This hot summer has brought bumper crops like never before. Kilos of strawberries arrived three weeks early, bowls of ripe figs arrived in August and the butternuts and potimarron squashed all records. I grew the best onions and garlic I have ever managed and the tomatoes went nuts. My one disappointment was cucomelons that filled a polytunnel with foliage but no fruit. I enjoyed the crop of Trombucino which was a crop I had never grown before. Roses produced two years worth of blooms and very little suffered as I have three 1,000 litre water butts. Over winter I hope to enjoy the stored squash and outdoor leeks. The polytunnel will house winter salads once the tomatoes give way.
But there may be a price to pay. I saw trees at the National Memorial Arboretum lose their leaves in July. It will take until next summer to see how many trees have succumbed to this year’s dry weather.
Tell me what brings you joy in your garden now.
Front garden still offers interest Roses still full on Figs gave a great crop
