Early July Update

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July came in very dramatically here in the UK. 30th June and 1st July were both very hot days – especially Wednesday 1st July, which was a record-breaker. Here in Fleet the temperature reached over 35C. This is in stark contrast to the generally cold, dull, windy weather of which we have had so much this year. Our poor plants will be even further confused!

My chillis will enjoy the extra heat though. Many of them are producing flowers now, like this “Brazilian Starfish”:

The Broad Beans are maturing rapidly, and I have picked a few batches. These ones are “Imperial Green Longpod”, whose beans are bright green.

The Runner Beans have mostly reached the tops of their canes, and are now producing flowers, so hopefully I will be harvesting beans before the end of this month.

Lots of the tomato plants are setting fruit now. This one is “Maskotka”.

I am very anxious about my tomatoes this year, after last year’s disaster with the contaminated compost. So far everything looks OK, except for the fact that many of the upper leaves are tightly curled inwards. I attribute this to weather conditions, but I may be wrong. Several of my gardening contacts have reported the same issue.

I have lifted quite a few of my potatoes, which has freed-up a few pots, enabling me to plant the remaining Sarpo seed potato tubers. They are very keen to catch up with their siblings and popped up through the compost in just a few days. This one is “Kifli”.

The successional sowing of Lettuces is going well still. We have eaten several of the mature ones, and more seedlings are awaiting their turn to be planted whenever a space become available.

I had a look at the Carrots and Beetroot, but neither of them is ready yet. They are doing fine, but I just need to be patient.

I have lots of flowers in bloom now. The Hydrangea is colouring-up very rapidly and is going to be a deep pink this year:

Elsewhere, the “Summer” colours are beginning to appear. My “Flighty’s Favourites” Calendulas are already putting on an impressive display. Last Autumn I scattered some of their seeds into the borders, so I have some there as well as in pots:

This is one of the French Marigolds that I bought on Fleet market.

The first flowers are opening on the Coreopsis and red Geranium too:

Not very impressive just yet, but once they get going these plants will soon be covered in flowers.

This is another one I am eagerly awaiting — Dahlia “Bishop of Llandaff”, whose first bud is just showing a bit of red.

As you can see therefore, the garden is filling-out very rapidly!

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