The abundant August garden

It's that time of year - meal planning becomes a matter of working out how to use produce from the garden without anything going to waste.  Normally that means trawling the web for innovative recipes for courgettes, but this year it is my brassica that have come all at once !  Vegetable curries are the dish of the moment.

Seems to have been a good year in the greenhouse too - no shortage of cucmbers or tomatoes. The chillies are just starting to come; I was quite impressed with Ohnivec, a new variety to me, that is a large, long pointed variety looking a lot like a large Hungarian Wax, but surprisingly hot for such a large pepper.  We stuffed some with Halloumi cheese and roasted them on the barbecue last night, only I was willing to eat them so they must be hot !  It leaves me with another 15-20 to eat by myself ...

Not this year.
Lack of sun and low night time temperatures (1.4c again this week) has made everything so slow. I am watching my first tomatoes just starting to colour in the greenhouse and I have had one courgette. I'm only now harvesting the peas and broad beans that went into the garden in April! If we get decent weather through to the end of September I may get some reasonable crops. I've had to start my brassicas again after the aphids & root flies but they have had yet another setback in the shape of my neighbour's pig that took of the gate and trampled through them. I caught her just about to start unearthing my potatoes. Luckily she had managed to walk across the courgette / squash bed between the plants. She also tipped out all of the trays of seedlings that I had outside the shed.
However, it's not all doom and gloom - I didn't know but read somewhere that warm days and cold nights suit strawberries and I am still picking big, tasty berries from the hanging baskets in my greenhouse.

Ploshkin wrote:but they have had yet another setback in the shape of my neighbour's pig that took of the gate and trampled through them.  I caught her just about to start unearthing my potatoes

Oh goodness, at least that's one garden pest I don't have to contend with !

I remember once reading an article on pests and diseases, by Bob Flowerdew I think it was, where he listed "children" amongst garden pests !

The aphids are still a bit of a problem on the beans, but I am leaving it to the ladybirds to work on that problem for me. The Kew Blue seem to grow on pretty vigorously despite them.

Well, the garden is starting to get a bit of abundance at last. We've been enjoying Tutankhamun peas from the seed swap. It's the first time I have ever grown a tall variety & they've done really well. The peas are very sweet even when they have gone quite big in the pods. My Mr Fearn's beans, also from the seed swap, are starting to get their lovely purple flowers so they're looking hopeful too. The courgettes are finally motoring & I've had my first carrots and tomatoes to eat.

Oh - that's really helpful; never having grown any variety of peas except Tutankhamun I didn't realise that they were a tall variety. Next year I really need to provide better support for them, as sticks aren't enough.

As Chilli said, that's one garden pest I haven't had, Ploshkin!
My tomatoes got going late but are just starting to ripen now. They are all Sungold and, planted outdoors, have shown Triffid tendencies! I like them but they are unremittingly sweet, I prefer something with a little more acid.
Sweetcorn, which I have tried once without success, had a slow start too and several plants were very unsteady but now they're over 6 ft high and about to produce a glut. I think the fact that the raised bed is where the chicken run once was may have added a little something.
Outdoor cucumbers, also slow to get going, are now producing like mad. I need to find a tastier variety for next year, though.

Flo, if you find Sungold a bit too sweet try black cherry - they're a dark purple colour & have a good flavour even for me.

Thanks Ploshkin. My favourite is Gardeners Delight but I was determined to try something else for a change.
Will look out for black cherry for next year.

We had the first Yellow Brandywine tomato today. Lovely flavour, but I had to cut a big slice off the bottom of it as it was all brown, scarred and split. Has anyone else observed this happening to beefsteak toms? I'm also very disappointed with the heritage variety 'Sioux' I grew this year - I finally picked one which didn't have blossom end rot, only to find that it was nasty inside. You will be glad to know that the bottoms of all my other tomatoes are looking good...

The larger tomatoes do seem often to come out "ugly" - either a bit contorted or scabby. I had this issue with red brandywine. Lovely flavour, but also a bit shy yielding. The good news is that, for reasons I don't know, it is usually the first fruit or two that are worst affected, then they often settle down to more regular fruit production.

The blossom end rot seems to be a major problem for me with just plum type tomatoes. Horn of the Andes was terribly affected last year. It is allegedly due to calcium defficiency caused by erratic water uptake, but I have tried everything and it still happens. Careful choice of variety helps; Seeds of Italy have a re-selected San Marzano which is a very good paste tomato.

Last day of August, and it's raining cats and dogs! (Well, it is a Bank Holiday!) It feels like a bit of an 'in-between' time in my garden - I'm starting to pull up courgette plants, the greenhouse tomatoes are coming to an end, but apples and pears have still to ripen. It looks as if the runner beans are preparing for a second attempt at flowering,but the French beans really didn't amount to anything this year.

What a difference a few degrees of longitude make. My courgette and greenhouse toms have only just got into their stride, French beans are looking promising and the runner beans are flowering well. Today has been one of the few mostly dry days this month.