Adventures in August

I began writing this entry when it was all quiet in the garden - a sleeping sunny afternoon. In the capricious way of the British weather, it is now once again `changeable'. In moments of lull, a gentle breeze stirs the leaves of the grapevine and butterflies abound on the buddleia, lavender and leek flowers. Two minutes later, clouds roll in like spilt ink - and rain scatters the scene. Sigh. Its been one of those summers - where you're never quite sure what is going to happen next.

The deluges of the past month are the stuff of legends. Our house, despite occupying a relatively flat spot, seems safe from flooding thanks to the system of ditches along the edge of fields and parkland - unfortunately, not everyone has been so lucky and our new neighbours spent one downpour frantically brushing water out of their garage! Out in the fields, the grass and wildflowers have grown waist high and there are places where paths have become quagmires. While all the rain seems to have been fantastic for everything wild, it has been terrible for most things cultivated. After a bumper tomato crop last year, I have had to bin most of my veggie patch tomatoes as they have gone black and rotted. There are still some in pots that I hope to salvage, but its not looking good. 

And the wet has been so excellent for the slug population, that my beans have been reduced to a couple of skeletal stalks. Hats off to the plucky beans which seemed to have tried extra hard, producing blossom even without any leaves, but the resulting bean crop is miserable and thin. As for the cauliflower - those that I planted way back in the Spring and coddled under enviromesh - gone to ruin every one. Well, except for the one that I have left as a sacrifice to the butterflies who have laid eggs all over its leaves. I might say, wholeheartedly, that I have given up on cauliflower....but then I saw a packet of seeds. Romanesco Green....Any-way, so here we go again because I am nothing if not optimistic (or stupid).

I did manage to harvest some onions. (Tarrara!) From a commercial point of view, I suspect the effort of actually planting and growing onions is a bit of a waste of time since they are cheap to buy, but I did enjoy having the onions tied on twine and hanging from a line in my greenhouse, for all the world looking like I know what I am doing! The onions were an attempt at out-of-season gardening for me and it was quite nice to have something to grow in the winter.

The potatoes planted in old rubble tubs have been harvested as new potatoes - and I seem to have done quite well. No big potatoes, but I suspect that in my panic to ensure that some potatoes sprouted, I planted too many. I'm never sure when the right time is to harvest potatoes either, so they might well have done another week or two. 

After foiling the pigeons by planting beetroot in a planter instead of the veggie patch, I am delighted to report that I have actually managed to harvest some beetroot. If you are looking for a lovely veggie addition to a BBQ, try wrapping some beetroot with feta in greaseproof paper. Wrap again in foil and cook on the coals for 20 minutes to half an hour. Very tasty.

E's medicinal garden, which she approached with such enthusiasm, has now morphed into a wildlife garden (because the weeding was proving impossible.)The marshmallow are out in bloom and so, one of these days, we will be able to experiment with the roots to make cough syrup and, erm, marshmallow. As part of creating a wildlife garden I found a good bowl in a charity shop to convert to a birdbath - and was delighted to see a little frog trying it out on only its second day!. We have a solitary bee house too, but I suspect it is a bit commercial because the bees don't seem interested ( yet, I hope). I am particularly pleased with my DIY hedgehog house. Mr W. and the child have created a hedgehog house before, in our last garden. But Mr W. does like a plan. I, on the other hand, like a half-formed idea and getting things done as fast as possible. I saw a tutorial about creating a hedgehog house out of a clay plant pot. Needless to say, I didn't have a clay plant pot of suitable size - but I did have quite a large plastic one of the sort with no holes. So I made some ventilation holes on the sides, cut out a U-shaped bit on one edge to accommodate  a smaller plant pot with the bottom cut out (a tunnel), excavated a hollow which I filled with twigs and leaves and - Voila! - with the addition of some sticks for log-pile dressing: a budget hedgehog house! Of course, I realise that it is highly unlikely that a hedgehog will fancy it enough to move in - but I had a great deal of fun making it and maybe a toad will find it appealing.

On the wildlife front, a pair of blackbirds have managed to rear a family in the Virginia Creeper and the rumpled fledglings are hanging round the garden like untidy teenagers. One fluttered into the apple tree right by my head just the other day. It and I contemplated each other for a moment before I informed it, quite sternly, that it should stop pecking at my apples. Its bright little eye flickered at me and then it hopped a couple of branches away where it lurked under some leaves until I left. Hmmm - familiarity is not the friend of the fruit harvest. 

The garden can be a bit Disney at times. I was sitting at my desk at the beginning of the week when a squirrel strolled past .the open door .

 `Oi!' I yelled.

The squirrel paused, front paw poised. It looked at me, then casually continued its journey towards the house. I leapt up and headed it off at the pass, sending it scuttling down the driveway - all while the terrier snoozed within spitting distance. I had barely sat back down when a crow arrived in the apple tree and I had to be sent packing too! 

I complain in jest, of course. I know how lucky I am to be able to complain and laugh about my garden. It is such a privilege to live here, to watch the jackdaws, the crows, the blackbirds and the wren (that, incidentally, makes a lot of noise for such a little bird), the swallows that suddenly swoop  above me as I walk with the dog through a wheat field.. The wide-winged red kites that hang in the thermals, effortless. The butterflies that seem to have exploded into the garden in the last week. The dragonflies, the bees, hoverflies, moths. Even with the terrible weather and the pointless exercise of tomato growing. Even though the cauliflower have all failed. It is all wonderful.

Wonder full.