Miserable weather

It is rather weird to feel Autumn descending upon us, when I'm still looking forward to my Summer holiday! It's still August, often the hottest month even on this island, but the rain, wind and a thick cloud covering makes me think it's October.

The garden has been somewhat battered in the process; actually, the flowers have suffered, but the grass is thriving:


There is also beauty in rain:


The courgette count is currently 19, with three sitting on the kitchen counter taunting me. Maybe I can chop them up, blanch and freeze them? Roasting them, sauteeing, making soup and stew has become slightly boring by now.

Oh, and without the sun, will my green tomatoes ripen at all?

Courgettes

Here is a picture of the two latest courgette fruits. We usually categorise it as a vegetable, but, just like tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers and avocados, the courgettes that we eat are the fruit of the plant. Meaning, a fleshy cover protecting the seeds - the same as apples, peaches or figs.

For size comparison I've placed a large lemon (from the supermarket, unfortunately - I wish we had enough space for a small orchard and enough sun for a lemon tree) and a salt grinder in the composition. The larger courgette is probably the largest size it should be harvested before it turns into a squash...



This may be a good place to mention garden productivity. Some crops have finished, others have been squeezed out due to space limitations, and some are still to come (tomatoes). Here is the tally, as far as I remember it:

* radishes - 25ish; could have more, but the tray is now on a shelf, with little light

* strawberries - 2 handfuls, not a very rich harvest but that's common in the first year

* salad leaves, including spinach, pea shoots and rocket - about 12 salads; same fate as the radishes

* courgettes - 10 (including the uneaten ones above), with plenty still to ripen, but also more flowers to be set

* patty pan squash - 2

* butternut squash - nothing ripe yet, several growing

* tomatoes - not ripe yet

I have also harvested herbs aplenty - rosemary, mint, parsley, marjoram, thyme, sage and bay leaf; what's missing this year is basil.

Pinks and blues

One of the best perennials that I have planted this season must be the echinacea. Since the first bud formed weeks ago, it hasn't stopped flowering. This is what it looks like now:


The astilbe has only recently started to flower. It needed the occasional rain that we've had recently, I think; it's a plant for moist soils, often thriving in boggy terrain next to ponds:


The weekend before last we bought this fuchsia, lovely pink and purple pendulums and variegated foliage that livens up the border:



Finally, beautiful blue and purple morning glories - all the way from the south of France! We were given the seeds last summer by lovely belle-mere, and they seem to be flourishing although it's much less sunny here... Not this year, though! This is a very good UK summer! :)

A haven for wildlife

This is one of the essential attributes of my dream garden, and I'm happy to say that in the height of summer, we have achieved it. (Not counting our two wild felines that prowl the garden fearlessly (except during fireworks, which, admittedly, happen more in late autumn and winter)).

A little wasp in the white African daisy (osteospermum):



A ladybird, wasp and hoverfly on a bronze fennel flower. Yes, I have wanted the colours in the garden to be just pinks and purples, but this plant is mostly purple; also, the yellow flowerheads are very attractive to pollinating insects, so I just have to live with the colour clash! ;)




Ladybirds - adult and larva:




Finally, one of the stalking cats in the bottom right corner. The trellis has now been covered with honey-scented sweet peas and purple morning glories.

Three bumblebees and one honey bee...

... buzz into a bar. I mean, lavender! That was the largest number of (beneficial) insects I've seen on one plant yet. Sadly, they didn't all want to model for the photo...


If we're looking for the non=-beneficial insects, then they are to be found on the sweet peas. The plants are covered in greenfly, and when I first noticed that I started removing the little buggers (there's something deeply satisfying in sliding a finger-breadth of them off a stem, then squeezing!). However, there was a ladybird there, busily eating her way through the aphids, and I realised that for a fully organic garden I need to provide some pests for the predators to enjoy. So now the sweet peas (which, BTW, smell really nice) have greenfly *and* baby ladybirds (AKA garden crocodiles, as they look like ugly, tiny reptiles with big jaws before they turn into the familiar cute, red bug).

Courgettes are being productive, and we're still harvesting them regularly. Here's a pic of stuffed veggies (the aubergines were from a shop) a la Provancale (just meat, herbs and spices, chopped veg flesh and an egg to bind the filling together) that proved very popular on Facebook! :)