Sunflower

A quieter week this week and therefore a shorter blog, but oh for another Bank Holiday – and here it is!

You long for one all summer, and then when it arrives you are reminded that it is about to become autumn.  I love autumn. The weather starts to cool down, the apples and pears finally ripen with a gorgeous rose tint and the grass stops growing quite so fast. The beautiful colours of summer are surpassed by the deep colours of autumn, as the months of scorching sun comes home to roost.

Then the dreaded leaves begin to tumble L. But before I get too carried away, we are not there yet. And what’s more, we have a long weekend to grab the last golden rays of summer.  Enjoy it while you can.

Time to clear out the shed, rearrange the wood pile or fix the hole in the soffit boards that lets the mice come in from the cold.

Or better still, take a long walk in the gentle breeze with your better half. As each job you do in the garden has a more lasting impact, you can afford to spend a few hours just taking it all in.

I’m going to get out there. Sunday seems the best day. How about you?

Late Bean Harvest

I don’t know if it is just me, but the runner beans seem remarkably late this year. A good number of them, but later than usual.

I had a few challenges with the strong winds that blew down my finest wicker bean scaffolding, just as they were about to flower. But I managed to put it back up. Plants flowered and beans grew – but then the impact of stretching the plants beyond their elastic capacity seems to have finished a few of them off.

Equally, we collected the first complete vegetable selection of the year. A courgette or six, a collection of nearly new dwarf beans, a red cabbage, a couple of onions, the occasional broad bean and a bag full of potatoes. I still even have a large collection of spring cabbages that are particular favourites of the caterpillar community.

I have an aubergine on my plants. Only one, and it is smaller than the size of the slug that will undoubtedly consume it, but I will call that a success of sorts. I have seen colleagues with fine aubergine plants, but has anyone managed to actually grow one and eat it?

Apples abound

Earlier this year I mentioned cutting back the apple trees by 35% to give them more light and space.

Wow, did that make a difference!

There are apples on every remaining branch, both top and bottom, and they might even eat straight from the tree.

It is at this point I remember my wise forethought in purchasing an expensive apple crusher and masher a couple of years ago, to press perfect fresh apples at a mere cost of £30 per jar.

A fallow year seems to have improved my feeling of how valuable it is, and I have to say it tasted good when left for 24 months to mature. Good enough that my better half even finished up the last one or two bottles and enjoyed them.

And we have pears – lots of them. Tempting enough to pick, but they need to ripen just a bit more before we succumb.

The Trees Are Full!

How many of you have made your own jam for 2018?

Here is my motley collection of jars, filled with this season’s produce.

I’m feeling quite righteous that we have actually managed to do this early in the peak season. The garden has not had enough of my attention but we have at least not wasted the bountiful damsons.

Having tasted the smallest amount – it should be a good vintage!

We're all waiting for the hornets to go!

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the house, a new visitor moved in. Hornets!

Admittedly, they kept themselves to themselves, they didn’t use the bathroom or dirty the kitchen.

But they nested over the front door, and they had to go.  Our local friendly zap man had to be called in. Not a job I would ever want – peering into holes in the roof trying to see if something horrible is lurking. But a couple of squirts from his magic pole and it was goodnight and god bless to the hornet cluster – or at least let’s hope so. If the cats spot them we could end up with a swarm in the living room and the cats sitting outside watching us trying to get them out.

Finally, a plug for a festival that has been highly recommended to me this week.

The Sunshine Music Festival at Upton upon Severn. A variety of surprisingly household names gathering over three days. It seems pretty popular so it may be sold out for this year, but bear it in mind for 2018.

http://www.uptonfestival.co.uk/

We saw the performer below, (who is attending the Sunshine Festival), earlier in the year, and at first I thought she was a bit of mutton dressed as lamb, but she grew on the crowd and got everyone going by the end of her set. Albeit they were very tired by that time having stood up all day.

This particular video demonstrates how a few backlights, a pet snake, some carefully placed potted plants and the odd wandering infantryman can turn a suburban bedroom into a set for a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T2VizbQAwY

Or alternatively, feast your eyes on this dude.

Sadly, the video takes 30 seconds before anything happens but bear with it for a classic 80’s look.

I once stood outside the old Wembley stadium waiting to see Genesis live and heard someone taking off this musician very badly in order to test the sound. When we went inside we realised it was actually the musician himself performing his songs as if he had never sung them, only for him to do it all again and get paid for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_a2-Pve4g

Have a great bank holiday!

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