Goodbye Summer

Well, there it goes, a lovely sunny summer, for a change! I really noticed a seasonal difference yesterday, waking up for work and it was still dark. Time to dig out the woolly jumpers.

It has been a real mixed bag in the garden this year. Due to the dry weather a number of my perennials have really suffered and I even resorted to getting the hose out a few times. My Rudbeckias (Black Eyed Susan) have had a tough time, even though they are well established, they really cannot take long dry periods and have hardly flowered. I lost at least two Echinacea (Coneflower), even in this dry weather I still get plenty of slugs and snails and these plants seem to be most popular. On the positive side, the Clematis have done really well, full of flowers.

 

 

Clematis vitecella 'Polish Spirit'

Clematis 'Fascination'

In the veg garden I've had great success with beetroot, I've grown Bolthardy this year so given the dry weather I think that turned out to be a good choice. Also done well are climbing french beans, broad beans, courgettes - especially the yellow one 'Jenner' and even some florence (bulb) fennel.

The fennel is less likely to bolt if seed sown in situ. Unfortunately, some seedlings were eaten, so I grew a few in cells and planted them out when big enough to handle, these were the ones that bolted.

We have a small, homemade greenhouse which is full of tomatoes, basil, a couple of bell peppers and a cucumber donated by a friend. This one plant has already given us 3 large cucumbers.

The veg that dissappointed were the Charlotte potatoes, a very poor crop. This is definately due to lack of water. We also have a number of squash which could do better!

So, you win some, you lose some!

Well, I have to get on with some paid work now :)