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Friday, 3 October 2014

Misty Mornings And Powdery Mildew

I remember travelling across North America many years ago when a lady asked me, in a deep southern accent: "Is it really foggy in England?"
Well not all the time but I guess we have our fair share of it in the winter, but his time of year it's more misty mornings, hanging in the lower lying land. It does look beautiful.
An alright view to wake up to! I never get tired of seeing it!
 The season is still hanging on in there, I'm sure we'll have a frost soon to finish things off, but until then everything keep growing. 
As it gets damper and cooler things start to die off naturally anyway. My squash are now starting to get covered in powdery mildew, this looks almost like snow on the leaves up close. They've produced me a bumper harvest anyway and I can't wait until they die off so I can see how many there is! 
Powdery mildew I think

I love the colours of autumn and all the food that goes with it! These have just been collected around the edges of my patch!
We had our last lot of runner beans last night, and it won't be long until I cut down the tomato plants and chuck them on the compost heap, the peppers are nearly all ripe and I'll pickle the last of them next week. 
It's been an amazing year for growing in the UK, making up for many bad ones (2012 for one).

15 comments:

  1. Good harvest and stunning scenery :)

    Kev, you don't put the powdery mildew leaves on your compost, do you?

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    1. We can never really believe that's the view from the back of the house!
      I was planning on burning the leaves I thought.

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  2. Wow what a haul of squash. we only have 2! lol A waste of space in our garden. My BIL says the trick is planting the squash actually in the edge of the compost heap... he grows loads!

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    1. This is hardly any of them. I'd say there are over 30 others hidden in the leaves but I'll wait until the first frost to find out!

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  3. It a fantastic scene to wake to, we often see the mist laying in the valley its like living above the clouds.
    I am having a clear out of plants today, I love Autumn its the time to settle and get ready for winter

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    1. Yeah, I feel ready ready now to stop watering the greenhouses and wind down for winter. I do like the change of the seasons.

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  4. I put any infected material in the council collected bin, there system gets to a much higher heat than any domestic composting, thus destroying the disease, well most of it.
    The chickens get the seeds, although if I were successful in growing the bigger squash, I might save some of the seeds, roast them for myself!

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    1. Yeah I don't save the squash seeds as they cross pollinate too easily. Maybe I'll plant a couple and see what comes out!

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  5. Nice squash, haven't seen any like those around here. I usually wait until frost to start clearing the garden, some things get burnt if they are a real problem.

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    1. I always try to grow a few different types of squash, the flavour of some of these is so much better than the butternuts you find in the shops

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  6. Yes that's powdery mildew, but even yours looks prettier than mine and much whiter than our variety here. Mine just looked like a gray mold. I am amazed you leaves are still as green as they are with that sort of concentration of mold on them. Your haul of squash is fabulous. I only got three acorn's and they are only three inches across each. Definitely burn the plants. The stuff comes back even worse if you compost them.

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    1. I'll burn the plants. To be honest I harvested two massive squash off that plant a month ago and in the that time it's got covered with mildew but grow three more squash of a good size. I think I'm going to have to sell some squash this year as we're going to have so many!

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  7. Sounds like the title of a Country and Western song, Kev?

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    1. A slow song about a woman that left him on a misty morning. Don't worry though, he got tested and he's give her powdery mildew...

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  8. We are having lots of deep bands of mist in the mornings, across the valley they look magnificent. The lowest on our land are just a foot or so off the ground. I think the folk that are still camping in the campsite opposite must be mad, imagine opening your tents flaps to find that, you'd think you were in a real pea souper !!

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