Gardening (and some foraging too) Diary August

This has been our month to finally reap the reward for some of the hard work earlier in the year.  As you will see from the above I have got a bit carried away with making jellies and jams, am only limited by how many jars I can get.

The main thing I have learned is to feed the soil and mulch. Before recently planting some pumpkins and turnips, I dug in some horse manure, and these plants seem to be doing so much better. It was too late to dig in manure for the broccoli and squash, but I have put it on the surface around the plants as a mulch, and that also seems to be working.

The vegetables that have gone really well have been the courgettes. Almost too well as despite the face I love courgettes, and have made soup and cake, we are still overwhelmed with them. The carrots have also been good, and are so much tastier than shop ones. The tomatoes are nearly ripe, and with the cucumbers we now have a game of "good cucumber, bad cucumber". I did not remove the male flowers very well, and the ones from male flowers taste bitter, while the ones from female flowers are tasty. The runner beans are starting to get big enough to eat now, and the sweetcorn is still growing. The broad bean plants were my pride and joy, as they looked so healthy, but did not really produce many beans.  

I have enjoyed the row of sunflowers, as I have never managed to grow these before. The sweet peas also gave us quite a lot of flowers in the end. But my other lesson may be not to plant wild flowers in the vegetable garden. I thought I had planted a wild flower mix, but the only ones that have done really well are the forget-me-nots and poppies. The forget-me-nots so much so that they started coming up everywhere. I do love them, and have potted some up, and am planting them other places outside the vegetable plot.

Apart from the vegetable garden, I have been busy foraging. There have been masses of blackberries. Perhaps it is a good year for them, as I have not seen blackberries like this before. Big and juicy, and I could go out and pick a bowl every day. We also realised we had a wild damson tree. Elderberries are also starting to ripen, along with sloe berries along the whole side of the field. My husband also keeps pointing out hazel trees to me, but we will have to wait a while for them. So I have been busy jam and jelly making. I seem to be a bit of a compulsive pickers, and every so often my husband tells me to leave something for the wild life. My dog very much enjoys picking the low down blackberries.

The apples and pears are also coming along. We don't know what type they are, but are hoping to eat some of the apples, and store them for the winter. We realised none of us are very keen on eating pears, but we have also got a small fruit press, and are going to try and make some fruit juices and cider. Very excited about this.

Just a reminder that there is still loads of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for August. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.