"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

Feeling hot, hot, hot!

Hi Everyone. It looks very much like we'll be having a hosepipe ban this month in the UK, maybe even next week if this dry weather continues. I'm hoping very much that we don't as it takes me twice as long to water my allotment with a watering can than it does with a hose. At least I'm fortunate to have a standpipe right on my plot.

It occurred to me while writing that this is my 13th newsletter. One whole year has passed since I started Foodgardening4all. Where does the time go?

So what have we got in store for you this month?

What to sow and grow in August.

Making the most of a glut.

Water for the wildlife

Did you know?

Have you missed out?

And lastly, Lottie news and members questions.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

What to sow and grow in August.

Now that the days are beginning to get shorter there's quite a few things that we can be sowing direct into the soil. Like last month we can still do Beetroot, Chard and Carrots. You may not get the biggest of crops, but it's worth taking advantage of what warm weather we have left.

Lettuce like 'Winter Density' and 'All Year Round' are good varieties to see you through the colder months. Spring Onions and over winter Onions like 'Senshu Yellow' can be sown now as well. All types of Radish are nice and quick. I'm not all that keen on Radish, but I do like the 'Sparklers 3' ones by Mr. Fothergill's.

Spring Cabbage, Kale and Spinach can all go in, but may need a bit of protection with fleece when there's frosts about later on in the year.

You can direct sow Coriander, Dill, Chervil and Parsley. I've just sown some Coriander from plants that went to seed back in May. I've popped them next to some Parsley that I've got in a window box outside my kitchen window. I always prefer to grow herbs at home in my garden rather than on the allotment so they're close at hand when I'm cooking.

Making the most of a glut.

How are your vertically grown Courgettes doing (Last months video)? Did anyone have a go?

Talking of Courgettes or Zucchinis, now is about the time everyone is wishing they hadn't sown so many Courgette plants. I ended up having four plants of three different varieties and now my fridge is chockablock full of varying sizes of these amazingly fast growing vegetables.

It's very easy to just give the surplus away to your friends and neighbours, which I have already done this year, but with food prices going up as they are, it's good to think of ways to preserve these enthusiastic growers for later on.

This month I'm going to be experimenting with preserving my Courgettes in different ways. I will be freezing some and dehydrating others with my new toy, a Food Dehydrator.

Courgettes are very good for chutneys and jams with the favourite of mine being Courgette and Ginger. I'm very fortunate in that my hubby is very good at baking and has recently made a vegan Courgette and Lemon cake. It really is nice with or without the lemon topping and it uses two medium sized Courgettes for each cake. Check out the recipe HERE

If you have any good ways on using up or preserving courgettes do let me know by dropping me an email at chris@foodgardening4all.co.uk

Water for the wildlife.

It's not only our fruit and veg plants that need water at this time of year, it's just as important to ensure the visiting wildlife gets watered as well.

If you don't have space for a small wildlife pond a large terracotta saucer will do. It's easy to forget that birds, animals and insects not only need water to drink, but they also need it to

bathe, remove parasites and cool down.

If you do have or decide to get a bird bath, it's best to remember to keep it topped up and for it to have a bit of a clean once a week or so, as it can quickly grow mould in hot weather.

Hedgehog drinking water from a pink bowl on green grass. Native_ wild_ european hedgehog on a warm day in Spring. Horizontal_ landscape. Hedgehog facing right. Erinaceus europaeus

Did you know?

A sunflower is not just one flower.

Both the fuzzy brown centre and the classic yellow petals are actually 1,000 – 2,000 individual flowers, held together on a single stalk.

Have you missed out?

It's hard to believe that I've been writing these newsletter/blogs for a whole year now and I've fortunately had lots of positive feedback. The membership is almost 100 people now with even a few overseas members as far off as Europe and America.

For those of you who have only recently joined us, I've listed the main subjects of each months newsletter so that if you missed out on some I've very happy to send you a copy. Just email me HERE and tell me which ones you would like.

August 2021, newsletter 1. was just an introduction, but here's the rest.

Sept. No. 2 - Tomato Blight

Oct. No. 3 - Winter Veg

Nov. No. 4 - No-dig organic gardening and growing from seed.

Dec. No. 5 - How to spend less time weeding - The health benefits of getting dirty.

Jan. No. 6 - Sprouts & micro greens. - The benefits of composting.

Feb. No. 7 - Seed sowing Vs Shop bought seedlings - Composting, 1st things 1st

Mar. No. 8 - Make your own palette compost bin. - Not all weeds are equal.

Apr. No. 9 - Potatoes in containers. - How to make Nettle fertiliser.

May. No. 10 - Shoots, roots & fruits - Demystifying fertilisers.

June. No. 11 - How to be water wise - Make your own slug traps.

July. No. 12 - Vertical growing - Tame those Tomatoes.

Lottie News!

With the success of my home made slug pubs I made from old coffee cups I did back in June, I decided to make some more permanent ones out of large plastic yogurt cartons. My friend had given me some of her husbands flat beer he'd forgotten about and off I went and positioned the pubs in amongst the Lavender bushes like before. The next morning I found the empty cartons out on the pathway with a Foxes smelly calling card right next to one. I was not pleased. We have quite a problem with foxes at the moment as there are at least four on our allotments. I heard that Jeyes Fluid sprayed around is a good deterrent as Foxes are not keen on the smell; neither am I for that matter, but if it stops them digging up my pubs and my veggies then it's worth a try. Watch this space.

I'm quite please the Patti Pans are a bit behind this year as I'm drowning in courgettes at the moment. The Runner Beans are also behind as I think they are suffering in the heat, such a contrast to last year.

Another thing that went to seed very quickly was the Dill I planted, but I've now got plenty of seeds for next year.

The Butternut Squashes growing up one of the arches are now beginning to set. Would you believe I still have one large Butternut left over from last year! I must do something with it soon. I did however do something with the Sweet Potato leaves that are growing madly in the tubs at the moment. I like them stir fried with Garlic and a dash of soya sauce and a sprinkle of Sesame seeds, Yum!

I'm pleased to see a couple of Mashed Potato Squash are developing. This is the first time growing these and I'm very interested to see how big they will get and whether they do taste like mashed potato.

Last autumn I bought a Jack Hawkins tomato from the supermarket as at the time it was the only tomato not wrapped in plastic. I was totally shocked at the price of this one tomato so I decided to saved the seeds to see what I would get. What an absolute delight they have been. Several, really big tomatoes and one that's going to be a whopper!

Members Questions.

No members questions this month, but I have a question for you...

...Do you find these newsletter/blogs helpful and maybe even entertaining?

I very much enjoy creating them as I learn so much by doing the research, but I wondered if they were too long or didn't have the content you were hoping for.

I'd love to get some constructive criticism or perhaps some ideas on things you'd like to see or learn about.

Do get in touch if you have a moment to spare. 😎 👍🏻 💚

PS. All the pictures apart from one or two here and there are taken by me. My 2nd passion, photography.

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe.

Christine x

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