19th August - The ducks test out the pond.

The ducks have been at school for over a week now, we thought they may be used to their surroundings enough to let them out in the garden.  They were a bit reluctant to leave their run at first, but seemed to enjoy exploring the garden.

The ducks eventually found the pond, and after working out how to get in (as it has raised sides) they had a great time swimming and splashing around.

We spotted the first butternut squash growing in the poly-tunnel.

Sweetcorn growing outside in one of the raised beds.

Some of the sweetcorn forming on the plant.

Some of our outdoor tomatoes.

We picked some of the outdoor tomatoes to use in a chutney recipe.

More produce from the garden - the cucumber plants have produced loads of cucumbers.

A pepper ripening in the poly-tunnel.

Aubergines growing in the poly-tunnel.

A frog and an Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

We have loads of sweet peas in the garden at the moment, they smell lovely, and I'm sure the more you pick the more they flower?

Daffy and Daisy are settling in well - we hope to let them have the full range of the garden next week.

Our small greenhouse is looking good, we have a variety of tomatoes growing - red, yellow and a stripey variety.

A different view of the fantastic wildflower meadow.

Our wildflower raised bed, a lot of the flowers are now going to seed, we will try and collect the seed so that we can use it next year.

A tin full of poppy heads, which we will dry before collecting the seed.

Seedlings in the small greenhouse

The seedlings will be planted out in our raised beds or in the poly-tunnel later on in the year.

Blackcurrants picked today, there are not many this year as we moved the bushes late in the spring - hopefully we will get more next year.

Our hens are getting lots of greens from the garden at the moment.  All the leafy weed picked out of the garden are given to the hens to pick over and scratch about in.

We found a frog in the garden today - it wasn't in the pond but underneath some long grass near the pumpkins.

We found this caterpillar today, apparently it is an Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar.

I found this picture on the RHS website to show what it will look like as a moth.  All the long grasses we have in the garden must be encouraging moths to our garden?

Some of the produce we picked from the garden today, purple beans and cucumbers.  More cucumber pickles.............

Cucumber pickles.

We are trying to keep as much produce from the garden for the students to harvest themselves when they return to school next month.  This is not possible for some things like tomatoes and cucumbers, we are freezing the tomatoes and turning the cucumbers into pickles which we will use at a fund-raising event in the future or sell at one of our produce stalls.

9 cucumbers from the garden were peeled and thinly sliced, they were layered in a large bowl with some salt to draw out some of the moisture - this should make the pickles nice and crunchy.

Sugar, vinegar, mustard seeds, pickling spice, some ground turmeric and one of our chillies were all boiled in a pan for a couple of minutes.

The salted cucumbers were rinsed a few times in cold water, drained and then packed into clean, sterilised jars.  A clove of garlic was put into the bottom of each jar along with some of the spices from the pickling liquid.

Cucumber pickles - should be ready for eating in 6-8 weeks.

August in the garden

After the long spell of good weather everything in the garden is growing well.  Our wildflowers are all in bloom and some have grown almost as tall as our young fruit trees.

Our friends at Shiremoor Allotment Association have been very busy making our duck house fit for a couple of ducks which should move in later in the week.  A run has been constructed for them while they get used to their new home.

The poly-tunnel is looking fantastic - hard the believe it was a bare soil plot just weeks ago.

One of our sunflowers, its head is about the size of a dinner plate.

More of our sunflowers, some are over 5ft tall so far.

The sweetcorn is looking good so far.

Celariac growing in our raised bed.

Peas, which are just about ready to be picked.

One of our flower tires.

Our fantastic wildflower meadow.

Chillies growing in the poly-tunnel.

Cucumbers and gherkins growing in the poly-tunnel.

Aubergines

More chili peppers

Gherkins

Sweet peppers

Melons

Some of the produce from the garden which we harvested today.  The tomatoes are all being frozen so that the students can use them when we return to school in September.  The cucumbers will be made into pickles.

Some signs of life from our new Asparagus bed.

Some of the pumpkins we discovered in the garden today, while we were doing a bit of weeding.