Diary of a weekend gardener: August 2006

Yellow tomatoes and purple hazelnuts

Before I forget, I want to make some notes for myself about this year's tomato crop. The variety is Orange Bourgoin, an old French variety. I've grown them cordon style up strings and for once have remembered to water and feed them enough.

Anyway - they've been a resounding success. Even in partial shade in the polytunnel the fruit are ripening. They're doing fine outdoors too. Some of the indoor trusses have up to 50 good sized tomatoes on them. The flavour is good raw and fabulous when grilled or roasted, and the flesh is much thicker than red varieties I've grown before. The only difficulty is getting used to yellow tomatoes.

One of the smaller trusses ripening

The flesh is unusually thick - they are wonderful grilled.

We picked the purple hazelnut harvest today. This is the first year we've had more than one or two - the squirrels usually get the lot, but this year we've not seen any squirrels at all. Presumably someone nearby decided they were an unwanted pest.

Serious rain at last

Over the past four days we've had 35mm of rain - more than an inch and a half. 25mm of that fell in 90 minutes on Thursday. I'm just glad I cut the lawn and tidied up on Thursday.

I've cut the first two Uchiki Kuri squash and we've had our first proper bowlful of red and gold tomatoes. I think the ripening is being slowed by shade from the squash leaves in the polytunnel roof, but there's plenty of summer left for them to ripen.

The cleomes have been a roaring success, although they are a bit shocking pink for my liking. Still, they look good against the dark leaves of the purple phormium and Sedum 'Purple Emperor'

It's not easy photographing rain. This shot took about 20 attempts to get right.

Home grown Cleomes - Shockingly pink but very long lasting

More looking than doing

Once July is over, my urgent need to cultivate fades somewhat and I'm happy to potter about as and when. Like the plants, I've slowed down. I have seeds unsown, weeds in the patio and a vast harvest of beans unpicked.

It's been cooler and a bit damper, though we've only had odd spits and spots of rain and not not enough to soak, but plants are slowly recovering from the crippling heat of July. The prairie garden looks a bit bitty (too many different plants), but it's thickening out slowly. The heleniums are truly wonderful. And aren't figs the sexiest thing you can grow?

The first ripe fig - there are loads more to come

I really like this Helenium against the purple foliage of the berberis

The prairie garden is settling down. It wil look much better next year.

Treasure trove

I have become a real magpie when it comes to cuttings and seeds. I don't really need any more plants (not for this garden anyway), but cannot resist the temptation to see what I can grow. Of course I always ask permission, but if you know what you are talking about and the plant is not PBR restricted, people don't tend to refuse.

This week's treasure trove is a handful of Trillium grandiflorum seed pods, collected from the parent plant with the owner's full agreement - they had no plans to use them. I couldn't be more pleased if they were rubies. Time to do some research into the best way to germinate and grow them. I do know that it will be some years before I have a carpet of white trilliums under my dreamt-of hazel coppice.

Trillium grandi- florum seed pods.

My one and only Trillium grandi- florum in flower earlier this year.

Late summer is here

When the sedum and heleniums are in flower, when Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' makes her first appearance, when the tomatoes are ripening and the damsons are turning purple then we are definitely in late summer. Just the beginning of it perhaps, but the change is unmistakeable. The sun is slightly lower and the light is more golden somehow, clearer and warmer than in the bright lemon-and-lime light of May and June.

Time to take semi-ripe cuttings and collect seed, take the harvest from the veg plot and start to think about next year... I must not buy more seed, I must not buy more seed, I must not... Well maybe one or two.

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'. Some find this plant invasive, but it's one of the few that is happy in my very dry shade.

Berberis thunbergii 'Harlequin'. I love the mottled leaves of this pretty and trouble-free plant. Plus red berries which last into winter.

Sedum 'Ruby Glow'. I'm growing this with Knautia macedonia which is a great combina- tion

From parasols and shorts to umbrellas and fleeces

The joy of an English summer. We've had as much rain in the last three days as in whole of last month and it's cool enough to need a fleece and jeans. Last week a bikini would have been plenty. And all driven along by a strong blustery wind which is giving the top-heavy runner beans and sunflowers a stiff challenge.

But there's always an upside and of course the rain means a thorough watering for everything outdoors. The parched looking new prairie garden is showing signs of fresh growth and the lawn is regaining some green. But the best of it is that the meconopsis might be able to outgrow the powdery mildew and recover.

A couple of orange themed photos today - the squash is 'Uchiki Kuri' and is growing around the inside of the polytunnel roof, supported on wires. My only concern is that it might shade the tomatoes and stop them ripening. The Helenium is new, bought for the prairie garden but I've put it in the autumn border instead.