Kitchen Garden Forum

so far, today. (or ONE of the hottest).

I think maybe I should postpone my plan to dig out the 'rubbish' from my inherited compost in preparation for starting from scratch. Postpone it to a slightly cooler or breezier day, me thinks

Lettuces and radishes are growing quicker than I can eat them, so I shall be braving the heat later this afternoon to pick some to give to friends we are seeing tonight.

My Plot endeavours today will probably just consist of clipping the edges, picking the radishes & lettuce, checking all my crops, and watering watering watering.

We have the village fete today, and i must admit i'm not looking forward to setting it all up, and certainly not looking forward to packing everything away tonight. Apart from that, i'm sure it will be a most enjoyable day.

The fete is being held at the Big House where i work on a Friday, i wonder if anyone will be able to find a weed in the four acres....

Rather depends on where you are. Top temperature for Shetland 4pm - 11C

If you've been keeping your eye on the top of the forecast maps, it's never been higher that 14C in the last week or so.

I'm wondering if we are in for a repeat of 1976 - I hope not.

I've got some PSB I really need to put in and some aubergines my brother in law gave me. And I might dig up my garlic but not sure yet, need to have a proper look at it. I need to get up off my bottom now and start doing things before it gets too hot!

Rugby club working party day number two, the decorators del7ght, painting the function room & bar, plus window frames inside and out.

At least the psint should dry quickly and we should be able to rehydrate.

Well the fete went very well and raised £1600, so everone concerned was happy. the plants i donated managed to raise £110, so i was happy too....

Got a garden party to go to today, at another large garden i do, with some 300 guests, now that will be interesting.

Oh well done OH - you should feel very proud of yourself

VPM
x

Perfect weather for drying out the timbers of my conservatory after water got under the paint but it's far to hot to paint. It's far to hot for me to do any kind of work but i'm getting a few hours in the early morning than taclking anything thats in the shade.

Watering-watering and watering, even though i'm still scared about over watering even my lavender plants started to sag so I gave them a soaking. I hope I did right.

My broad beans are now seven foot high, am I to clip tops off or should I support them with long canes ? They love this hot weather and a daily soaking. Oh-yes, and the upwards pointing bean-lets are now point downwards as gravity takes over.

I can't resist the nibbles of those lovely sweet beans in small pods.

Already done three hours work in the shade, right now it's 26 degrees and rising in the full sun.

Phew.

Dear VPM, thank you for the kind words, but it was far from just me, the individual stallholders worked really hard in the heat.

And also good news, the total is just over £1800, now.

We too were running a stall at our village fund raising carnival yesterday. At 2.45 it was 33 degrees and we decided we couldn"t function in the heat any longer so packed up and came home. The tepid shower afterwards and putting our feet up was the best moment of the day,! Whatever we get we're never happy about our weather are we?

34 on lottie today - watered & then watered again! Usual tap war was going on so upper arms got a good workout. Mulched (again) the celeriac & celery as the birds have been having fun! Brought the leeks back home with me as couldn't face digging out a few rows of spuds to accommodate them or making lots of little holes! My runners & French beans must be all of 6 inches high but pesky devils haven't figured out (yet), how to get through the netting, avoid the streamers, dodge the CD's & the spider web of twine!

I actually think the birds are worse this year as every water trough has had a hinged cover put on them with a note to ensure closed when not in use. I'm wondering if they are thirsty and nicking the new growth to obtain some moisture - would this be likely? I used to regularly see them drinking from the troughs. Oh dear - I do believe I left the cover open!

Westi (Currently 29 at home - might be a sticky night!)

I am sure you are right, Westi, about the birds nipping the new growths because they want the moisture in them! We have noticed that the damage is always far worse when it is dry. Even now that the peas are really tall, the house sparrows sit on top to nibble the newest leaves. We have put a bowl of water out for them (as well as the usual bird bath) but they are still stealing!!

We had a barbecue on the lottie today to initiate the new Allotments Society which the Parish Council encouraged us to form. Not really our 'cup of tea', but we had a good chat with the other allotment holders we rarely see. The weather was certainly brill for it!.

The birds are really suffering from lack of rain. We put the sprinklers on early yesterday evening and one blackbird was just sitting under it basking in the shower. I am flushingout and topping uo the birds drinking bowl several times a day and even so green algae is forming on the residue of it incredibly quickly which I assume cou,d be very toxic for them. I hate to say it when people are just off on their holidays but we badly need rain and a fair amount of it because the ground is so dry

I pulled up my shallots today to dry out. They had all keeled over very quickly even this year though they have been watered regularly. They're all tiny. The majority of them are only half the size of the bulbs I originally planted. Very disappointing crop.

I try not to moan too often, but it is getting a bit too hot for me working now. Had some hay bales to stack in a small hay barn today, thought i was going to pass out.