It's a bit of a squash...?

A couple of cold nights this week, but that hasn’t seemed to have affected either the courgettes – which look like they might get as far as another courgette apiece in the next few days – or the butternut squash.

The squash plants are quite extraordinary! I distinctly remember saying to Jane when we planted them out ‘oh, we’d better give then quite a bit of room – say 4’ each?’ but they have gone utterly crackers – sprawling all over the tomatoes, the paths, the adjacent beds, everywhere!

I would love to say how delighted we are with the fruit too, but unless all those leaves & trailing tendrils are hiding some real secrets, I think that we have two tiny ones between the three plants – & I would think that we’d be very lucky indeed for them to grow very much more at this stage in the year. (Note to self: sow earlier next year!)

No sign of the green manure as yet – but I have had most of the remaining SWEETCORN (conquerer) – a real success, these with 18 cobs from just 7 plants, & I also picked some of the dryer looking BARLOTTI BEANS for podding. They are the prettiest beans – it almost seems a shame to eat them!

I’ve also started to pick some PEAS (kelevedon wonder) from the late sowing that I made in the middle of July – that’s about 10 weeks – although the plants themselves are full of powdery mildew.

With a lot of the Summer crops coming to an end, it’s both time to think about clearing/digging/manuring, & also to anything else that can be put in to overwinter. I’m not convinced of the benefits of peas & broad beans to sow in Autumn (can always grow them in pots at home in early Spring for transplanting), but given the onion problems we’ve had, I want to put in some Japanese onion sets in, along with garlic in what will be the new roots bed (plot B).

With the front of the plot is looking spruce too, we’ll need some winter bedding too – perhaps wallflowers or winter pansies.

So with that shopping list, it’s a good job that we’ve had a trip to the Malvern Show today…