August Update~ On the Plot.

August has been a very good month, lots of warm Sunshine, hot days, and short sharp heavy bursts of rain.. Though in the beginning of August we did have three days of solid rain..

This has been good for our growing crops, but also ideal conditions for our main enemy~ The Weeds!.. whose relentless battle goes on and on..

Click on the photos to Enlarge:

Even when you have weeded, set seeds, the battle is constant. Click photos to enlarge.

Now I have no problem with weeds, they are all beautiful in their own right, but some are just so invasive and spring up like a carpet, choking and taking nutrients from the crops. The plots are full of them

now re-weeded you can now see the lettuce, swedes, the carrots are too tiny to weed out too close.

 

 

 

 

 

We had several weeks of redecorating our home, so the plot was neglected apart from watering in the heatwave every morning.

This beautiful weather ideal for our Sweetcorn which has grown to the size of me now, and it has some lovely huge cobs just about ready for harvest.

The sweetcorn has loved the heat wave and we have some huge cobs ripening

We have enjoyed strawberries right up into the middle of July, when this next picture was taken. While the early Raspberry canes are now finished, our late raspberries are just beginning to ripen and I have already had three such punnets off, with lots left to ripen.

While this photo was taken in July, These raspberries were the early ones, we are now getting raspberries from our Autumn late crop

We have had some lovely tasty new first early potatoes these were called Foremost  we planted three rows of earlies and six rows of the main crop, which are Picasso Below you see hubby  who yesterday weeded out the rows as the tops had died down, though he is not digging them out yet until the end of Sept, as everything seems to be about a month in front of itself this year, probably due to the mild Spring.

Hubby weeded out the potatoes now the tops have died down, We have 6 rows of main crop and still two rows of early potatoes to dig up.

Above you can see the onions drying out in our home greenhouse, in the middle on the bottom shelf are tulip bulbs from our home garden, I dug up and dried out ready for replanting in the Autumn. On the right these are shallots  which can either be used for pickles or I like to add in stews. 

My Dahlia’s and Gladioli’s have been lovely again this year and they are still  producing lots of bloom

 Inside the Allotment green house we have yellow tomatoes ripening and we have fallen in love with these Crystal  Lemon Cucumbers  

Well that is what is happening on the Plot this month, I will leave you with some busy lizzie plants on our patio.

Until next time

Busy Lizzie’s in one of our patio pots

Happy Gardening!

75 thoughts on “August Update~ On the Plot.

  1. oh my goodness Sue……you are having such a beautiful harvest. it must feel so very good to to eat food that came from your own garden. so happy all your hard work is paying off. 🙂

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  2. Weeds are so hard to control even in my yard they are a nuisance with all the rain , they are prolific! Pulling them is a real job! Your garden is lovely , nothing is so good as fresh corn! Or fresh strawberries! Loved reading this and the pics Sue. Enjoy but don’t work too hard. Love, Holly! ❤️

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    • Thank you Holly.. Yes sweetcorn is just lovely, today we are going to prepare the shallots and freeze them, tomorrow we are picking the sweetcorn that is ready and that too will be prepared for freezing, while we save some for seeds.. The raspberries are so sweet, and I have been eating fresh with yogurt for breakfast. We are very lucky in many respects to others.. Yes its hard work, and each year we feel our aches a little more, but it keeps us going 🙂
      We have learnt to pace ourselves more.. A little today and leave some for tomorrow 🙂 ❤ Much love my dear friend 🙂

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  3. The worse part of gardening is weeding. It doesn’t take long for the weeds to take over if you get distracted with other chores. Your crops of different fruits and vegetables look wonderful. You always seem to have such a great garden. Thanks for sharing your success with us. Love and hugs to you busy lady.

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    • Yes Peggy its backbreaking work, and my back with bending feels at times its going to snap… But we do an bit sit a bit.. I know you know how that feels.. Did you get lots of blueberries this year?? We hardly had any this year,and what there were we left for the birds, I think the frost came just at the wrong time this year for them, but it is always swings and roundabouts, you win some and lose some.. Big hugs back Peggy, love right back ❤

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  4. Your garden blog is always a pleasure to look at your progress and weeds although some are pretty and can be invasive. Those raspberries look yummy. I booked a flight for a personal taste test. I should be there in 12 hours or more. Gives you plenty of time to run LOL

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    • Thank you dear Renee, we have so far had a good harvest of peas, beans, onions, kale, cabbages are huge, and lots more for future picking, plus Swiss Chard we have had lots of as well as all the fruits.. We still have purple sprouting broccoli and parsnips, swedes, lettuce, beetroot, carrots and brussels sprouts which will be for the autumn harvesting.. You too Renee, take care of you too ❤ 🙂

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  5. Ahh…the amaize-ing sweetcorns and those fresh strawberries and raspberries. Yum! The flowers are so beautiful. And thanks for introducing me to Crystal Lemon Cucumbers. BTW, thanks so much for the email and photos, dear Sue. Love them. Much love and hugs, ╰(✿´⌣`✿)╯♡♡♡♡♡

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  6. My goodness, you do have a green thumb. What a lovely harvest this year. We concentrate mainly on berries. Our front yard has twenty berry bushes, various varieties, and it seems all summer long we are harvesting them, eating them, and freezing them. It’s a lovely way to spend three months, and the weather has been perfect for them this year.

    Well done, you! Wishing you a brilliant September!

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    • Thank you Bill, yes I picked some more this morning, along with four buckets full of sweetcorn which is waiting now to be stripped and frozen.. But having a rest with the computer for a couple of hours, before starting them 🙂

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  7. Hey Sue 🙂

    Long hot days and a splash of rain: there’s nothing better for accelerating the growth of weeds: removing them is a labour of love. Must say your allotment is, as ever, looking in great shape.

    A family friend – once a keen gardener before having a stroke – has also had a phenomenal year growing Dahlia’s and Gladioli in large pots and their display still looks superb. I’m told they’ve required a lot of watering but that their success this year has been largely attributed to tomato-plant feed as much the warm sunny weather.

    Looking at the photographs of the corn – one of my favourite foods – has me reaching for a pan and boiling water with intention of a late night snack. No doubt i’ll get a slapped wrist in the morning, but it’ll be well worth it! lol 🙂

    Love and Peace,

    DN

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  8. Yay! We are big on mulching. Luckily, we know a tree guy. If we had never met, we would still be using macnut husk, which, though it turns into lovely black soil and quickly, was not achieving the ‘mulching’ bit as we would have hoped. Carry on, fellow earth mother! ❤

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  9. Beautiful and productive, and delicious, I’m sure! All looks lovely, Sue. I’m gardening vicariously through you now for the food crops, although the groundhogs seem to have given up on my garden. I managed to keep my herbs, one kale plant and some fruits. Not bad, considering it’s almost all flowers now. The groundhog’s loss has been the pollinator’s gain. 🙂 Much love, Laura

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  10. A delightful and pleasant visit to your allotment Sue, your variety of beautiful organic vegetables are a gardeners delight, your Crystal lemon cucumbers look a lot like what we call here, Apple Cucumbers, absolutely delicious with seeds intact and thirst quenching, cheers.

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    • Thank you Ian, the cucumbers do sound the very same.. and like you said with seeds delicious and thirst quenching.. 🙂 Apologies for the delay.. been a pretty busy few days here, harvesting the potatoes 😀 Hope all’s well with you my friend 🙂

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