A noisy drenching

Ah the joys of getting an extra half hour in bed. No need to water this morning as we had the mother of the summer’s storms late night blowing over the region. It has been dull and overcast most of the day. But only spits of rain, and I thought we had missed out again.

But it made up for it around 8pm. The sort of storm where you see the lightning flash and then duck for the thunder. And that’s when you are inside the house and safe from the worst.

The storm lasted only a few hours. Dumped heaps of rain in a rather fast time, and then moved off. Naturally I would have wished for a long evening of gentle but soaking rain. But mustn’t grumble. Water is great.

And now that I have donned shoes and trudged up to the potting shed I can happily announce we had a third of an inch of rain. Not masses. But I am happy. And with this lovely overcast day ahead, I may even get some digging done. And plant out the spinach in the soon to be vacated lettuce bed. (Most of the poor plants have bolted.)

And here is the new-look lettuce cloche. A few swiss chard, a few lettuce, one land cress and more spinach. All the tastiest morsels for the mystery creature that likes these veg. But we shall see. I am leaving the three swiss chards in the same spot where they have been munched already. And not even bothering to repair the netting – which has a monster rip. They are welcome to them. As long as they leave this cloche alone. (Hah, don’t you love these admonishments. I have no control whatsoever, but it’s nice to pretend I am in charge.)

And here is the tentative news about the beetroot under their own cloche up above the leeks. So far so good. And growing wonderfully. Sorry I had to shoot them outside their enviromesh covering. I don’t dare disturb them for fear or letting beetroot aromas out.

As it was a cooler day I decided to tackle the cabbage first. (Yes, I know, I was supposed to double dig a shade garden area, but sitting down among the brassicas felt more fun.)

This was the very first time I have cleared the dead vegetation from underneath the cabbages since I planted them back earlier in the year. Extremely maintenance free gardening. And we have just been stir frying the outer leaves so far. But now it was time to get a few of the mankier cabbages out and put in a few more winter kale that have been growing on in the potting shed.  

Not a madly exciting picture; but you can see some dead leaves below the cabbages. Don’t know why I didn’t take an ‘after’ shot. Perhaps because I was head down and moving onto the next cloche before the sun came out. But no. Had to take a break and go and change for a broader rimmed hat to protect from the heat.

And naturally I can’t resist scoffing grapes each time I go past. The courtyard grapes are heaving with fruit this year.

Once the brassicas were tidied; twas time to do the same for the cosmos. They are such workhorses in this potager. And will definitely be repeated next year. I may go for less white cosmos (Purity) and do more of the tall mix. The white flowers look so tatty quickly. And I can’t keep up with the dead heading. But once you go down the rows things look so much lovelier in now time. I can’t reach some of the middle flowers as I have to lean dangerously over the cloches. And don’t fancy falling in. But you can see the effect.

And they even look pretty from the feeding station, sorry, grapes up on the next terrace.

I had to place the picture further up the blog as I have more pics than text today. Brain addled from too much lovely rain. I have been meaning to talk about the second flush of beans we are having. The poor plants suffered dreadfully earlier this summer from a lack of water at a critical time. So I re-sowed a new row. And they are coming along beautifully. It does mean we will have a glut around September when I can’t spend as much time here. But that’s gardening.

And in for lunch for a healthy serving of salad, endless salad and tomatoes. These orange ones are not going to be on my planting list next year. The orange and red centres remind me of blood oranges. Or garish ice lollies. Not what I like to envisage on my plate with the mozarella and the basil. But juicy and tasty like the rest.