Its just around the corner...

    Yes autumn is just around the corner. August is closing fast and September will be upon me. All the plants and trees are beginning to show signs of closing down for the oncoming winter.
    In the outside garden the last of the second early potatoes, variety NICOLA, have been dug up. I have been disappointed in the total amount of NICOLA potatoes harvested. From a three kilogramme bag of seed potato just over twenty four kilogrammes harvested compared to the three kilogramme bag of RIKEA seed potatoes first earlies I harvested nearly  thirty three kilogrammes. I have a couple more NICOLA plants to harvest, one in a pot and another two or three in a spare piece of ground when I found I had a few seed potatoes left over. The may produce another kilogramme or so between them. Main crop DESIREE left to harvest. Several melons picked along with a continuing harvest of cucumbers (Wautoma, Market Maker, Gagante), mixed variety tomatoes and courgettes. It has been a very poor year for haricot vert and not the most brilliant for tomatoes. A success this year has been the bramley apples. The tree was absolutely covered in apples this year. First time there has been a bumper crop. They are on the small size but that must be due to the hot summer and lack of rain. Anyway I still harvested a crate full! See photo. There is a good number of butternut squash and given another week or two of reasonable weather the harvest should be good.   

In the black box the Bramley apple crop

   In the poly tunnel I have transplanted few more beetroot more in hope than anything else. Nothing ventured nothing gained! The lettuce in there are having a real hard time  getting going with the hot weather. Hopefully now it has turned a little cooler (22C rather than 32C!) they may start to do something. I have some tomato plants in here too and they were late planted and look really good! No blight (famous last words) and tomatoes are starting to ripen. Fingers crossed I may get an extended crop!
   In chicken world nothing really new. Mrs Chick continues to raise her one surviving chick which is growing nicely now and the four chicks at my daughters are growing fast and becoming more adventurous. Egg production has possibly been on the low side but I think several of the hens have been in moult. Certainly lots of feathers about!

Four chicks in a row

    The start of autumn brings about the desire to make cakes and with the brilliant apple crop make stewed apple etc etc.

Cherry cake

Bramleys being stewed