Still No Rain ☀️

 

      Today's little harvest......

                         Another good bowl full of peas and beans .

                       A couple of courgettes and a few kale leaves for lunch .

The tomatoes today are strangely huge  🤔 Scatolone 2 I hadn't expected them to be so big !   There is some inconsistency in the shape . This one is round ......

                         ................others are pear shaped  .

Sweet Pepper Snack Bite Red  have all come at once . I have taken them all off and they will be sliced and put into the freezer . Not sure if the plants will produce any more now ....have to give them a good feed and wait and see !

Most places around Cornwall had a small amount of rain yesterday .....but not us on the Lizard !

It was misty over-night , the ground damp first thing in the morning ..... bone dry again very soon after the sun came up .

                                   The heat is very tiring .  

                                                 🌿☀️🌿

Just another lovely day ! ☀️

 

Another lovely sunny morning . Just a touch of mist across the meadow  .

Checking on and watering Pak choi, beetroot , red and green cabbage seedlings in the shed .

Early morning watering the vegetable garden and then check everything is o.k. in the greenhouse .

  

                       Telling the Butternuts to get a move on !

 A lazy day I think today ..hang some washing on the line.....take time to watch the bees ..... sit in the summer house and do some embroidery ... or a bit of patchwork .

      It's our wedding anniversary today .....on this day we usually share steaming hot and greasy fish'n'chips from the chippy and enjoy them sitting in the car , up on the cliffs looking out to sea . 

         (note to self - remember to take bottle of ketchup and serviettes ! )

                     Have a lovely day, take care in the hot sun ☀️

                                           Peace and Love 🕊️

                                                  Debbie 💐 x

                                                          p.s .......but did Ricardo remember ? 🤪

Today's harvest 🌿🫛🍅🌶️🫑

 

             Ricardo ..my Lord and Protector of the Spud Tubs !

So , he is planting another lot of potatoes for over Winter and we are also having some for our lunch  . 

We still have another two tubs to tip out . 

Our potatoes in tubs have done really well this year .

The beans and Purple Podded Peas on the teepees have done well and there are still lots more on the way .

I can't remember which variety these are , but they are so sweet and tasty straight from the pod !

I've never had so many peas before . 🐭🐭🫛🌿Very pleased with these !

Anyway ......

We had some for lunch , all of the peas and some of the beans . The rest I quickly blanched and now they are being given an "open freeze" on a tray , in the freezer . I'll probably bag them up later this evening .

     I got my seeds ordered for next year , some of which were half price now in the end of season sales . 

I ordered a packet of Sweet-Peas which I will sow end of October / November .

                                                   🌿☀️🌿

                                               Still no rain !                          

Which varieties will I grow next year ? 🌶️🫑🌿

        Still picking cucumbers .... so much nicer than supermarket ones .

   "Snack Bite Red " Sweet peppers ..... plenty of them !  Husband loves them ! 

The only thing I would say about this variety is that they all seem to come at once ......but maybe this is because of the heatwaves we've been having . I will slice , open-freeze , bag them all up and throw them into the freezer .

Next year I think I will go back to Sweet Pepper "Corno di Toro Rosso" which are the slightly bigger, longer pointed type .

  This is Sweet Pepper Corno di Toro Rosso . This time last year just to compare .

                 Sweet Pepper Corno Di Toro Rosso this time last year .

                                                Very nice !

             Cucumber " Carmen " and the shorter one is "Merlin" 

Next year I will only be growing  Cucumber "Carmen"...very happy with this one .

          No ripe Tomatoes today , but lots of green ones still coming .

As for the tomatoes .... This year I grew Tomato "Divinity"F1 and Tomato "Scatolone 2 "   they are o.k. nice flavour and texture , fleshy, not too many seeds ,  but I'm not blown away by them . Maybe it's the heatwave , but there seems to be quite a bit of inconsistency in the size and shape of them . 

Next year I will grow Tomato Scatolone 2 and probably go back to reliable old Tomato Alicante again .

      Now I am off to pick beans and peas for lunch 🌿🫛🫛🫛

Weather forecast  - clouds floating on by - still no rain 🌥️ uncomfortably warm .

                              Peace and Love  🕊️

                                                 Debbie 💐   x

Clouds but still no rain

                  Clouds in the sky ....but still no rain .

A little bit cooler today ....I wearily gathered up all the rose bush clippings and harvested a few things from the vegetable garden . 

                                   Very happy me !

                                           More on the way !

 Not so many flowers in the garden at the moment , so I have done a more simple arrangement for the table this week .  

 Just a few blue Hydrangeas , laurel , Miscanthus sinensis strictus and Cotinus coggygria "Royal Purple " 

                 Now looking very grand on the table .

               Then on with the gloves and to bring in some fire-wood .

I'm bringing in a little everyday now  , getting ready for the Winter again .

 Rather to do this while the sun is shining , than when it's cold , windy and raining .... a miserable job then .

I had thrown a left over half of a melon out on the lawn  for the blackbirds really ...but the butterflies were relishing it . 

                        Plums not quite ready yet .

                           Lots of French beans coming now .

  Lots of French beans and this year my peas have done exceptionally well !

                                   Pretty Purple Podded Peas !

             I have had no time to myself ; too busy playing in the garden ! 

     Oh ...I did manage to do a little on a road trip ....but not much .

I cut back my lovely clump of Impatiens tinctoria  , it had finished flowering and beginning to wilt in the heat .  Cutting it back will encourage it to put out fresh growth and more lovely white flowers .

    I did a light weeding around here and lopped off a few of the more tatty Chamaerops humilis leaves . Laying them down on any bare earth to keep the moisture in .

  The weather is going to heat up again , we are warned of yet another heatwave and drought .

 🕊️ My heart and prayers goes out for everyone in places suffering from the extreme hot weather and battling with trying to extinguish fires . Terrifying 😔  I do hope that rain comes soon . 🕊️

                                                Cosmos

   The Sweetpeas were finished and so I pulled them out and replaced with my Cosmos seedlings . 

   I'm not watering everything . Just the Cosmos , Impatiens tinctoria and the Banana plants . 

     I am making sure there is plenty of food and water for visiting wildlife  . 

                               So that all for now my friends !

                             Peace and Love 🕊️🌿

                                                  Debbie 💐x

Roses and Potatoes

 

                              Lovely climbing rose back in June .

Early this morning we had a very mean sprinkle of mizzle .  The water barrels are still empty .       Anyway it meant that for the first time this summer , I was able to do a few jobs in the ornamental garden . 

The climbing rose which looked at it's very best last month , now needed some serious attention . 

The petals were dropping into the crown of my Musa basjoo below .

So now the rose has almost finished flowering , I thought I'd give it a good tidy up and tie in some of the remaining branches to encourage it to grow the other way .

I went in quite hard , but there are still some sprays of fresh rose buds to come .

                            Musa basjoo  ( fairly hardly in my location )

It's looking very dry . I'm going to give it a good feed and a drink , put a good mulch around the bottom .  I want it to get nice and strong in order to get through next winter . This banana plant is quite hardy here in my location S.W. Cornwall .

  It has been cooler this morning , but they are saying that we are going to have another period of very hot weather , coming by next Wednesday .

      Musa ensete "maurelii  ( needs to be brought under cover for the Winter )

As for this banana plant , well , Musa ensete "maurelii" looks to be doing really well . . . . but I will give that a feed and a good long drink . . . I'll be digging it up again in a month's time and dragging it under cover for the winter .

Ricardo has been on Spuds in tubs duty and with all the joy of an eight year old proudly presented me with all of these from just one Spud tub !   🤗

                      ....and he scrubbed them all nice and clean too !  

          That's all fer today folks , hope you're having a great weekend .

                                             love Debbie 💐x

                                                   🌿☀️🌿🌦️🌿