Garden Diary – Eating Tomatoes, & Admiring my Agapanthus

All that heat has made my tomatoes, and sun loving, South African, Agapanthus go into overdrive!

In just one week I’ve gone from collecting the tomatoes in a small bowl, to a large plate and finally I’ve had to get the trug out and de-cobweb it!

The tomato production normally cranks up a bit slower, but the unusually hot weather has brought everything on so quickly! Meaning I’m having to make time to transform the produce into meals for the freezer, in between renovating the house, and of course using the temporary kitchen!

Everything in the greenhouse has had a boost, and the cucumbers have finally burst into full production after a very slow start. The first two plants actually died after I’d planted them in the ground. Luckily I always grow spares so I had a second chance.

It’s not surprising that the heat loving chillies, that I sowed back in January have been appreciating the heat and are looking quite pretty with their multi-coloured fruits. We’re just harvesting one at a time at the moment, but there will soon be enough to start drying them.

I bought my first Agapanthus plants at a National Garden Scheme garden years ago. They looked fabulous that first year, but then I left their two pots on saucers all winter and very nearly killed them!

A couple of years ago I was given a few pots of them and finally this year got around to repotting them. This mixed with our heatwaves has made them very happy and as a result, me too!

They have also proven very popular with the wildlife in the garden.

Thankfully, the temperature has been lower this last week, especially Tuesday, but it’s mostly remained rather warm and muggy. Even the thunderstorms at the weekend didn’t cool things down much, but at least we did finally have some extremely welcome rain!

The warmth has brought the Butterflies out in much bigger numbers in the last week or so, which is just in time for this year’s big butterfly count, which you hopefully have been joining in with. The numbers were worryingly low last year, so here’s hoping for better news this year!

After its watering the garden is looking so much better, as the plants were very much starting to wilt. I really don’t like watering the borders, but I was giving some here and there if plants looked particularly sad. Hopefully if we get what’s forecast this week it should see them through.

Monday 14th July 2025

‘Get stuck in!’

Lythrum Salicara around the pond are still providing food for the pollinators 💕🐝💕

#MagentaMonday #pinkflowers #pollinators #bees

After a slow start the cucumbers are doing well now 🥒💛

I only grow them for the ‘Under gardener’, as I can’t stand the smell of them 😝

#kitchengarden #cucumbers #greenhousegrower

Tuesday 15th July 2025

I was given a number of Agapanthus plants a couple of years ago & boy have they loved the heat-wave this year 💙🌿

They are in pots around the garden so are coming out at different rates 🌿💙💙💙🌿

#TuesdayBlue #Agapanthus #blueflowers

When you know your lunch is going to be scrumptious! 😋🍅🌿

Featuring: Brandywine, Green Zebra, Tigerella, Rosella, Sunchocola & Indigo Rose, & of course Basil🌿🍅💚🍅🖤🍅🌿

#TomatoTuesday #tomatoes #tomato

Wednesday 16th July 2025

Raindrops & grey skies, yay 🙌

It rained most of yesterday, no where near enough to compensate for the extreme heat we’ve had, but you could almost hear the garden grown with pleasure & me at not having to water 🌿💦💕

#rain #gardening #dahlia

Thursday 17th July 2025

I’ve grown chilli ‘Buena Mulata’ for a few years now, mainly because the heat is perfect for me (medium), but aren’t they the most gorgeous colour 🌿💜🌶️💜🌶️💜🌶️💜🌿

#chillies #chillipeper #purpleveg #chilli

Friday 18th July 2025

Hello beautiful Comma butterfly, you match in perfectly with my orange Hemerocallis 🌿🧡🦋 #FlowersOnFriday

Does everyone know that the butterfly count 2025 starts today 🦋🦋 I think the numbers will be hugely up on last year if my garden’s anything to go by 😊 @savebutterflies #butterfly #butterflies Taken at 19:00 last night.