I wasn’t sure how the allotment would look after last month’s storms caused by the remnants of hurricane Bertha but all the beans and other tall plants were still standing.
I try to make the support structures strong by weaving a cane diagonally between four upright canes on either side. Only the arch created out of a vine across the centre of the plot is sagging to one side, but I think that this has been caused by the weight of the fruit, which is ripening slowly having shown good promise during the hot weather in July.
The Victoria plum tree produced a bountiful crop of fruit for the first time and it is now the star turn of its neighbour, my Charles Ross apple tree, which has been a consistent producer each year and attracts comments from admirers as the apples are large and deepen in colour as autumn approaches. This has been a particularly pretty area of the plot with scabious plants flowering throughout the whole summer beneath the trees, intermingled with large poppies of a variety of colours earlier in the season.
I have harvested the remainder of the Charlotte and pink fir apple potatoes, which means that the Ratte variety of potatoes make up the few rows still in the ground. I have yet to try eating these but they are said to have a distinctive chestnut flavour and are very popular in France.
Each time I visit the plot I take a look at two gigantic pumpkins, which are now slowly turning orange beneath a canopy of nasturtium leaves. On a rainy day I like to see the shining droplets of water collected in the centre of the upturned nasturtium leaves and these plants have now become a prized crop since I add the flowers to salads and they flourish at this time of year, just as many of the plants are starting to die back.
