August vegetable garden, apples and seeds.

Alfie and Zoe love peas so we grew 3 beds of peas this year and no broad beans.

 

Purple sprouting broccoli have been slow to get going but are finally making some growth, they are staked already and will be tied in as they get taller. Most years, by the time they are fully grown in April, there will be some purple sprouting broccoli plants topping 5 feet tall!
 Leeks are growing in the bed behind.

This is the Swiss chard bed, it is full of self-sown poppies, borage, nigella, nasturtium, These will die down by the winter when the Swiss chard comes into its own.

 

Onions have grown well this year, sweet peas on the left.

 
Phacellia for bees, Nicotiana for moths and corn, in the background, for us.

 
 In a couple of the sweetcorn beds I have grown runner beans and climbing french beans. I am not really sure if it's working! It's a bit of chaos although all seem to be thriving. Leek flowers there too, for the bees.

 
Tivon and Alfie shaking poppy seeds out of the dried flower heads.


 Alfie, being a little boy, does as little boys do. He finds the wine/mead syphon and uses it to blow the seeds about!

During June/July we had a couple of weeks with the gravel covered with plants drying out on sheets in the sun to collect seed. This is the poached egg plant seed collected, more than will fit in the 5 kg molasses bucket! A couple of years supply and loads to share.

The orchard door is surrounded with blackberries and Japanese wineberries.

 
Apples,

 
and more apples.

The first apples August 16th. Looks like it will be a good year.

It is a good year for wasps too, We have a German wasp nest near the house door which we all walk past every day, and 4 common wasp nests around the garden, and counting! Wasps eat garden pests (such as greenfly) and are very good pollinators,  Live and let live!