Summer in the potager

Happy 1st of August to you all. For some that might mean summer holidays in the northern Hemisphere, or winter is almost over in the South. But for this particular mountain and garden it feels like summer has been going FOREVER.

Two heat waves in July will do that.

But right now it’s perfect weather. Not too hot that you wilt and want to run indoors and listen to the Ashes cricket on the wireless. Not wet. Not cold. Just perfect. Even a bit of a breeze to lift the spirits.

And I twinkle down to the potager and don’t even have to avert my gaze.

Things are growing. Burgeoning.

And not just the flowers. The crops are coming along.

Courgettes, aubergines, Swiss chard, cucumbers, and basil by the armful.

I always love that moment when you realise you are doing more staking than actual weeding.

I swear this cucumber has grown 10cm overnight. I tied in yet more of the plant last night and it looks like I have to keep the string in my pocket at all times.

And it’s not just the cucumbers; here’s the wacky climbing spinach that is making a bid for the top of the pole.

It’s more of a novelty than an actual crop. You wouldn’t get much eating out of it. But I love the red stems. Which contrast rather nicely with the orange crocosmia behind.

Which is taking over the cut flower garden bed, but that’s another story.

I am trying my best to be a tidy gardener now that I’m here for a stretch. I even placed this local grey pot outdoors so I can be ‘inspired’ to bend down, pull out the bindweed and actually dump it in the pot.

Because we all know that having to plod 20 feet to a compost heap is often 20 feet too far.

And if I am too lazy to bend and weed you can always find me sitting down and gazing with delight on this sort of thing.

And just in case you are eye rolling at my boasting, spare a thought for the lack of synchronicity. Basil by the armful…. and the tomatoes aren’t yet ripe.

Thank goodness for the Thursday market where I bought a few kilos of toms from people who get their growing seasons just right.