Hah, missed. Have a heatwave instead

See dreams can come true. We sat out on the terrace watching the monster hailstorm miss us by one mountain range. That great booming of thunder and the flash of lightning over the horizon always puts me in mind of Waterloo or distant artillery battles of yore.

No storm. No rain. But one happy gardener.

Setbacks are part of the deal.

As is consoling yourself with a new pot or two.Or potting on scented pelargoniums.

And I have been rather consumed with the other side of our life here in France. Entertaining. So please excuse the tardy reply. Two house guests plus seven others lodging around the corner and needing feeding.

It has been a fest of cooking and throwing oneself head first onto a groaning cheese platter just after that moment when you think you can’t eat a morsel more.

And then tucking into dessert.

So not much repairing of damage, not enough planting out. But plenty of flinging water at the garden in the hope that things don’t shrivel in the heat.

Here is the result of my 9pm planting out. The only time I can get things done.

It’s small. It’s a start. Now they just have to survive the next few days when we are expecting temperatures to rise to 40C on Thursday. And plenty of 37C days either side.

Ack. Uck. At least the new plants are huddling beside the automatic drip watering pipes. Fingers crossed they work.