By Pete Langford, lead singer and founder of the Barron Knights
Plums…plums…plums…..never had such a massive harvest……wasps….wasps….wasps ..never seen so many over the plums.
When I dare go to pick a bowl ful, I wear a hat that goes over my eyes and glasses for safety. I must say the taste at breakfast, lunch and dinner is ‘bery‘ nice cos plums are part of all meals at the moment.
Even the apples seem to have ripened early. The cookers are massive and the Cox’s are so beautiful and sweet.
We look over a field with a few horses enjoying the grass and when I stand by the fence with apples in my hand they soon come up and demand. If I give them a bruised Cox’s, they eat them without a problem, and the juices drip down their big lips, but when I give them a cooker, they drop it on the ground, bang it with their hooves, eat it in bits: so they sure do know the difference when it’s a cooker.
It’s the time of the year when things need to be picked and dug. I have had the best year for tomatoes; Tigress have been plentiful, and I’m so pleased because I used garden soil with a few bits of compost in 3/4 big pots and the success rate is as good as I have ever had.
I always make the mistake of planting too many lettuce and cabbage, so the folks who live close by, as well as the pub, have been kindly accepting my produce. I think I will be digging carrots at Christmas unless we make loads of carrot soup.
Our runner beans came early so we are picking them daily, or they get too stringy to enjoy.
I think Autumn is coming early because some of our shrubs are turning brown now, and the trees surrounding the horses are looking like they are ready to turn.
My wife and I love the Autumn, as the colours are just so wonderful, and I wish I had the talent to paint them.
I’ve been trimming my hedges over the past three days and got soaked every time but I decided to crack on. As I write this I was hoping, once I finished my report, to get out and trim a bit more, but it’s pouring, so I will look out of the window and enjoy the colours of the massive amount of Dahlias, Cornflowers and Cosmos.”
Cheers, Happy Gardening…. Pete