Friday

Good morning, everyone.  It was awful hot again yesterday; it really was baking in the afternoon and I was glad to be able to sit and chill - or try to - with a book.

However, I managed to get about three hours done at the allotment and now most of the weeds have been dealt with (for now - I have no doubt they will fight back) and everything had a good watering.
The left-over tomato plants that ended up down there are really doing very well and have started changing colour at last.  They are mostly for Beth and Alex as I have plenty at home.  The mange touts are behaving weirdly, producing peas rather than flat pods.  I shelled some yesterday and they were very nice, but not what we expected.  Perhaps it is this weather we are having or it might be the type!

There are baby runners on the plants but a lot of the flowers have dropped.  I blame the heat here too as they don't get nearly as much water as the plants in the back garden.  There are beans growing but there should be more.  Ah, well, at least we don't need to worry about blight!  There's always a silver lining.

I dug around one of the failed asparagus plants to see if anything at all had happened below ground but no, not a sign of anything so new plants/crowns have been ordered for autumn planting this time.  Better luck this time.

Today I need to take the mower down and give the weeds on the grass a surprise!  The grass itself has curled up and gone into hibernation in this dry weather but those pesky weeds would take advantage of anything!  A good mow and strim will sort them out for a week or so and it shouldn't take too long either.  I'll give everything another good watering while I'm at it.

Back in the garden, I'm picking runners and tomatoes now.  There's some to pick this morning.
The blueberry has more or less finished but won't be pruned until next Feb or March.  Fortunately, there are video clips online that give instructions.

The tayberry has also finished.  Not much this year but better than nothing and there's good growth for next year  That will need pruning in the next few weeks so that this years fruiting stems are cut right back to the ground to make space for the new growth.

The autumn fruiting raspberry canes have a pleasing number of baby berries with more flowers coming.  Really good for a first year.  They won't get too invasive as they're in a large pot.

Remember earlier in the year I spoke about the plants in pots either side of the arbour - cordylines?  One of them had died, presumably killed by the severe cold we had.  I bought a couple of lavenders to replace them but didn't get round to it then.  Well, I went to that corner to pull some weeds that had dared show and, lo and behold, in the dead plant pot there was a resurrection - some baby cordyline leaves starting to grow.
Well, I'm a sucker for a plant fighting back (unless its a weed) so I shall have to find somewhere else for the lavender plants and will give the cordelines another go.   My garden is full of plants that didn't give up!

I shall be able to make my own sage and onion stuffing from now on.

Sometimes Amazon is too efficient.  I ordered something yesterday and selected delivery for Tuesday or Wednesday next week because I don't really want it to come earlier.  I got a message later on saying that it was dispatched and should be with me tomorrow.  < sigh >

It's a busy morning so I had better get on.  I may not be posting tomorrow or Sunday but should be back on Monday.  Have a super weekend.