What has happened to the weather?! I don’t think it’s just us, an email from a friend in Spain has written: I hope the weather is better there than here because we have come back to winter time! We had a few scorching days in May and I thought oh-oh, it’s going to get really uncomfortable. But then June came – with the rain. Lots of it, and then some more. When that went we returned to the sunny days (with a cooling north wind) and the bbq was dusted off (or rather dried off). But today I went to check up on the veg patch and wore my fleece – it was misty and quite cool! And alas this weather has affected the crops. Some of the toms have got buckeye rot (well, I hope it’s that and not the dreaded blight) and the dwarf peas are covered in powdery mildew:

On a more positive note the veg patch in general is doing well, particularly the cucurbits (the squash shoots are metres long and have completely covered the paths) and the greengages [update: we think they’re yellow plums now] are almost ready, can’t wait.

Finally, from that to this in nine months (facing west):

And this in six (east):