Big Green

Large gnarled beefsteak tomatoes need a few more weeks of sunshine to ripen and the plants need tying up to prevent them from collapsing.

Malus Domestica

Cox's Orange Pippin: Probably should have thinned the fruit out and watered more during the hot dry spells. Many of the branches are weighed down amongst the gooseberry bushes which could do with a prune now. Cox's are particularly susceptible to scab, mildew and canker and these ones are also susceptible to being nicked by passers-by.

orangepippin.com

Fruits of labour

 

So hot recently that crops and seedlings need a daily watering.

 

It's been a good year for gherkins, if watered regularly.

 Courgette plants are particularly hungry and thirsty.

First Runners

                                First crop of runner beans.

Hotter than July

 

 

Successional

A second sowing of climbing beans to replace those recently harvested.

Beanfeast

Redambergreen

Lots of redcurrants and gooseberries to harvest and the first of the cherry tomatoes.

Tassels No Hassle

Sweetcorn pollinated, white tassels and thin, thirsty cobs. The beans and squash amongst them have grown well.

Daucus carota

 

 Haven't seen a carrot look like this before; left in the ground from last year overwinter, it's put on a lot of growth above ground this year and is now in flower.

Potato Salad

 

                                    Just add mayonnaise

Soft fruit relay

As the strawberry season comes to an end there are blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries to harvest.

Trap crop

Flea beatles munch on radish leaves but leave the crop unaffected and are distracted from other crops.

Herbal essentials

                       Dill, parsley and coriander liking the hot weather.

Peas up

Dolphin's back

Delphinium: modern Latin, from Greek delphinion ‘larkspur’, from delphin ‘dolphin’ (because of the shape of the spur, thought to resemble a dolphin's back

Petroselinum crispum

500 a day

The start of the strawberry harvest; expecting to pick around 500 grams a day for the next two weeks.

Six of the best

 

Decorative and / or useful early spring flowers; bluebells, apple blossom, broad bean, angelica, tulip and comfrey.

Leek and potato