Heat and Harvest

On Tuesday the temperature rose to 30C, too hot to do anything. It was over 20C from 7am in the morning when I had breakfast outside.

I have been catching up on weeding and also harvesting.

I should have weeded the herb beds when the weeds were small they are now entangled in the flowers.

Comfrey and chamomile

Dill and Calendula

I have started to harvest the garlic and the celery.

I have been told if you store celery in tinfoil it will keep it fresh

The cabbages are filling out at a steady pace and they make good coleslaw.

A large brute

The pumpkins have started to appear and have sent out long tendrils.

Give me sun and rain

The ornamental gourds are starting to grow.

Variegated

These are looking quite knobbly

The herbaceous border on the allotment is filling out with blooms.

Bonny colours

On a visit to Callendar there had been some wool bombing.

Wild child

Minion

A wooly thinker

I could tell you a yarn or two

Look at this strange fungus.

The frog

The crab

A beautiful mackerel sky.

Stunning

Wiped Out With Weeding

It has been a dry week with some very hot days reaching 26C. I have been rotating between my three gardens weeding mainly flower beds borders and paths as the weeds seem to grow at a faster rate than the flowers.  Elderflower and wild rose dominate the hedgerows. It is time now to make my elderflower cordial.

On Monday I made some Seville orange marmalade.

Tangy and delicious

The grass is growing at a vast rate and the farmers are making silage.

Field grass cut and left to dry

Baled silage

The white daisies and the calendula are looking at their best.

A sign of summer

Foxgloves come in many different shades. There are plenty self seeded young plants from last year in the Artful Garden that will mature next year.

Foxgloves around the summer house

The Victorian plum tree has a bountiful supply of unripe plums. Last year we had no plums.

Looking good

The gooseberries are almost ripe.

To celebrate the European Championships there is bunting in the Artful Garden.

Patriotic bunting

Bobby Barley has a new football.

Guess which team I am supporting?

I have decorated some large cans and used them as planters.

It's amazing what you Can do

A little wooden music man has appeared in the stone sink near the gate.

Toot, toot

Wool bombing is surrounding the large apple tree in the orchard.

Pom pom bomb bomb

My first vegetable harvest.

A Greyhound cabbage