Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

If you like a good variety of pollinators (good for your veg crops too!) Hover Flies love Achillea Millefolium (yellow yarrow)

foxgloves

Thanks @Suffolk_lass - I know that plant. I had it at my old house. I've currently only got lilac Achillea which has seeded into the lawn & anywhere it can get a toe-hold. I'm.not sure I like it as much as the yellow one. I remember that they used to dry well too, providing a free vase of flowers throughout winter. I'm sure some of the bees on our cosmos (Variety = Double Dutch Rose') & echium this morning were honey bees. Everything was a-buzz, anyway..
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Suffolk_lass

Harvested some plums the day before yesterday - we had to. The wasps were tucking in and so we intervened. I actually watered the raspberries too, in an effort to get them to fruit properly. Inspired by the raspberries picking up, we took the spray nozzle off the hose and gave 7/10 of the raised beds a 5-minute soak each and it was amazing how everything is growing again. The water butt by the greenhouse has been refilled (by the hose, but it stands for a few days and) it is used by watering cans being dipped. I think it is the pragmatic way to water, just using the hose to decant and we do not have a ban here (yet). So the hose is a pragmatic alternative to getting a further tap installed

I really need to bottle some plums but after using my sugar stash to feed the bees I don't have enough to do them all. I may need to stone the ripe ones and freeze them for a week or some, until I shop for sugar.

I also went foraging and came back with five lovely windfall apples, a ziplock bag of small green plums and two punnets of blackberries (already in the freezer)

No spend on groceries this week but I have a list... and no eggs are coming today as the chooks don't like the hot weather. Just milk. And that was already in the fridge when I got up at 05.30...DH mumbled to that effect, meaning he either got up or was already up when the milkman delivered. I have no idea when that was, dead to the world, me, as I knew I had lots to do today.

I have just made enough coleslaw for a party my local friend is having for 40-50 people, including us. Next I will prep tomatoes and courgettes (I was gifted 4/5 last night as I walked back from the foraging field) for the veg freezer, and at 10.00 I need to go and pick up the bee feed I have ordered from the County Association. Then a bit of R&R (I should finish four sewing projects, two repairs, two taking in elastic waistbands) until the party from 4pm. DS is due by then to dog-sit this evening. I hope I can stay the course, I might need a nap!

I need to do a Boots order now while I finish my coffee

trix-a-belle

Your to do list tires me out so I don't blame you if you have a nap

I went round the lanes here yesterday to see what the blackberries are doing as the bush in my garden is almost done, in the lanes there were hardly any ripe, tonnes still green & what was ripe was being mobbed by wasps so I only came back with a very small amount. I'm hoping I find a source for cooking apples this year so I can fill the freezer for impromptu crumbles & pies

Suffolk_lass

I've got four five sources for cooking apples this year, with two more neighbours offering some at the party we attended last night. I prep and freeze, and bottle these. With the quantity of tomatoes I now have, if I am to preserve plums and apples too I might need some more Kilner jars. This time I will keep the box so I have somewhere to store them other than two deep in the wine rack slots!

Blimey, nearly £30 for 12!

Suffolk_lass

I have been struggling since mid July to catch up on some much loved diaries on here. SO today I am giving myself permission not to. I do notice KC is missing at the moment and if she sees this, she is very much on my thoughts x

Money is dead now, with the bills account about £80 short of where it needs to be and the shopping account needing just over £200 to stay in the black. The EF is under £1000 after several raiding parties this year. I am itching for my RS to mature and boost all three. DH has a CC that is just under £400 that will clear next Monday. It is touch and go whether the matured account is there in time. I may have to further deplete the bills account (which is the destination for the maturing cash) as that has nothing else this month but £300 of bills before my occupational pension hits the account.

Just going to keep picking, prepping, freezing and bottling produce.

I think we will treat our bees (for varroa, that is endemic in the UK) and then feed them this week too.

foxgloves

I'm with you on the picking, prepping, etc. I don't do bottling (I probably should) but there will be brining for pickling this afternoon & more chutney this week too. I'm like a squirrel this time of year, getting tasty jars into the pantry for the winter months (& festive gifts) & batch-cooking our produce into meals for the freezer.
Busy time for fruit & veg growers, & I'm doing more seed collecting this year too.
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Suffolk_lass

I forage too. Came back from the dog walk with another bag of blackberries and four large apples. Leaving plenty for others but topping up our supplies.

You definitely need to get into bottling @foxgloves, just think of all the freezer space it will free up. They taste really good with all the flavour locked in. I have around 15 jars of stoned plums and gages now. We will have them as fruit with yogurt or custard for desserts and on porridge for a winter vitamin boost. Or just as stewed fruit. Delicious!

foxgloves

You're right, @Suffolk_lass, I must get all my preserving books out & have another look at the home bottling process. We have a walk-in pantry & there is usually more potential space in there than in the freezers. I'm just a bit concerned I won't do it right & will end up with food poisoning. I don't know why, as I've been successfully jam-making since the age of 12 & also make marmalade, sweet & savoury jellies, chutney, pickles, fruit vinegars, etc. An elderly local Labour party comrade with an allotment, who grew lots of fruit, once offered to teach me over at her house, in return for a bag of pears. I declined in favour of continued freezing, but I wish I'd accepted the offer now, esp as it's a person I no longer see. 
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foxgloves

P.S I love doing a bit of foraging....often for making hedgerow jelly. I'd like some elderberries this year for making elderberry vinegar. I like a dash of that in stews & it's good for sore throats too.
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