[19th August]
Whilst collecting veggies for this evening’s dinner I noticed that the courgettes are slowing down quite a bit. I don’t think the sudden rainfall has helped them at all and a few fruits had rotted from the flower end so I fed those to the chickens or dumped them straight into the compost. They might brighten up a bit if the weather improves, but otherwise I reckon we perhaps have a couple more meals out of them and that’s it. The peas are probably not far off done too, but I’m not seriously distressed about that. The best ones are always the early ones, I reckon.
I think it’s time for a bit of a tidy up in the plot too, to get rid of some of the old plants that aren’t really productive any more. We leave the broccoli after cutting the main head to see if they will produce any smaller heads, but I think they’re pretty much over now. There are a few lettuces that are trying to run to seed that we’ve had most of the leaves off as well. They could quite happily head to the chicken runs or the compost bin. I think it’s time to lift the last of the onions that I left in the ground to see if they’d fatten up a bit more as well.
On the positive side we still have plenty of beetroot, carrots, parsnips and squashes. I can see sprouts beginning to form on their stalks and the cabbages are starting to heart up, so there’s plenty of food yet to come, but we’re definitely getting into much more of a late summer vibe now.