I haven't seen  many wasps this year? Have you? 
Apparently, there aren't as many as usual....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c134621devzoaround

Can anyone tell me what this says please?

    I’ve got purple, I’ve got pink flowers , I’ve go to 60cm . The rest I need help with please.

It’s one of these      .

You know by now my Honeymoon tomatoes were afflicted by BER.  Looking online it seems its a physiological problem where the plant cannot take in sifficient calcium probably due to erratic watering.

Here's the question, probably for TMTT.  I'm on alkaline soil but not chalky, more flinty.  Would it be any use to incorporate some calcium carbonate into the soil or when watering? Or is it just a question of monitoring the water more carefully?

   

Your August Butterfly spotting Challenge is here.

I saw a Gatekeeper yesterday - wonder if its still in the GH?

I've acquired a number of empty spice jars - the ones with holes in the lids to shake the spices or herbs out. 
What do you think of using them for sowing small seeds? 
I have difficulty sowing seeds thinly, certainly can't sow them in a row, its not in my nature.   Tomorrow I will experiment. 

I'm sure these jars have other uses too. Let me know if you think of any, please.

"Growing Solo" is a 5 episode radio programme about a small scale farmer in Somerset with 5 acres who aims to provide all his own food and drink for a year from his farm. The only thing he allows himself to buy is Salt. He even grows a patch of wheat to make his own bread. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yhhz

Its an interesting programme but a little unrealistic for most of us. First, he has 5 acres, half of which is a vineyard. He also has a cow to provide for his dairy needs (and a calf for meat), plus chickens and turkeys. Nonetheless, I enjoyed listening to it, the highs and lows and the reality of trying to be totally self sufficient in food.

Hopefully you’ll be able to follow my thinking! So you can help.

I have these      5m long 31cm wide. The plan is to keep them full length. cut them in half length ways (not all of them, som have other jobs). Use them as sheltered , slightly raised beds between my tunnels. If you can imagine the hosepipe in the next photo is the sides of my tunnels. I can make the gap between tunnels bigger if needed. The more I do that the least space I have for normal raised beds the other side.
    I have lots of these cradles for them to sit in. My first plan was to cut the cradles at the red lines and have a small pyramid type arrangement. With top cradle sitting on top of the bottom pipe beds. As the cradle is only 6cm wide I wouldn’t lose much growing space. Also the pipes once cut in half and are in the cradle sit 6cm higher          . Hopefully these 2 photo helps paint that picture, but possibly not. My next thought was is that top pipe going to shade the bottom ones too much? 
Considered a teared style not sure how to construct that. One thing I probably should have mentioned sooner is, it’s all very heavy! Before compost gets involved. Also considered use 2 at the same level. 

I have these other bits available in the construction if you can come up with anything.
          Unfortunately all the small pipe has been cut down to about 2m lengths

Any ideas, suggestions? Would be great. My brain is starting to hurt!

In the summer my garden shoes are the cheapest children's black canvas gym shoes. P and I are both of southern descent but he calls them plimsolls and I call them daps. He didn't understand what daps were.

Anyone else know what daps are?

I think it may have come from he name Dunlop Athletic Plimsolls.

Years ago, I used to make tofu from soya beans. It was such hard work, grinding the beans to grits, cooking them, curdling the liquid, straining the curds from the whey and pressing the curds. 
Recently I've been reading about making "tofu" from other beans and lentils. Tonight, a recipe for Burmese tofu dropped in my inbox and this seems far simpler - it doesn't start with beans but with bean, pea or chickpea flour. https://hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/recipes/burmese-tofu

I have some Marrowfat pea flour (use by 30/9/22 !!) so not much to lose if it doesn't work. The flour and water batter is sitting in a jug overnight, fermenting, and tomorrow I'll add more water & salt and cook it up.  I hope its a success as I have more pea flour to use up.

Honeymoon is a new tomato to me.  This one fell off the truss in a fit of pique. I'm hoping it will ripen up eventually in the fruit bowl with the apples and bananas.  I intend to improvise a sling for the remaining ones.