Basking in sunshine...?

READ ALL ABOUT IT.....SUN ARRIVES IN FENITON..  READ ALL ABOUT IT....... 

After weeks of rain the sun has now appeared and we are basking in genuine summery weather! All of a sudden things are looking up...my tomatoes seem to be recovering after displaying the classic "shadow" leaf markings of blight only 1 week ago. I removed over 50% of the leaves and it seems to have been effective.
And the first of the grapes have started to turn purple! The crop is looking bigger, if anything, than the very healthy crop we achieved last year- so I must be doing something right!! 2 of the 3 vine cuttings have now also taken and shortly I will transplant these into large pots prior to planting somewhere next year.

After hunting out slugs hiding under the pallet paths I gingerly transplanted some of the many seedling lettuces, squashes, sweetcorn and my favourite mustard- Giant Red! This last is more attractive to us than it seems to be to slugs so its a good one to stand in when lettuces and other salads are having a hard time.




 EVERYONE WHO IS ANYONE HAS ONE SO......

I took some willow cuttings in the spring and have now planted 3 of them in holes made in our concrete drive. I am now training the stems along some plastic tubing which has been formed into a template arch. When the stems touch, they will form an arch entrance to our front garden- about 6ft in height. To the left of the picture can be seen the 2 Eleagnus umbellata (autumn olive) which are now 2 years old. They should yield small edible fruit which I hope to make into fruit leathers- or as I like to call them "Feniton Phil's fine fruit flimsies" 

                                                                     Meanwhile, back at Luppitt, with trays of squash awaiting transplanting I thought a compromise would be to move them into tyres sheltered on the south side of the lower tunnel. This gives them an element of protection against the rather inclement weather conditions and they are less susceptible to the ravages of those slimy slobs.

                                                 

                                                                                                          

And this was one of the tunnels back in April, full of chard, broad beans and overwintered lettuces.

And how it looks today, with tomatoes in the foreground hiding the Blue Lake and Borlotti climbing beans. the parsley and basil  are all doing well. We have kiwi vines entering each end of the 2 tunnels although this grim summer has made it slow progress for them.