Quick August update

Things had got a bit out of hand in the planters – as you may have noticed in our last post. In fact they had got out of hand in the new pergola planter and on the pathway down to the garden too, the recent bursts of rain having encouraged the grass and the bindweed to try and regain control! However, a serious couple of hours session a few days ago with Paula, one of our local kids, Cam and his parents soon re-established order. Here is Cam getting to grips with the plantain and the grass.

Meanwhile, Paula and Cam’s mum cleared out the overgrown leaves in the tall planter and seeded some more chard. The chard has been a great success – the first planting is still going strong and I have lost count of how many meals it has provided us with.

However, I shall be keeping an eagle eye on it for the next couple of days as last week I cleared out and reseeded the beetroot and carrot planter. I was very impressed at how fast the little shoots appeared – and then horrified to see that they had all disappeared!! Apparenty munched by someone. So I quickly grabbed some of the nasturciums growing next door ( I had been told that slugs hate nasturciums) and spread some net over the planter. Fingers crossed, it seems to have done the trick and the little shoots are up again.

Meanwhile the tomatoes are gradually ripening….

…and the squash are going mad! Not much sign of any actual squash as yet but the stems and leaves are racing along the beds and up the wall.

And I am delighted to say that our vegetables are being put to good use. Here is the seriously delicious looking bean tagliatelle that Cam’s mum made with our beans…

…. and here are our little carrots looking very fine on Paula’s dining table. A large bag of chard also went home with Cam and his family as his grandmother, who is Chinese, just loves stir fried chard.

Next jobs.

Choose a suitable vine to grow over the pergola – it needs to be a relatively modest grower as it could overwhelm the pergola quite easily. And get Michael to identify the herbs which are growing very enthusiastically in his old butler’s sink herb garden. And we are hoping that a few solitary bees have already found a home in those ‘holey’ bricks.