Summertime.....

......and the weather is lousy. London in July has been a right washout. I can normally cope with a bit of rain, but this last month has really got me down. I was about to leave my place and go to the allotment yesterday when the skies opened. My bicycle panniers were packed and ready to go with all the necessary accoutrements - my hand tools, a flask of herbal tea and a small piece of cake. Once again it had to be postponed at the last minute. I got up there later on but only stayed for a couple of hours. The problem is that this keeps happening and is thoroughly uninspiring to me in every way, and as a vegetable gardener has resulted in much frustration and very few blog posts.
Oh well, since there’s little to do about it I take this chance to catch up here and post some of the relatively few pictures I’ve been able to take this July.

Of course it’s not all bad news – there’s plenty of food to take home at each visit. I’ve now lifted all the Pentland Javelin first early potatoes and the hopper is full. They are floury and delicious.

As are the beets, which get just keep growing larger.

This is pumpkin Marina di Chioggia. See how the rain has swelled the fruit over about 10 days.

And these are courgettes over the same time period, from plant to plate. Each fruit made 4 good portions of courgette-based ratatouille!

The first butternut squash fruit has formed. I had bad luck with these last year after the rain rotted them on the plants before they had a chance to grow large, which is another reason I need MORE SUN please!

Italian brassicas - Romano cauliflower and cavolo nero, doing great.

Dwarf beans, starting to crop.

I lifted half the garlic last week after the leaves started looking extremely rusty. The crop is OK – not great, not terrible, but OK. I lifted the remaining half yesterday, which is much the same.

The crocosmia is in flower for the first time in years, and this is truly a joy.

More to come. Pray for sun.


Love Sun (please may we have more?!)
Love Life
XXX