Trimming the bush

It's the end of the season for flowers and veggies. But sadly there is no end of season for weeds. The very back of the plot is somewhat overgrown and needs a little care and attention. OK, it could probably do with a small scale tactical nuke, but not having a viable delivery method and minimum safe distance, I'll have to settle for secateurs, a garden fork and a broken wheelbarrow.

The Buddleja has now seen better days. And around the base are stinging nettles, some small brambles and bindweed.

It's not so difficult actually trimming everything, just awkward. Although I have found out that cheap gloves don't protect properly against stinging nettles. But at least the fork helps me keep a lot of it at arms length.

I trimmed the buddleja of anything that was overhanging the path, taking special care of any short stems that were at eye height, as those pose the biggest danger to the unwary. Fortunately these plants are pretty sturdy and will quite happily accept a short back and sides and still bounce back. Maybe with a fewer flowers next year, but still enough to keep the bees happy.

Mind you there are still a few flowers around that are currently keeping the bees happy.

Elsewhere? Well the chillies are just starting to set fruits. Not sure if they'll actually ripen, but we can try. And the Aubergines? Nah, they haven't started setting fruit at all. Guess they're a loss this year.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

46

A poor harvest

Well today is a pretty poor harvest. We pulled the remaining Edamame beans, dug out a third of the potato bed and got 6 courgettes. We also grabbed a dew apples off the tree - those will have to be carefully cut up before being eaten.

Oh, and the very last cucumber.

Seriously though, we seem to be having a very poor time of it at present. Far worse than we've ever had before. Not sure if it's the way we are handling the plot or the weather. I suspect the latter, especially after the blight.

Things have just not been going well. Everything we have left in the greenhouse (Chillies and Aubergines) have flowers but no fruit has set and the plants now seem static in that state. The overcast weather just don't give any impetus to plants to grow.

I've received a whole load more seeds for next year (DT Brown were offering a free postage over the recent Bank Holiday weekend which I took liberal usage of), so hopefully next year will be better.

It remains to be seen though.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

46

A Monster harvest

I created a monster...

I have a 3D printer and I use it to make various tools and odds and ends. So I decided to try something a little different. Created a 3D mould of Frankenstein's Monster by using a model as a negative into a cylinder.

By splitting the model in half I could create a mould which a courgette could grow into to fill up the mould. However there were a couple of issues with it. Firstly I should have made the split from ear to ear rather than nose to back of the head. I wrapped the mould in tape to keep it together but the force of the growth stretched the tape and pushed it apart. However it seemed to work out OK in the end as I got a reasonable facsimile of a monsters face out of it.

Elsewhere though the harvest certainly wasn't as good. The sweetcorn was starting to die back so we thought it time to harvest them. To say we were disappointed is an understatement.

This year has not been a great one. But at least I placed my orders for seeds for next year. Hopefully it will be a better one.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

40