Our strawberries on the growing rack inside the polytunnel
August has been like many months, unpredictable and surprising.
With a heat-wave affecting the whole country, we in the South-West did not escape the burning heat which was very good for some plants, whilst playing havoc with others as the heat made some veg bolt and put out seed heads before they were due. All-in-all though, we weathered the changeable temperatures with calm and relaxed our way through the whole period and drank copious amounts of blackcurrant and elderflower cordials with lots of ice.
We are very lucky that we have hardly ever seen blight, or indeed any other main problems on our crops both in the open gardens and in the polytunnel, whether this is by chance or by skill, we have not worked that out yet. Either way, we have been on the winning side for the most part.
Our small section of corn is coming on well with the heat and sunshine.
We have not yet opened the ground to plant larger crops of some of the vegetables such as Corn, and this crop will be doubled if not tripled in amounts once we do so. Although we still have a few cobs from last year which by the way still taste incredibly delicious, we do wish to use this crop for more dishes in the future, and that means increasing the yields, and in turn increasing the space to grow them in. Another big event in our world is the crops of apples we are getting on our fruit trees, as this is the first year to get anything from them of any notable size. We have four of our six Cornish apples producing small but welcome crops and these will be ready in September/October depending on the trees.
Our first crop of apples which we are looking forward to.
We bought six Cornish apple trees which are far more resistant to canker and they have wonderful names such as Pig's Nose, Captain Broad,
One crop that has been a let-down for us are the Raspberries! Although the canes have grown, the fruit harvest has so far been very poor, they are however 'Autumn Bliss', and may yet produce a more abundant crop, time will tell. Our pear trees are bare for this year as were the cherry trees and walnuts. Something to look forward to next year perhaps, finger's crossed.
We are having to build a net around our fruit bushes in the fruit area, something where we can fix the nest before fruiting and then take it down after the bushes have given-up their delicious offerings. It appeared the the blackbirds are avaricious eaters when it comes to berries and can clean a bush in days or even less. Our experiment with the Blueberry bushes we put in the fruit field is looking good and whilst they are still very young, have produced good leaf coverage, and a small crop of flowers with some berries coming through afterwards. This means that the soil is on the Acidic side which is important for these fruits as they would struggle to provide a crop of their heavenly berries otherwise!
With this in mind, we are going to plant another 5 bushes we have in pots to boost the number in the fruit field.
The flower beds situated on the West wall of the growing area
As the beds become more mature, they are sending out masses of flowers of all colours, and at different times of the year so there is always something to see. Many of the bulbs and corms we have planted will take a few years to establish, but they can only get better as time goes on, and we look forward to their displays.
Tomatoes have been OK, but not prolific as they usually are, the same goes for the potato crops, fair but could have been better. Peas have been excellent and cropped well and Loraine has put many in the freezers for the winter months ahead. The crops of courgettes and cucumbers have been really good and have been great tasters too. Aubergines are growing apace and should provide us with enough to replenish our stock of home-made ratatouille which we freeze for the winter and it tastes great with any meal.
Our staple crops of cabbages, leeks, cauliflowers, Etc, have given us fair crops to see us through the winter when the whole cycle will start again.
Some of the vegetable growing area showing signs of the crops therein
More later........