An autumnal meal for a day that feels like autumn. Heavy showers from just after lunch onwards, and fairly strong winds. Lots of tiny apples as windfalls – small partly due to drought, and party due to having codling moth grubs in them. Fortunately, the grubs only inhabit the core, and the rest of the apple is safe to use. Still, it took a fair number of apples to make one seven-inch deep pie.
The puff pastry, of course, is bought. While I’m OK at an oil-based shortcrust, puff stuff is beyond me.
It’s starting to feel like autumn. The Deacons Pears are just about ready (I had one for lunch yesterday), and the overnight temperatures have dropped – it was down to 9C. For the first time in nearly three months the central heating had come on for me to get up to – at least, in the bathroom and kitchen (I think the warmth from the back of the fridge temporarily in the back room next to my armchair meant it wasn’t needed there).
I’m not naturally a “morning person”, and it’s rather frustrating that the only time to work on the garden steps is before about 1130. After that, it’s direct sunlight and very high temperatures, which are a no-no for me. After having needed an ambulance for heatstroke last year, I’m being extremely cautious!
This is the 3rd day, and the first two steps are now in, which is a good start. I’m hoping that it will be done by the end of the week … I’ve still got a massive amount of “stuff” to do to get ready for the work on the downstairs loo starting in under a fortnight, and heat pump installation starting in just under five weeks – the day after I get back from holiday
I’m part-way through redoing the steps up to the garden. It’s the second time this year! When it turned out that the originally-agreed location for the heat pump was unsuitable, we decided to put it halfway up the garden. That meant not only putting in a line of 10 posts for the trunking to be fixed to, but also having to rearrange bits of the garden as the pump will block the concrete path. In turn, that has meant that the steps will be better shifted over a bit, and at a slightly different angle.
On the plus side, it means that the new steps will start in line with the paved area alongside the outshot, which is rather better. But it’s a fair bit of work, and really only possible for a couple of hours in the morning, as the area is in full sun, and we’re still in heat-warning-and-drought weather. Today, even that wasn’t really possible, as my back was stiff and painful … even though I did none yesterday, as it was the Rainbow Hill & Fort Royal Action Day, so I was over at Clare’s providing moral support and doing a little bit of folding newsletters (“folding” had been left off the order accidentally, and our folding machine won’t do the glossy paper).
The heatwave has not been kind to assorted vegetables here. I’ve been diligent about watering, so it’s not “drought”, merely “heat”. Air temperatures in this urban heat island have reached the mid-30s, but in the absence of shade some plants have got far too hot. Runner beans in particular flowered prolifically but failed to set beans – a quick online search reveals that “night temperatures above 16°C (61°F) can stop pod set even if the soil is moist” and “daytime temperatures over 90°F (32°C) can cause blossoms to drop“. It’s only the last few days that actual beans have started to appear, as things have been a bit cooler. A bit disappointing, as the variety (Painted Lady) is supposed to be among the more heat-tolerant ones.
As for the tomatoes, “daytime temperatures above 90–95°F (32–35°C) and night temperatures above 75°F (24°C) make pollen sticky or sterile, preventing pollination“, and all the early trusses failed to set. Later trusses have done better, and the Black Russian now has a couple of fruit colouring up, though the nameless orange tomato has nothing but severe blossom end rot on the fruit. I’m going against all advice, and not stopping side shoots or upward growth, to produce more flower trusses and hopefully more fruit – even if they fail to ripen, they’ll be ok for chutney-making.
The courgette is late, as the badger damaged the first planting, so this is a second sowing, but is now starting to show serious signs of fruiting. Only the sweetcorn is looking promising, with the first signs of potential pods appearing.
It’s the first time I’ve ever tried growing sweetcorn, though I have a vague memory that we might have tried it once (unsuccessfully) as a family back in the 1970s. The variety is an F1 “Incredible”, perhaps not the best choice for a sometimes-breezy garden as it can apparently reach 8 foot tall! They arrived as plug plants some 3 inches high six weeks ago, and are now over 3 foot. Still, as no runner beans and very few tomatoes have set due to the intense heat, at least it’s something that might enjoy the current weather.
I was trying to check what the waterlily I have in the pond is. A trawl through the last decade of emails didn’t turn up anything useful, sadly. However, today’s Facebook “memories” shows that in discussion I mentioned that it’s nymphea candida “candissima”. It’s fairly small, and a cultivar of a species that occurs wild throughout Europe.
Also on things I’ve been trying to find … the latest prescription from Specsavers Opticians turn up last night, at the bottom of my grey shoulderbag. It’s scanned here, so I don’t lose track of it again!
Both clumps of agapanthus are now pretty much in their full glory. The echinops (globe thistle) is opening, and will be a magnet for bees. It’s got pretty rampant: last year I had to stop it obstructing the path, and I’ll have to cut off some stems on the pond side this year. It would be sensible to dig up a large part of it during the winter dormancy … something that I’ve avoided doing in the past, as cutting the hollow stems down to about 50cm in autumn provides good over-wintering places for insects.
The first of the Asiatic lilies has opened. Somewhat of a return to vigour: they’d been a bit weedy last year, so this spring I fully re-potted them in decent compost, instead of just top-dressing. Only two large flower stems, but plenty of smaller stems that might bear flowers next year,
The vivid pale green of this little creature stood out vividly against the dark green / bronze foliage of the dahlias as I was passing this morning. I have very little familiarity with this kind of beastie, but a quick online hunt suggests it’s probably a female speckled bush cricket.
