Catching up

After some pretty hot weather there has been the usual thundery breakdown and a few days with a fair amount of rain. Today is warm (forecast to be hot later) but the ground is very damp, so great for plants to grow. Decent rain is so much more effective at watering than I can be and it is much less work.

I have tried to tame the grass that grows in from the borders under the fence. Mixed in with it is still some bind weed too. I have resorted to carefully spraying the bindweed with Glyphosate weed killer in the hope of at least keeping it in check.

I took a few phone-photos (i.e. badly framed, badly lit and out of focus) to show some progress.

Courgettes are doing well. As always, if they get some sun and water they produce masses of fruit which I like to take when they are quite small. If left they will turn into marrows and the plant will produce a few large ones. If picked they produce loads of smaller ones.

 The runner beans are flowering and the first beans are growing. They grow very quickly so they need monitoring often to pick them at their best. If the pods get too long they often become stringy and the skins get too hard. I'm hoping to get lots of these beans this year.

 The spinach is a disappointment. I have taken a little to eat, which was very tasty, but the hot weather has made it bolt, which means the leaves lose all of their flavour.






 The mange-touts have been good so far and the rain will boost them some more.  There are two varieties and one produces fatter pods which may not be intended to be mange-tout, but they all taste great so I'm happy with them.

Gooseberries are in full flow now. The raspberries have almost finished, black currants are past their peak and now gooseberries takeover as the amazing torrent of lovely soft fruit continues. Surely the best year for fruit for a long time. These gooseberries are the so-called desert variety, so they turn purple when they are ripe. This makes it much easier to know when to pick them compared to green goosegogs. They are almost hairless, a bit sweeter than green varieties but they still have vicious thorns which need to be grappled with when picking the berries. They are worth it though.

Happy Yorkshire Day.