Dare I say it? It is the last weekend of August. September is in sight and a sense of the seasons changing is in the air. This weekend is set aside for apple picking and it seems that the plums are also ready to pick. There was a good long downpour last Thursday and all the water butts are full again. Here’s six from this week’s garden.
One
I’d left my ‘Jazzy’ new potatoes in the ground, digging them up as and when needed. After the heavy rain of Thursday morning I thought I’d better dig them all up for fear of leaving in them the soggy ground. A few forks in revealed that the surface was nicely damp but down below things were still pretty dry. I did dig them all up, collected a few windfalls and picked the outside San Maranzo tomatoes. These are so much smaller than those in the greenhouse, but appreciated nonetheless. The potato haul was 8kgs, which I am more than happy with.
Two
It’s a good crop of plums this year. Variety unknown. As is common, they are suspect to plum moth so the early ripening fruits often have those darling maggots. This means that each plum is cut in half and checked over before use or more usually before freezing. That’s another job for the weekend.
Three
One way or another I always seem to end up with a packet of sunflower seeds and for no reason at all I usually sow a handful. This year’s plants have grown to heady heights, loving the heat and somehow drawing on a secret supply of water. They are going to seed now and have been tracked down by the local parakeets who are managing to balance on the flower heads and are feeding excitedly on the seeds.
Four
I’m slightly more proud of sowing the seed of thalictrum delavyi. From my less than perfect notes it looks like the seed was sown in 2020. Two years on then and they look firmly established. It’s quite difficult to capture their delicate flowers with the trusty phone camera but this isn’t too bad.
Five
Dahlias. Not a fan, but somehow I always have a few in the garden. This one was grown from seed last year and the tuber left in the ground over winter. I prefer the simpler variety. It has perked up considerably after rainfall.
Six
This hart’s tongue fern was also a sad sight before the rain came. Now plumped up again and flourishing. The garden’s resilience is encouraging.
There’s more gardening celebrations to be found on The Propagator’s site. Yes, crispiness abounds but it’s always possible to find something to enjoy. Lift your spirits with a visit to the other SOS garden posts. Happy gardening.
n20gardener 
A fine harvest! This morning was very dewy and felt distinctly of autumn. It is inevitable. Lovely sunflower shot. Have a great week.
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Thank you. You too.
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I saw your San Marzano tomatoes on Twitter and they look great!
About the plums, I have Damson plums but this year they are on very, very high branches and unfortunately I can’t get to them… The wasps and hornets take care of that before me. I can’t wait to see the first flowers of my thalictrum that I planted in the spring… yours is lovely !
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The SMs have been great this year. I keep talking pictures of them! Good luck for your thalictrum.
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Your sunflowers look really tall in the photo. I’m saving some of the seed from mine for next year and I’ll let the birds have some too.
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I really should measure the sunflowers! They’re so tall.
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Your harvest looks yummy! I’d be making plum jam if I had any plums! As for sunflowers, I grew some from seed this year, the ones in the ground got eaten as soon as I planted them, but four have grown in containers, they are so tall and only one fairly small flower at the top! I’d like for parrots to descend, but suspect it will be the goldfinch…
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The goldfinches are lovely though and a good bit quieter! If I’m a lucky I will give some plums to a friend and will get a jar of jam in return.
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Nice haul! Love the delicate thalictrum and the dahlia is a nice eye popping color. So, you have feral parakeets? I would not have guessed.
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Bizarre isn’t it. The story is they started from escaped pets. There’s quite a colony of them.
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The plum looks almost like a prune. Is it somewhat oblong, or just spherical?
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A little oblong. Not a damson or a Victoria. Just a mystery!
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Yes, that is how it looks in the picture; just ‘slightly’ oblong. The shape looks more like that of a ‘Victoria’ plum. However, the color looks more like that of a prune.
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What a lovely harvest. You are putting me to shame as at least half the potato harvest is still lurking in the ground. I love the sunflowers against that wonderful blue sky.
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It looks like you’ve got a good haul there!
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It always makes me laugh when you talk of the parakeets. So exotic for this country. Your Thalictrum has done well – I don’t know why but I don’t have any here. I need to rectify that.
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It is ridiculous isn’t. I always think I should be growing rainforest foliage plants and more exotic flowers!
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