were in the process of dying back anyway.  Will just have to harvest soon and make batches of mash for the already far too full freezer!

Salad Days

I think I was a little unfair to the 'cheap' cucumber plants - having thinned the greenhouse out they seem to have come into their own and are now turning out some rather impressive cucumbers!

We're also getting some tomatoes ripening, which is a relief . . .




I don't think we'll match last year's bounty, but between the green tomatoes we've been ripening indoors, and those in the greenhouse, we got a good pan-full, which equated to four pots of tomato sauce.

July Showers

Haven't been a good blogger recently, but then the weather hasn't been the best to give me something to blog about.  Thus far August is continuing July's mixture of, I was going to say sunshine and showers, but actually showers, sunshine and an awful lot of cloud would be a better description.  It's not been that warm either : (

Maybe glorious hot summers are a thing of the past - or maybe we need to move to the other side of the country - the South East has been consistently hotter and drier!

PS - It looks like July may well have been a 'Smith Period' - defined by the RHS as specific combinations of temperature and rainfall that increase the risk of blight (see later post!).