Wednesday 21st October 2026 - Thief, Bags and The Last Ones

We’ve had a thief in the garden!  Furry with a bushy tail, a squirrel has been pilfering our walnuts.  I’ve chased it off, three times.  The last time, it was sat on the fence with a walnut in its mouth.  After I’d given it a good scolding, totally unphased it disappeared into a neighbour’s garden. Last year we had forty-one walnuts, this year just eighteen have fallen from the tree and there doesn’t look to be any more to come.  Are the reduced numbers down to the lack of rainfall this summer, or the thieving squirrel?  Thinking ahead to coming years, Peter asked me how long squirrels live for?  My response was, ‘not long if I get hold of it’.  Be assured; I was only joking.

We’re totally impressed with the Charlotte seed potatoes we purchased in July, from JD Planting in Roughton.  Peter planted them in potato bags and within no time at all, foliage was showing above the compost.  Since then, Peter has topped up the bags with more compost.  They are now top heavy with stems and leaves but is it all top growth?   To find out, last week, Peter took one of the bags, planted with just one seed potato, and emptied it to see what the yield was.  Considering these are supposed to be ready for Christmas, what he found came as a surprise, there was enough for us for three meals.  Since then, Peter’s emptied a second bag, again with just one seed potato, which had even better results; it yielded 1.1kgs/2.4lbs.  Cooked simply, boiled and then tossed in butter, they are flavoursome.

Still on the subject of garden vegetables, the main row of runner beans had pretty well stopped producing early September.  However, the wigwam supporting the left-over plants, which were not needed for the main row, continued to provide us with beans.  These have only just stopped producing and we both feel this has been the latest in the year we’ve ever had runner beans to eat; a real bonus.  The French beans still give us a few beans but these too are pretty well at an end.  Overall, it’s been a good season for beans, along with other summer produce from Peter’s plot.

As for me, I’ve consigned the tomato plants in the greenhouse to the composter and started moving tender plants in pots inside, ahead of winter.  The blackcurrant bushes are planted as are the spring bulbs, with just the tulips to plant in November.   As well as this, there’s been plenty of leaves to rake and sweep up, after the winds died down.

Work has been progressing on the sea wall.  The photo below was taken on the fifteenth of this month.  This shows cement being poured into the void, (after the sand etc. had been removed by suction) between the sea wall and the piles.