A year in my Garden - Pumpkins and cucumbers

 

Well times yet again sped alongand here we are heading towards autumn at a rapid rate... After a few week of higher than normal temperatures, we finally received a few days of rain. And the countryside sighed in relief and soaked it up. 

 

The temperatures also dropped after a couple of days rain and we went from 30-33 degree heat (recorded at our local weather station just a couple hundred yards from where we live) down to 20-22 degrees which is great as far as i'm concerned ..... 

 The flower garden is happier for it all...The dahlias have grown noticibly and green up more and the blooms are bright and making for a much better looking front garden ....

But it has affected the vegetable garden .. Tomatoes seem to hate it - high temperatures seemed to cause flower drop...Its frustrating that whole stems of blossoms fail to take ... Not that we are without fruit altogether and will have plenty to eat and make chutneys etc. but certainly we could have had many more .... The heirloom tomatoes seem to be the worst hit ... .This sudden drop in temperature will no doubt have a similar affect .... Of all the tomatoes the Moneymaker and russian red varieties seem the less affected.. The rest have not fruited as they could have, should have .....

Sigh .......

Pumkins - Well we gave it a try growing large pumpkins ..two plants in a planter filled with compost and rotting manures etc .....

 

Both plants grew a single pumkin each ...which is what you want really for giant pumkin growing but I did expect a few more to set ...never happened ......One plant set forth a vine straight down the bank towards the house. Before we knew it a pumkin was set and we were unable to move it as it embedded itself amongst the grass and gorse and the vine set root as the vines are want to do ...... However we can now see it from the kitchen window and it aint small...I cant get to it and have no idea if its supported on the ledge that half way along the bank are if its still free hanging. If thats the case of course it cant keep that going for too much longer by the size of it ....

However the one we've nurtured has now reach 125 centimetres in circumference and in no risk of falling anywhere. Thats 50 Inches in Boomer metrics by the by :O)  I've never grown pumkins like this before so no idea how much more it can grow or how long it's got to keep growing ... It won't win any records but will be a good starting point for my own personal records over the following years .... 

 

 I'll never be happy with the green telegraph type cucumbers again ..Below are the heirloom cucumbers we grew ... DELICIOUS !!!! YUM... almost like a crisp melon ... We also grew some round 'apple' ones...My only critism would be the skins very tough ... but that won't be stopping us growing them again next season ...... Keen to flower and fruit no issue or problems with them .... and pretty large too :O) Now wheres a pickle cucumber recipe .....