WAYWARD

The garden is a little careworn and unruly, but I shall only tidy what’s absolutely necessary.  I have a feeling that if I start cutting things back and clearing spaces, I won’t stop and the garden will take on a bare and autumnal feeling before I’m ready to let go of the summer.  August is the hardest month for me.  I used to hate going on holiday at the end August as a child.  Seeing the harvesting going on, the empty fields - and school looming.

TEENAGE CHICKS

The veg patch is under seige - the gorgeous little chicks that hatched at the beginning of July are now teenaged, but they’re still small enough to get through the fence within the hedge, where they take great delight in eating crops, scratching up seedlings and making dirt baths in the newly sown beds.  The mother hen takes no notice, in fact she encourages them in their looting.

I’m still trying not to go into the veg patch too much, as the Bullfinches that have been nesting in the tiny standard Bay tree have hatched, but are not near to fledging yet.  I tiptoed in to take some photos of them and all 5 eggs had hatched. They are ugly-cute and grumpy looking - but then they are crammed into a nest the size of a tennis ball.  Both parents are on duty and if anyone walks past the Bay tree they make a distinctive alarm call, so we try to keep out of the way.  Once the babies fledge there will be a huge abundance of seeds for them to eat around the garden, but Bullfinches also like to eat new buds on fruit bushes and Forsythias etc in spring.  I do wonder who I’m gardening for sometimes.

FLORIFEROUS VEG

The plant featured in the photo (with the purple flowers) is an Aubergine.  It makes a great decorative plant regardless of it’s edible properties.  I’ll be making Aubergine Gratin from these, if they come to anything, that is.  The problem with tender fruiting veg like aubergines, peppers and tomatoes is that they take a long time to ripen in our climate.

There are more flowers than vegetables in my veg patch ('Is there anything to eat in here at all?' says my husband).  Nasturtiums are cascading in great orange heaps; marigolds and Verbena bonariensis seedlings are popping up everywhere and Crocosmia has crept into all the corners.  I love it, but admit that it’s all getting  a bit out of hand.  I’m trying to be ruthless, thinning them out to make way for new crops for next season.