Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Hope the Covid doesn't linger on LL, a lot of it about now, my co conspirator on the volunteer border is down with it, so I'm flying solo for the moment

No "sheep" here, but I do have a small Goblin picking his hooter as my "art installation"

Actually got to eat some of my climbing beans yesterday, the purple French climbers.

The green dwarf French have become "case-hardened" in the heat, so absolutely rubbish, and never bothered to try & cook them.

The white runners have now set and in a few more days I may have my own runners , the first crop for a few years after the snail & aphid invasions

Up early watering the large volunteer pots, and taking salvia Hot Lips cuttings which I'll sort out later 

Here's the Stargazer lilies up there, I think this is their best year yet

twopenny

My you've really looked after those tomatoes farway!
Mine are outdoors and I decided not to water as there were some on the plants. Very small, no excess salsa this year but I'm eating them as they ripen.

The raspberries are pale and meh so again no surplus to freeze this year.

Some Dunster plums. They are hard to get off though ripe. 


No rain and none promised. The ground is baked hard, too hard to water so it's a depressing job just keeping what i can alive. 

I saw a photo of this spring where my layered pots of bulbs were an inch of water sitting in them and I feared they'd rot. Now they sit dry unable to plant out. 
My winter greens are still waiting in pots. No hope of clearing to plant as it's like concrete.

Woolsery

Rather dreich out there right now, with fine drizzle, but more of the hot stuff is forecast for lunchtime onwards. Our climate here sounds slightly less harsh than yours twopenny and so far there's no sign of real distress in the plants. Daughter reports trees losing leaves in London over the weekend.

Very little of garden interest to report. I've finished removing and renovating most of the polytunnel woodwork and some re-use will be possible, saving over £150. We await the delivery of the new parts......

Thinking we might squeeze some lillies in somewhere Farway! Those are great.

Farway

Your weather sounds very similar to mine 2P, latest is the driest July since records began, no wonder my unwatered fruit is like bullets and even the buddleia is wilting, and we know just how tough they are

On the plus side, I think I have a fig ripening, not sure of variety, and it's never fruited before, looks a bit "stripey" at the moment. I do water it because it's in a pot

I scoffed the yellow tomatoes last night, excellent, seem sweeter than I remember them, maybe due to the hotter weather?

Woolsery if you do get some lilies, I can recommend Stargazer, which is what those are. The scent is powerful and hangs in the air, so not ideal for those who dislike strong scents or pollen

I was watching Beechgrove last week, and they were warning Scottish gardeners about a new pest, lily beetles which have now crossed Hadrian's Wall and are munching their lilies like they attempt down here. I'm on constant patrol for a few weeks picking them off, one of the minuses but the end result is worthwhile IMO

Apart from watering pots, no gardening today, weather dull but warm & close with zero rain forecast and MOT welding today with bill to follow but has to be done, I expect even electric cars will need welding and repairs in due course, along with replacement battery running into squillions of pounds

Farway

A bit cooler and not as humid today so took the opportunity to start on the summer pruning of my apples & pear, got the smaller ones done before my back said STOP!, now just one larger apple tree left to do which I may have to do in stages depending on my back

While pruning, I found one apple on Santana bought from T & M this year. I was not expecting any fruit and thought all the blossom had come to nothing. Glad I at least have one to sample even though it doesn't look very red at the moment, of course being T & M it could just as easily be any apple variety

And I have a fig , not quite ready but any day now

Woolsery

Things are pleasantly fresh and partly cloudy here. Work has ground almost to a halt, as there are tents pitched in the field and the young people have suddenly multipled. All this happened while I was on a 6 hour hospital and retail experience session yesterday; indeed one might imagine it was planned that way!  Anyway, my helpers have gone to the beach, but I do have the new parts for the polytunnel framework now.

I think I have a fig too Farway, but it's about 4 weeks behind yours. So far as apples are concerned we seem to have an abundance, but without more rain they will be small and we might experience an August drop. The rivers are looking very low:

https://www.farsondigitalwatercams.com/locations/exebridge

greenbee

Woolsery - I have about half an inch of water now on both sides. I'm not going to clear the watercress (which has flowered and is over) as it will just make things worse. I'm currently cursing all my pots and wondering whether my new hornbeam hedge will survive much more of this (I guess I should give it a good soak before the hosepipe ban kicks in tomorrow).

I'm also giving my tomatoes a stern talking to - there are plenty of them, and they're a decent size, but bar two black cherries are all stubbornly green!

twopenny

Not scorching heat now but no rain at all, just sun.

I think I'm going to loose my dwarf greengage tree and the nursery has closed so can't be replaced. It only has yellow leaves hanging down.

My Prunus Nigra is showing signs too of fading.

Raspberry canes are dying, strawberry plants, my 3rd Rosemary. I'm hoping the Arum lilly will return, just one leaf now.

I'm watering but it's not making a difference. It's tap water, no rain water and streams have dried up everywhere.

Now I'm choosing which plants to save because some succumbed quickly, some hanging on and some in dire need.

I've dug in some funnels made from water bottles for the huge standard lavenders and crouching down with a jug of water and getting covered in ants that seem to be everywhere. They are yellowing and with a steep slope with little soil below so the water runs off.   Just hoping that even a little bit will keep them hanging in there because I won't find those again either.

I've seen the hedgehog early, it's looking thinner than I'd like. There's just nothing much for them. Haven't seen a slug or snail for a couple of months. Tried putting cat food out but the cats eat it while I'm asleep.

Don't know what's happened to the birds. They were coming just for the water in the bird bath but not even any pigeons or magpies around.

I have some photos but I've got to go and water for a second time tonight and sit and dribble water on the lavenders.

goldfinches

It's incredibly dry and sere here with many trees showing signs of distress and some of the young ones that were planted last winter looking as though they're about to give up in despair. This is the current emergency measure to try to keep some of the most vulnerable plantings going until we get some real rain.

Apodemus

twopenny said:

Haven't seen a slug or snail for a couple of months. 

I could send you enough for a whole army of hedgehogs!  The frogs and toads in the garden are thriving, but the plants are absolutely ravaged this year.  When I go out in the morning there is always that crunch or squelch underfoot as it is next to impossible to walk anywhere without stepping on a snail or a slug!