Sunday 31 August 2014

There goes August!

What an odd month! We've had rain, wind and temperatures down to 1.5° but today was warm and sunny. We've had plenty of summer squash, tomatoes and beetroot to eat. The Zephyr squash are particularly tasty, but have grown as bush plants rather than climbing up the trellis. The patty pans have been brilliant this year.
Our Lizzano tomatoes are still supplying an abundance of toms and they're so sweet, perfect for eating straight from the plant :-)
The Festival squash have only just started producing fruits so not sure I'll get any to taste this year. They've been rather late to start trailing, so I chopped the extra runners off today in the hope that will encourage some fruits (one will do!) to mature... 
I've had some delicious meals of roasted vegetables and made a meal with seven home-grown ingredients - I love that!
Look at the centre of that pretty sunflower
The dwarf sunflowers have provided a lovely display and kept the bees happy. And the Russian Giant sunflowers have grown impressively tall and on the last day of August the flowers have finally opened.

The runner beans didn't appreciate the cold spell, so not sure whether they'll still be edible. Lots have brown patches which seems to be bruising from wind damage. There are some good long ones which may be suitable for the British Legion Horticultural Show next weekend - longest runner bean entry here I come :-) And I think we'll have something suitable for the funny shaped veg entry....
Look at the red berries in the hedgerow!
The wildflower mix is putting on a lovely display, with plenty of buds to come, if the weather stays good.
The mangetout are only providing enough pods for plot-snacks and, although covered in lovely scarlet flowers, the asparagus pea pods are very sparse so far. I hope I get enough to fry up a plateful, they really are a delight!

6 comments:

  1. Your plot looks so neat. Lovely photos. Red pea flowers are beautiful.

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    1. There were a lot of empty spots on the plot this year, but still had plenty to eat...eventually!

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  2. Our runner beans seem to have liked the weather - lots of moisture. What variety of mangetout is that? Before I've inly come across asparagus peas with flowers so red, Good lock at the show.

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    1. I have purple and green mangetout, but the red flowers are asparagus pea.

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  3. Wow... your sunflowers look so great! Nice harvest, and the flower patch looks so stunning. I love to see your plot.

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Belinda