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

Cropping peas

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

Sweet peas

A couple of weeks on and we certainly can't complain about not having had enough rain. More a case of now it's started it doesn't know when to stop. The pests have also been enjoying the hot muggy weather: the young cabbage plants I bought in turned out to be infected with flea beetle. I kept them well watered (the only recommended treatment) and most of them seem to be pulling away now. The rest of the brassicas are doing fine but the onions have been affected by white rot and have been keeling over one after another. Another disappointment has been the Canadian clover I sowed as a green manure. It germinated fine but then just faded away - I'll stick to indigenous varieties in future.

The early potatoes are cropping now as are the courgettes; the first row of peas are nearly ready and I've also been pulling the first baby carrots. In the fruit department the strawberries are still going and I've now got plenty of jam - thanks Pauline! Right on cue the first raspberries and gooseberries are ready for picking too. In the greenhouse the tomato plants are looking healthy and the bunches of grapes continue to form nicely - I'm really looking forward to them.

The carnations and snapdragons are planted out now so there's some colour to look forward to. I'd hoped the dahlias I grew last year would have come through the mild winter but it wasn't to be with only a couple of plants surviving. I've planted some gladioli bulbs instead and left a few opium poppies where they've seeded themselves to fill the gaps.

It's satisfying to see all the work done in spring paying off. The icing on the cake has been picking the first bunch of sweet peas.

Cabbages

Potatoes