Garden Diary – Too hot, to be gardening!

Well, that was certainly a hot week! Far too hot to be gardening, unless you count constant watering, which I don’t as I find it quite boring! To me it’s frustrating seeing all the jobs I’d like to be getting on with instead of standing there sweltering.

A number of the crops have been loving the heat, one being the tomatoes. We got our first ripe beefsteak tomato ‘Brandywine’ last week, which I know I go on about a lot, but you would if you’d tasted it, it’s delicious. It’s not at all like those big tasteless varieties, it’s soft, creamy and full of flavour. We made it into our simple tomato salad which you can find in recipes.

Everything in the greenhouse is doing well, I’ve never had so many flowers on my Aubergines. They are so beautiful, like little ballerinas. You never know, I might be making my first fully homegrown ratatouille.

The courgettes have also sprung into life with the heat and of course their personal waterer! These are best sprayed with oil and cooked on some sort of griddle grill, like a George Forman. Ideally taken outside with an extension lead to cook whilst you sit waiting patiently with a nice cold drink, then simply sprinkled with salt. Yum, yum, yum.

More flowers continue to bloom including some darker pink Dieramas, but all the flowers are going over much quicker than normal which is sad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the lavender turn so quickly, but luckily it’s not putting the bees off, which finally have arrived en-masse.

As the heat grew through the week, the big positive was extra meals eaten outside, especially breakfast, which honestly makes me feel like I’m on holiday. Which is a good job as we haven’t been for a while, what with garden renovations that morphed into house renovations, hopefully going to be finished this year, well as much as anything is ever finished! There’s always another job for the list lol.

By the end of the week I was using an umbrella to walk around the garden, common enough in a British summertime but not usually because it’s too hot!

Monday 7th July 2025

Two flowers that have much nicer common names:

Dierama or ‘Angels fishing rods’ bobbing in a sea of

Catananche caerulea or ‘Cupid’s dart’ 🌿💕💙💕💙🌿

#magentamonday #flowers #mygarden

Tuesday 8th July 2025

A beautiful Aubergine/Eggplant flower for today’s #TuesdayBlue 🌿💜🌿💙🌿 #KitchenGarden

Wednesday 9th July 2025

The Red hot Heleniums ‘Ruby Tuesday’ are ready for the next heatwave 🌿🌺❤️🥵🌿

Stay hydrated everyone 💦

#flowers #heleniums #redflowers #heatwave #Gardening

Thursday 10th July 2025

After a slow start, the courgette plant is getting going 🥒💛🌿

Sliced, brushed with olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, take the George Forman grill outside. Sit with a cold drink whilst your snacks cook, cheers🍻🥂🥒

#homegrown #homemade #courgettes #kitchengarden

Friday 11th July 2025

Here’s something to cool you down 🌿💙💙💙 🌿

Blue agapanthus coming out against another blue sky 💙

Hope everyone remembers to drink plenty & slap on the sun cream ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️ #flowersonfriday #heatwave

So pleased to report that the bee numbers have increased hugely on the lavender path by the greenhouse. Not as good as usual but not too bad 🌿💜🐝🐝🐝🐝

#bees #savethebees #lavender #FlowersOnFriday

Saturday 12th July 2025

As our plants wilt (together with us) we can appreciate why our ‘usual’ climate produces such beautiful, diverse gardens, the envy of the world #SixOnSaturday 🌿💙🧡💕❤️🌿

Time for another glass of water 💦