Tuesday 21st July 2026 - Warmer, Jellyfish, Pruning, Millet and Puddles

While most parts of England, have been basking in the sun and enjoying warmth, for several days now, we’ve only seen glimpses of the sun and the temperatures have been struggling to get near to twenty centigrade.  It’s been a different case further south, where our family live in Bucks.  We had a video link up with them on Saturday when they were having a get together and a BBQ to celebrate our youngest son’s birthday.  Photos followed of them sat outside under an awning, where they were able to keep cool whilst they ate.

We went down on the beach on Sunday morning with the intentions of doing a beach clean.  There were so many large flints at the back, where rubbish tends to accumulate, we had to abort and walk down onto the sands.  Here there were a couple of moon jellyfish washed up, see photo below.  We will have to wait for some southerly winds, which will help rebuild the beach with sand, before we venture again to do a beach clean. 

It’s the time of year to prune stone fruit trees so, on Sunday I took advantage of the cloudy skies to prune our greengage.  Loppers in hand to tackle this year’s high growth it made it easier looking up into cloud rather than bright sunshine.  Despite standing back in the garden to see if I’d trimmed the top fully, it wasn’t until I viewed from our conservatory when I saw I missed a couple of pieces.  I rectified this yesterday and also gave the apple a summer prune.  With both trees pruned, the sun, when it makes an appearance, will aid the fruit to ripen.  The bay tree has got out of hand.  Each year we give it a trim but this year it has put on a growth spurt.  Peter was able to open the lid on the garden store, adjacent to the bay, but due to the new growth it wouldn’t shut.  I hacked (no better word for it than that) away a portion which has left an unsightly gap in the tree.  The bay was already ‘on the list’ to seriously cut back this winter, in the meantime, we’ll have to put up with the gap.

Yesterday it warmed up.  Housework done in the morning, we took a walk up towards Northrepps in the afternoon.  On a field edge there was a band of plants I didn’t recognise.  I used my Flora Incognita app on my phone which identified the plants as millet, see photo below. I remember having sprays of millet for the budgerigar I had as a child.  However, looking online, I discovered it is also a food consumed by humans, particularly in developing parts of the world.  It has numerous health benefits and being gluten free, ideal for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivities.  I think where it’s currently growing it will provide food for local seed eating birds.

A surprise this morning, damp grass and puddles out in the road.  A neighbour told me, it was raining at four thirty this morning and it was still doing so when we got up at six.  I doubt if there was sufficient to top up the water butts but I will check later.