July

Phew what a scorcher. It ain't half hot mum. Etc, etc. Plenty to eat from the plot as per - peas and French beans, cabbages and kale, tomatoes, strawberries and raspberries, rocket, carrots and new potatoes...I've posted dozens of pics of these in previous years but in case you've forgotten what they look like here's a couple more:

 Some peas

A cabbage patch

Hottest summer for a long time. So many butterflies on my plot today - battalions of whites, 100+ gatekeepers, 50+ tortoiseshells - so it's just as well there's plenty of nectar for them: my buddleia is only just coming out so the tortoiseshells have been favouring the scabious and the perennial wallflower whilst the gatekeepers have mainly been going for the marjoram and the whites have been monopolising the verbena bonariensis.

 Small tortoiseshell on cultivated field scabious...

 ...underwing view...

...so many to choose from!

Gatekeeper on marjoram...

...and a large white on verbena bonariensis.

Cabbages

On to the next patch now; it's a miracle these have survived this year with all the pests they've had to deal with. They might look pretty ropey but have good hearts - a bit like some allotment gardeners.

Cabbages planted out

Greens

The sudden high temperatures in March forced the spring cabbage to bolt and start going to seed:

Luckily I've plenty of perennial broccoli:

And one surviving spinach plant:

And Chinese mustard:

Hawthorn shoots make a tasty nibble too:

Second pickings

It's always satisfying to get two crops of the same piece of ground. I sowed this row of late summer cabbages where I'd cropped the early peas.

Brassicas

For the winter - sprouts and broccoli:



For the autumn - hispi cabbages:

Brassicas

I gave the ropey looking summer cabbage I was going to pull out a reprieve - just as well as it's managed to shake off the attention of the flea beetles and grow away nicely. The sprouts and broccoli are doing alright too.

I'm still eating spring cabbage, it's nearly over but has kept me in greens for weeks now; I've some kale to fill the gap before the summer ones are ready.

Cabbaged

The spring cabbage I sowed last August is doing nicely and providing me with plenty of greens...


...which is just as well because the summer cabbages aren't doing well at all. The dry weather has left them stressed and so vulnerable to pests. This lot are being attacked by flea beetles; they'll never make decent plants and will have to come out.

Sowing time

Sowing lots of seeds this weekend, here's some I did earlier:

Cabbages

Peas

Summer cabbages

Manky cabbages

My first patch of summer cabbages is doing very nicely and has been feeding me for a couple of weeks now. However this second lot, which were planted out in the middle of June, didn't like the stress of the dry weather one bit and have succumbed to every pest and disease going. Needless to say most of them are now in the compost bin.

Brassicas

Greyhound cabbages at the front almost ready for cropping; brussels sprouts at the rear:

Cabbage

Durham Early:

Cabbages

A few more planted out:

Brassicas

Growing away nicely:

Spring cabbage

Nearly ready:

Cabbages

The first patch planted out:

Autumn greens

Spinach, the last of the primo cabbages and pak choi:

More autumn greens

Primo cabbage:

Greyhound cabbage

I'm steaming through these now. Cabbage - steaming - geddit? Oh please yourselves.