Kitchen Garden Forum

My Son has said to say emoji, not smiley face!

Question mark relates to 'confused' smilie... What happens if you use the full editor and thus see a preview of the final look of the post.?

C.

I’m looking now….

Now I can see a smiley face…..

So can I ....

Been doing some more August jobs in September and it was a proper September day...cool damp start and really warm this afternoon....and I have yew hedge clippings lodged in many places...

C.

A diversion needed today from my 'To Do' list as found blight in the tunnel. Rain came through the vent opening as only the plants underneath were badly affected but there were a few dodgy leaves on some of the other toms in the closed end. I was pretty ruthless as min temp is quite low overnight despite the warmish days so sacrificed a few branches with tiny toms as well. Looks a bit naked in there but should be OK as think I caught it in time.

I even manage to squeeze in some weeding of one of the asparagus beds & the peas as well, so not a bad day overall.

Had to water my runner beans this afternoon….I was really surprised how dry they were! Managed to get a decent amount of hoeing done too.

Decided to bunk off down the bird conservation garden today. They had a small garden and loved that they’d netted off the majority of their strawberries but had left those that escaped out the sides for the wildlife. Love that live and let live attitude, will definitely be adopting it next year.
The ducklings went out in the run and the local wood pigeons were way too relaxed sunning on the lawn. They didn’t even move when I went into the garden. Sizing up how best to protect the majority of the produce in the raised beds next year as there’s a definite pigeon issue. Not complaining too much though as I love listening to them.
Was lovely to go out and pick some carrots and runner beans, wash them and pop them in the pot to have with dinner. Reminds me why we do all this work in the first place.
Loving this late sunshine.

we had freshly picked, then roasted tomatoes (with a bit of garlic & basil) on pasta the other night. Delightful!

It was worth changing my plan for today & deciding to sort the back strawberries, they are kinda hidden most of the year so never a big priority, but the crops around them have been taken so exposed now. There were just so many big weeds & runners I couldn't even see the plants, but when cleared I found lots of strawberries, some huge & just turning, quite a few eaten on site as well.
Hoping I will be able to get down to take them but have a weather warning again for thunder storms...odds must say the weather report must be right at some point though.

The weather warning has been bumped along another 1/2 day down here so I will be able to go down in the morning & fingers crossed pick some strawberries; Will probably just weed the last asparagus bed along with the last strawberry bed & then take any harvest ready as it looks like near a week of rain & thundery showers to follow. That won't be much ticked off the 'To Do' list for a bit & probs a lot added!

You can’t beat a bit of forward planning, Westi…..I always look forward to all your updates!
Picked a big carrier bag of runner beans this afternoon, really pleased how many i’ve been getting of this second sowing….

Another fine day in the North, hope you further South didn't suffer from the storms and tornadoes. Just finished planting a new row of strawberries from my pot rooted runners that had lovely root systems so hope they will establish well. The other job from a productive day was leafmould sorting. A drawback of using an array of builders' tonne bags (although they no longer put a tonne in them) for making it is that at this time of year I have to combine last year's partly rotted into less bags to free up space for the fresh lot. Then raked up the first of this year's leaves, mainly whitebeam, seems early.

The strawberries were indeed ripe, a couple of nibbles but also found some blackberries & a few raspberries. Made milk shakes with lots of ice-cream as a last of the year treat - sitting in the garden in the sun. Yep no rain & warm! Final harvest of the runners, pretty much spent now; toms still ripening, flowers still perky, aubergines nearly ready! Weather warning keeps extending every time I open my phone weather so will see, but kinda feels like we are definately moving in to autumn despite the limited leaf fall so far.