The Last Days of Summer

As I write this month’s journal entry, I am aware that I began last month’s journal entry with a moan about the weather and I’m about to do it again!

Sadly, August was a washout and the first two weeks of September have been very rainy, very windy and increasingly cold. We have lit the log burner much earlier than usual this year. In the third week we had our first frost which decimated all the crops in the kitchen garden that were gamely having a go at late ripening. We tried to rescue some of our lovely squash harvest but it won’t be the bumper crop we had expected. The tomatoes are still green, so they are probably destined for chutney this year. It’s a good job we love green tomato chutney and we haven’t made any for a couple of years.

Lots of smallholding folk have been in touch asking us if it’s only their vegetable patch that has been suffering this year and they have been reassured by hearing some of our disasters. Our garlic, onions and shallots never really formed good bulbs and despite waiting longer than usual to pull them, they made a disappointing harvest.

Fortunately, we have a polytunnel so not all has been lost. We are still hoping for some of our sweetcorn to ripen sufficiently to get it to the kitchen.

I guess growing your own food reminds us just how much we are at the mercy of the weather and goes some way to explaining our national obsession. Nonetheless, the Soil Association’s campaign ‘Organic September’ and our encounter with Dan Saladino’s ‘Eating to Extinction’, reminds us how important it is to try to keep growing. With the time we invest in ensuring we have the best soil for grazing and growing food that we can manage, we know that we are positively influencing the nutritional value of our produce. Our eyes and our tastebuds tell us that our food is nutritious because it looks lovely, it’s pest free and it tastes delicious. We are about to add a little science to back up what we already know by using a Brix Refractometer to test the nutritional density of our crops.

It can be difficult to grow food if you have limited outdoor space, time and money but you could try joining a local community garden like the amazing community market garden we have here Biggar Market Garden where you can learn about growing as well as have a share in the produce.

Meanwhile, according to ‘Hyperlocal Weather’ (a new weather app that our friends recommended), we are going to have a mini heatwave for three days this week – we’re already planning to make the most of it and we hope our kitchen garden does too – there may be globe artichokes yet!

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