Saturday 28 July 2007

After another two weeks of rain finally a dry and sunny day so I've been able to dig up the remainder of the early potatoes and get them dry enough to bag up and bring inside. The wind and torrential rain of July 20th brought down the sweet peas but at least we're not under three feet of water like most of Gloucestershire. The carnations are struggling to bud up in this weather but the snapdragons and cosmos are flowering well and my few surviving dahlias have had their first blooms. Plenty to eat too: courgettes, peas, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, spring onions and the first cabbages, cauliflowers, runner beans and "autumn" raspberries. What I really fancy is some cake but I guess I'll have to go buy that.

Brassicas

Carrots

First cauliflower

Cosmos

Dahlia

Early potatoes harvested

Peas

"Early Onward"

"Onward"

Snapdragons

Saturday 21 July 2007

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Some sunshine at last

Finally a bit of sunshine this last week after the weeks of rain. You probably don't need reminding we had the wettest June on record. Growth had really slowed down on many crops because of the low temperatures and lack of sun but this last week they've put on a spurt. In fact some crops did well in the wet weather - the sweet peas and courgettes thrived in it. Not so the cabbages although they seem to be holding their own against the slugs and are starting to fill out.

I'm picking peas at last and look like being in for a bumper crop, the first tomatoes too. The early potatoes are still yielding in record quantities with no sign of wireworm and the carrots are also coming out clean.

The raspberries are about over, they didn't mind the wet either and produced the biggest fruit I've ever had; the gooseberries are in full flow now, so all in all I've got no excuse for not getting my five a day!

I've been picking armfuls of sweet peas and the cosmos plants are bushing out nicely. The carnations are coming along well and the snapdragons are blooming now, although the plants are a bit on the small side after their slow start it's nice to see a bit of colour on the plot.

Cabbages

Courgettes

Runner beans, peas and cosmos

Sprouts

First tomatoes

Sunday 8 July 2007