Kitchen Garden Forum

Always good to see Keighley, I have a cluster of cousins around there, Settle as well though dad was born the other side of the river in Giggleswick, grandparents are buried at the village church.

Quite a local then, eh?

No rain here either and it's 29C at the moment. Lots of watering to do tonight then.

Monika wrote:

Always good to see Keighley, I have a cluster of cousins around there, Settle as well though dad was born the other side of the river in Giggleswick, grandparents are buried at the village church.

Quite a local then, eh?

No rain here either and it's 29C at the moment. Lots of watering to do tonight then.

Ee no lass.

Hertfordshire hedgehog me.

Not a bad county, Peter. Three of my children were born there.

we finally got some rain yesterday, a lovely thunderstorm. I stood out in it and got soaked. It was wonderful!

Yes I think we're beginning to understand now how the natives of many African countries feel after rain suddenly arrives after years of drought. They,ve had to live with the situation for years and I think climate change is now bringing the reality home to us too. I must say I find this kind of heat level overwhelming even if it's only a few days in the year when we suffer it.

Corn on Cobb looking good apart from that has been eaten at the bottom, could that be from rabbits?

Not a drop of rain here but at least the temperature has gone down a bit to the LOW 20s.

Woo hoo! The rain finally arrived this afternoon, thank goodness.
Last night was bizzarre, though. Stood out at midnight with clear skies overhead, watching the Perseid meteor shower and looking at the milky way. Meanwhile, there was lightning on the north and west horizons and it was still hot. Strange times.

Has anybody else noticed that half the flowers on newer trusses on their outdoor tomatoes arn,t being pollinated? My later trusses are looking very sparse. I,m putting it down to the fluctuating heat and temperatures we,ve been experiencing this summer.

I haven't noticed a shortage of pollinators outdoors this year but we are usually inundated with flying creatures here. Some things have struggled with the drought, though.

I've had rain! Proper heavy rain for about 20mins - glad I weeded as loosened the top soil cap so most plants should be even happier than me!

Three torrential thunderstorms today, localised flooding where drains were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of water.

Colin: I think it is usually rats that attack sweetcorn.

All we got last night. Was distant thunder.

Still no rain here.
The sun is shining, the buddleias, single dahlias, red valerian, hemp agrimony, purple loosestrife, field scabious and many others all in full flower - but where are the butterflies? Apart from quite a few whites we have had just single red admiral, peacock, small tortoiseshell, comma, speckled wood and, earlier on, a few orange tips, but otherwise there is a worrying dearth of butterflies in particular and insects in general, as Primrose says.
Sitting last night with the windows wide open and the light on, not a single daddy longleg, moth or midge came in .......