It’s taken them a while but once the Asters started to flower they really went for it. They are still flowering now, even though the weather has officially gone rubbish. They are a great little cut flower. They take up little room and each plant gives you around 4 or 5 of these gorgeous blooms. They don’t seem to like the whole idea of cut and come and basically die once you have cut them but for a late summer cut flower they are fab. I sowed these back in April with the Cosmos and Hollyhocks. They took quite a lot of looking after (heated propagator, potting on, staking etc) which is how the packet told me to go about it. However, my Dad said that he used to bung a few seeds in once the weather warmed up in May or June and they would soon catch up to the molly-coddled little winter darlings. So next year, I’m going for the easy option! This variety is a new one, Orange Sherbet, even though I would say they are more pink than orange.
Nooooo… I’m not ready for winter yet. My sweetcorn has just about produced its tassels and they’re no-where near brown yet. Come on just a couple more weeks. That’s all I’m asking. It would be a small disaster if I didn’t get to taste any buttery sweetcorn this year. I’ve grown them from seed, fed them, nurtured them through tropical storms. Don’t let me flounder at the last hurdle. Cruel world!
There is a right way to freeze raspberries - ie by laying them out on a baking sheet (or half a cereal box as you can see here) and freeing them individually. Once you have done this you can put them into a smaller container and use a handful at a time over the winter.
Of course, the wrong way to freeze raspberries is to just chuck em in some tinfoil one minute before you rush out the door. That way is not so versatile.
It’s time to pot up some strawberry runners to make new plants for next year if you haven’t already done so. Just pot up the runners and snip off any bits of runner sticking out - making sure that it’s still attached to the mother plant. You can detach the young plants after a month or so once they have the strength to go it alone. Then they will stay in pots over winter and be planted out next spring. I’m only doing a few this year as I’m trying to decrease the number of strawberries I have - crazy I know! But this year so many of them went to waste because I couldn’t keep up with the harvesting of them. I felt terribly guilty. People congratulated me on such a wonderful crop and then gave me dirty looks when I let most of them go to rot! If this was the 1940s I would be reported to the Ministry for Food and given a hefty fine. And I would deserve it.
I’m back! After two weeks sweltering and cowering for shade in Greece I’m here in beautiful, lush, green England with its gorgeous fresh, cool air (ahhh!). It feels good to be home! So…what was the weather like while I was away? If mtp is anything to go by I’d say it’s been quite warm, occasionally sunny with the odd shower. Perfect growing conditions for this time of year. Everything has been growing like mad. My butternut squash plant has taken over the patch and is busy growing at least 5 fruits. The sweetcorn is nearly ready - but not quite. I had five cucumbers to harvest, three whoppers and one tiny gherkin (bless). Everything seems healthy and perky. So even though this was the season from hellfire and damnation (okay I exaggerate) and will be forever known as ‘The Year the Tomatoes Died’ - things are looking up.
