Aside from the Covid-19 turning the whole world topsy turvy since December 2019, my West Yorkshire garden has been unpredictable. I'm referring to the success and lack of success of seed grown fruit and vegetables. I thought we might have supermarket shortages but, thankfully, we have not. The weather too has been mercurial with long spells of heavy rain, and then long spells of sunshine. What a year! But August has brought gardening happiness and despite failures of the lettuce seeds (never germinated) and the Tumbling Tom tomato seeds (accidentally killed them off), I have a little kind of bounty going on now.
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| Sugarsnap peas 12 August 2020 |
I grew the Sugarsnaps in a single pot, up a few canes, strung together with twine. I should have planted more seeds but hindsight and all that. It's too late now to plant more, I think.
One success, I think, maybe, is the tomatoes grown from a supermarket tomato, Arlinta. Just one tomato at a fraction of the cost of the packet of Tom seeds. I had been growing three plants in the garden room but they became spindly and pathetic. The garden room has special UV filtering glass! So I brought them outside, put them near the 3 outdoor grown Arlina tomato plants, and it looks like I might, if I am lucky, actually get some tomatoes. I'll be even luckier if they actually ripen!
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| Arlinta tomatoes 12 August 2020 |
I thought the yellow Buckingham F1 courgettes were never going to produce female flowers but at last the three plants have woken up to the idea of why I planted them and are now producing courgettes which I love to eat raw but are also lovely roasted when bigger.
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| Courgette Buckingham F1 12 August 2020 |
I have to mention, as I do so often, how wonderful Polka raspberries are. I grow them as a double cropper and they are now producing a second crop after providing so many in July.
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| Polka raspberry second crop - 12 August 2020 |
Last but not least, the miniature James Grieve apple tree is heavily laden with fruit and I've had to support the branches with shepherd's crooks so the branches don't break under the weight. Ironically, last year I thinned the fruit down to just pairs of apples, then the tree shed more of the tiny apples, so this year I did no thinning and not a single small apple has fallen off! I'm just leaving it to do as it will.
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| James Grieve apples maturing 12 August 2020 |
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| James Grieve apples maturing 12 August 2020 |