Phew!

Henry II R.I.P.

Yesterday's alarm clock... tomorrow's Coq Au Vin.

The Treachery of Vegetables

Red, White and Blue

Last year I saved all of the tubers that I grew from true seed. This year I get to taste them. I dug a couple that were just starting to die back - No.16 French Fingerling x Magic Molly - and cut and cooked the ones that got damaged with the fork. The white fleshed ones are much more floury and prone to fall apart than the ones with coloured flesh, but all taste superb. Most of the plants are huge, still very green, some still flowering and I will leave them in as long as I can stand the suspense.
Carol Deppe has posted about living on a steady diet of potatoes here.

Adventures with Potato Seed Continued

I've selected some fruits from the potato plants growing from last year's TPS harvest from which to save seed to grow on next year. Coloured yarn kept with the seed corresponds to bits that are tied around each of the plants so that once dug, I can record the colour and qualities of the mother potatoes. As the bee hive is right next to the experimental potato plot, the results will be anyone's guess. Maybe as quirky as those pictured on Home of the Potato (via ABW)

"Autumn is Near..."

"... Autumn is here. Sing shed sing."
Listen here to this seasonal song. (You might have to put up with an ad first)

Saint Fiacre's Day

... Patron saint of gardeners. And taxi drivers. And sufferers of fistula and venereal disease.

More Peppers

A Mammal's Notebook

"My only nourishment consists of food that is white: eggs, sugar, shredded bones, the fat of dead animals, veal, salt, coco-nuts, chicken cooked in white water, mouldy fruit, rice, turnips, sausages in camphor, pastry, cheese (white varieties), cotton salad, and certain kinds of fish (without their skin).
I breathe carefully (a little at a time) and dance very rarely. When walking I hold my ribs and look steadily behind me.
I sleep with only one eye closed, very profoundly."

Erik Satie 'A Mammal's Notebook'

Slim Pickings

It's a disappointing year for tomatoes in my back yard. They started looking sorry for themselves quite early on and that caused me to get cross with them. So I punished them by cutting short their water rations... Anyway, very few fruited in the greenhouse (yellowhouse) before I removed them completely but some of the outdoor ones are beginning to produce now so all is not lost. It's a mystery because under the same conditions in the same soil the peppers have flourished (and continue to) and yielded bumper harvests. Possibly the pot size?

I Heard an Owl...

Walking back from the pub last night through the remains of the Great North Wood we saw two short-eared owls - about 30 feet above us, mesmerized by M.'s bright torch. The calls that we initially heard were the squawking sounds that follow the hooting on this RSPB webpage. I notice that the Wildlife Trust runs a night time 'nature prowl' there on August 26th. But for great owl watching go HERE.

August

"Sow the principal spring crops this month. Cabbages and endive are best sown early in the month, and cauliflower and lettuce towards the end. Sow giant rocca and tripoli onions (to stand the winter), hardy green-top stone and orange jelly turnip, and a final sowing of winter spinach."
The Horticultural Notebook J.C.Newsham 1914


Outside I've just sown Purple Top Milan, Japanese Hinona Kabu and Golden Ball turnips and Green Meat Daikon radish.

Name That Nutrient Deficiency

Certain of my dwarf beans are looking a bit peak-ed and yellow round the gills. Please lend your help by participating in the poll below so that I can nurse them back to tip-top condition.

Identify the Nutrient Deficiency
	Nitrogen
	Potassium
	Magnesium
	Manganese
pollcode.com free polls

Three Months On

Portraits of the five that have reached adolescence - two elegantly bouffanted Cream Legbars, one Rhode Island Red Soup Rooster, one Barnevelder and one Buff Orpington. They have outgrown their cradle and their three big ugly stepsisters still won't let them roost in the loft so they are sleeping in the nest boxes for now. Click to enlarge.

Sunday Peppers

A - Pasillo Bajio, B - Chinese Five Colour (just like it says on the pack), C - Paradicson Alaky Sarga Szentes, D - Serrano Tampequino, E - Hungarian Hot Wax, F - Anaheim

Bee-clothed

More pictures of China's BeeMan contest here.
Our bees have settled in and are very active foraging right now, but it's a small colony and we will probably have to feed them to get their stores sufficiently built up for the winter.

Stop the Rot

"The decay usually makes it's appearance in the form of a spot on the surface of the fruit. This should be scooped out and the hole filled with plaster of Paris formed into a paste to the consistency of thick cream by the addition of water.This will set quite firm and arrest further decay. The contents of the fruit-room should be examined at least once a week."
The Horticultural Notebook J.C.Newsham 1914

Advice on Pruning

"Ye should prune and train wall-trees like the ribs of a skreen fan or ye fingers of a hand displayed." Anon. c.1700

*A very thorough book on the history and art of Verdant Sculpture can be accessed on-line by following the links at Hooting Yard.

Potato Blossom

Variety of colour in the flowers of potato No.21 - John Tom Kaighin x Negro y Azul.

Image Recognition

In order to track down Jeremy's forgotten cucumber (see comments below) I have employed Google's new image search tool. I just drag and drop my cucumber photo into the search window and - hey presto! Click on image to enlarge.