Is it just me or does it feel like autumn has arrived? The last few days have been cooler, wetter and even some of the garden leaves have started to turn. We definitely needed the rain, but I have to keep reminding myself that it is august and actually we should be in the middle of some fantastic summer weather.
Many of my vegetables are in full harvest now, but if the weather stays like this I don’t expect them to go on for much longer.
The courgettes are already slowing up. I had five lovely plants (from Gardening Direct), one didn’t thrive and is just still alive, another got planted out late and hasn’t done very well but the other three have been cropping for England, supplying me with a delicious harvest.
The rain swells the fruit quickly so I’ve been picking them daily, but they seem to be slowing down now. My squash plants (from Suttons) haven’t set a single fruit yet, but they never do well in my neck of the woods. Shame. The runner beans are in full production and the greenhouse plants I chopped off last week are already sprouting new shoots so I am hopeful of a late harvest from these and the greenhouse tomatoes are dripping with mostly green globes, apart from my Tomato Twins (also from Suttons) which have trusses of the tastiest, sweetest tomatoes I’ve had for years.
Delicious.
I just hope the rest ripen before the dreaded blight arrives, if it stays wet it may be upon us very soon.
Many of the early outdoor salads have bolted now and been added to the compost heap. If I had some hens they’d love picking it all over, but the hen run is still to be installed, so I will have to learn to be patient. I don’t want to think that summer is over now, so my plan for the next week or so is to extend the season and make the most of every aspect of the greenhouse and garden before autumn really does arrive in earnest.
