Early August in the Garden

Ten good things about the garden today:

1. Sunshine for the first time in what feels like aaaages. The flowerbed looked luminescent in the dusk. Rudbekia turning from brown to orange.

2. The dahlias are coming out more and more - every day a new one seems to split out if its bud.

3. The sweet peas are still grow-grow-growing!

4. Cutting back the valerian seems to be making them flower even more.

5. The pumpkin towers seem to be working - lots of pumpkins and squashes setting, as well as glorious veg spaghetti. Considering butternut squash for next year...

6. Two new remaindered plants bought by A from Sandra's world - Señorita Blanca and Señorita Rosilitta. (£2 each!) Now out in the garage bed.

7. Glorious cucumbers from the conservatory - on the fourth one already, one huge one on the plant, two medium ones and still more setting!

8. Five tomatoes from the tomato plants! (Edited to add: Six! I got it wrong!)

9. Beautiful bunch of flowers for T's birthday - love-in-a-mist, cosmos, poppies, white antirhinnums, Michaelmas daisies, mint and one piece of clarkia.

10. The Bramleys are all rosy on their tops ready for a bumper autumn harvest.

Interesting facts about cucumbers:

These are apparently all alternative uses for cucumbers... Believe as you wish!

• Rub cucumber skin on a fogged about post-shower mirror and it will disappear without smears
• 'Cool as a cucumber' was coined because it actually cools the blood and, applied topically, will reduced facial swelling, hence the use in DIY kits.
• Cucumbers are a good substitute for chewing gum: the phytochemicals will kill bacteria that cause bad breath.
• The steam from a boiled cucumber, when breathed in, is a destresser.
• Waxy skin can be used to erase mistakes when made in pen.
• Cucumbers are a better pick-me-up than energy drinks due to the preponderance of B vitamins and carbohydrates.
• Use cucumber slices in a tin to repel pests from your garden. (if only it were that simple...)
• Cucumbers are a good cure for a hangover.
• Use cucumber peel instead of shoe polish.
• A 'green' way to clean sinks etc: rub a cucumber slice on dirty surfaces to remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine.

See if any of these work? Not sure I'll bother...

E x

August 4th

A busy week at Coombe cottages!

The allottment bed 

It's  out with the browning feverfew, harvested onions, garlic, peas and potatoes and in with the baby leeks and some winter greens (Chinese cabbage and pak choi), the cosmos and dahlias are taking over a bit in terms of colour and height is now dominated by lots of towers of climbing pumpkins and squashes.

The flower beds

They are spilling over with cat nip, lavender and seeded geraniums and really need tidying but there is still color with the echinops, Michaelmas daisies and cosmos...

The conservatory and Mollytunnel

The cucumber plants have been hugely prolific with fruits a really wonderful flavour, the peppers and chillis had a huge knock back with white fly then a burn like reaction to ecover washing up liquid but are slowly coming back, the geranium are still flowering away, and the tomatoes are coming on despite their dislike of the white polythene of the sheep tunnel. 

The sun bed 

It just keeps going - sunflowers and dahlias out, antirhinnums, poppies, love in the mist,  statice, alliums, rudbeckias, teasels all continuing.

Stars of the week have to be the gladioli still - more colours - I didn't know gladioli could be like this! 

Funny fact of the week about gladioli: The singer Morrissey is known to dance with gladioli, hanging from his back pocket or in his hands, especially during the era of The Smiths.This trait of his was made known in the music video for "This Charming Man", where he swung a bunch of yellow gladioli while singing.