First early potatoes

The first early potatoes that we planted at the beginning of May are now ready for digging. The dry weather means that they won't grow any more. The crop is modest, but greater than I was expecting from the wizened & flabby state of the seed potatoes when we planted them.

'Sharpe's Express' first early potatoes

The hot weather has favoured plants of tropical origin, such as tomatoes & the first fruits are setting on some of the Annecy Gardens specimens.

First fruits setting on tomato

The courgette plants are also loving the heat.

Quite a number of the annual flowers at the Gardens have just started blooming. The sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, are lovely & we were able to pick a bunch. Picking sweet peas causes them to bloom for longer.

Also flowering:

Linaria 'Licilia Azure', but quite definitely purple

Linum grandiflorum 'Rubrum', the scarlet flax

Helianthus annuus 'Earthwalker' ~ this plant is self-sown & the self-sown sunflowers are way ahead of those we nurtured in greenhouses

Some of the perennials are flowering too. The bees love the flowers on marjoram, Origanum marjorana.

The continuing hot, dry weather meant that we spent most of the work session on Monday watering ~ the plants certainly appreciated this.

The phacelia is finally going over & we're making plans to remove it & are deciding what to plant in its place.

Phacelia tanacetifolia is coming to the end of its flowering

Sowing chicory, this is a good time to sow this as it will grow on through the autumn

While we work hard during our Monday work sessions, we're not so busy that we don't have time to chat.