A Life in Pictures

Whoa! The damsons are in. We have a single scraggy damson Prunus domestica tree on a ditch in the fields across the lane. Recently we make jam from the fruit. 03Sep24 picked 1.15kg; 07Sep25 picked 0.85kg. The shortfall was partly due to fruit-fall and bird-attack, I conclude that timing is important: the fruit are pucker-up sour in August but compost by mid-September. Blossoms appeared this May. On foot of a phone-call from Dau.II, I lugged the ladder across the lane on 04Sep26 and picked a record 2.5kg of fruit [top L]; discarding A Lot blighted by brown rot Monilinia fructigena. In the Spring, our friend-and-neighbour La Torbellina delivered a tray of very miscellaneous tomato and squash seedlings; not more than two of any variety. I carefully trans-planted them all: outside and in the polytunnel in a hope for the best fashion. I also started a variety of beans. It's been one of those years when it hardly seems worth the effort; the beans came late and grew scraggy and had a very…