Shorn lambs

Mistle thrushes rattled their call from the oaks this morning when I walked.

Potato Leaf and Alicante variety tomatoes

At home, a heron lumbered from George’s Pond over the trees.

Tomatoes are finishing and so time to defoliate the plants, leaving ripening fruit with more air and light and all the energies of the plant. As the fruits begin to ripen we remove them to complete their ripening on the kitchen workbench. They march silently towards the edge. The stalks of the plants stand bare like recently-shorn lambs.

Our current total of harvested tomatoes is 12kg within 152 kg (23 stones 13 lbs or 335 pounds) of vegetables so far.

Growing tips have been removed from squash so that their energies aren’t wasted on fruitless growth.

Juvenile smooth nest - or efts.

Under dark refuges smooth newt efts curl. The Froglife charity recently reminded us that they have the ability to regenerate limbs, eyes, spinal cords, hearts, intestines, and upper and lower jaws.