A few failures

This is one of my failures. I think I have mentioned it before that I am not over keen on Roses.These seem to have blackspot and shed most of their leaves. They do produce new leaves though. I guess this is why I am not too keen on growing roses.

This is an update of my grapes. As you will see thay are ripening nicely, I have tried the odd one and although they are nice they are not quite sweet enough. By the way, the photos of the grapes are to be honest the best bunches, some are smaller bunches. Still I am happy. Will keep all informed.

The runner beans are just beginning to get a few on so I should soon get quite a few to give to my next door neighbour. Her partner simply loves runner beans.

This is my other failure. I just do not know what has happened to it. There was a free millenium treat for all readers of a daily newspaper. It was one that my late Mother used to have. Anyway she saved it for me and it offered 3 trees to be planted to celebrate the millenium. The trees were I think a sweet chestnut, a hawthorn and 2 types of hazelnut. I chose the hazelnuts ans sweet cherry. As I have a large garden I knew that sweet chestnuts grow up to 30feet plus or 10 metres. I told my neighbour that I would plant it near our dividing fence telling her that I hoped in years to come she would be able to pick chestnuts. Well after 4 years of no growth I decided to move it to a more open space, but as you can see, it is still very small. A sort of bonzai tree. It is just 2ft tall or 60cm. I honestly think iot has grown a little this year but with the lack of rain it is not the best time to assess if it will ever grow larger. I had a rabbit guard until early this year, so let us see if it helps. It looks healthy though.

Finally I think I have to go out travelling tomorrow so I may not write a blog. I will though try my very best.

Haircut

As promised several days ago I said I was going to dig up a root of Home Guard potatoes, first I must apologise for not giving you any idea as to the size of them, the tops had completely died off so they had finished growing. Although there were plenty of potatoes on they were so small, the largest being the size of a golf ball. The worst thing was that when I cooked them some started to break up so I will NOT be trying them again. I will see what my postman friend has to say about his. I will let you know if his are similar to mine.

Now these are the runner bean Enorma. I am not sticking my chest out, it is just to give you some idea as to thje size of them. The ruler is a metric one and it is about a foot long. These are not the best croppers, but if showing they would be great to show. Last year I had one runner bean that was over 19" long 48cm. Incidentally I am not getting many beans at all yet.

Yes, today I went for a haircut, although there were plenty in I did not put my foot in it at all. Mind you there was this man he would be about 60 and with him 2 children, I asked them if they lived here or was on holiday. The little girl told me where she came from and I asked him if they were on holiday. To my surprise he said that they were here for a few days as their Grandfather had died. I of course said I was sorry but he replied that he was 94 so that was that. I thought the little boy who he had bought to have his hair cut, as well as him having one, the lad would only be about 2. Grandfather 94 and the lad about 2. I daren't say anything like have you got a very young wife? there were a few young lads having their haircut. The charge es were varied. Mine is £3.50. one lad who was in the chair when I walked in was charged £4.80. Another man £5.00. I know that I get good value for money but he was very busy, he asked me what I was doing today, I told him that I was going to the bank after having my haircut. He informed me that he was also going to the bank after he closed. He told me that he closed at lunchtime on a Wednesday. Perhaps that was why he was busy.

We have had a light shower today, not a lot of good but it was a lot cooler and rather cloudy so the ground is not getting so baked. See what tomorrow brings.

A little rain

Although the photo is not the best the cabbage white butterflies and bees love the scent and nectar of lavender.

This is called Echinacea common name is Purple Cone Flower. Butterflies and bees love this flower. I think there are 7 wild honey bees and if you look carefully you will see 1 domestic honey bee. During the last 3 years or so, the honey bees have become very scarce. I encourage the butterflies and bees and the honey bee is the one that has almost disappeared. I wonder if this is one reason why I am getting a poorer germination of runner beans. To be honest though I think it is more due to the weather as runner beans do not like it too hot.

These are a few alpine strawberries in my polytunnel. To be honest, I think they would grow even better outside. They are reasonably sweet but taste rather scented. I like them but can not eat many.

At last a little rain, the weather man stated that there would be dribs and drabs of rain, but there were heavy and torrential downpours around. We did get a heavy shower for about 10 minutes, this did wet the ground and half filled my water butts so I must not grumble.

I may go to have my haircut tomorrow. I must not act as I did last time I went. There were a few men in plus a woman. I thought she was the owners wife. I started to talk to her, well this young man was in the chair for ages, stating that he wanted just a little off here or a little off there. I eventually said to her " Look at that young man faffing and farting about. They are so particular these days, it wouldn't have happened in my days, no electric clippers. They were all hand clippers and just a comb and scissors The only style was short back and sides". We carried on talking in general for about another 5 minutes. Eventually he got out of the chair, the woman got up and I expected her to go to the till and take the money. To my surprise the young man went to the counter and the owner who had cut his hair told him how much £5 and he paid he then went out with this woman who was his girl friend. That will teach me. It was a good job I didn't say what the barbers always said to the adults after cutting their hair. " Anything for the weekend sir?" Will tell you if anything happens if I go tomorrow.

I hope that this is an improvement as I am learning slowly, I think it looks neater. More soon.

Another new week

These are just a few potatoes called Arran Pilot the stumps are where some broad beans were grown and sometimes if the weather is kind, they will shoot from the base and a small crop can be gathered in late September or early October. Not a chance this year. Anway the small potatoes are being eaten and the larger ones will be left out to set and the skins firm up, then in the Autumn I will put them in my salad box in the fridge for seed potatoes next year.

These were dug up on Sarurday morning, the variety is Boltardy, perhaps not the best picture ever but gives some idea as to what I grow.

These carrots were dug up yesterday. I normally have a bath once a week but shower other days. Anyway the water was used to soak the carrots as I did try to pick a few the other day and they just snapped off. I must say they taste beautiful. The variety is Early Nantes.


Well the weekend has come and gone without rain, but not unbroken sunshine so it was not quite as hot. Today the weatherman stated that tomorrow we will get rain, this was tempered later with the warning that it may rain as they are unsure as to where exactly the rain will fall. I will of course keep all interested with the results, I do believe though it will almost come too late for this season.

This morning I went to see if any runner beans were ready, to my horror I noticed one runner bean was covered withy black fly. I have never had anything like that happen before. I must admit though that this summer has been the most insect and bug prone I have ever had. This, after the coldest and longest winter for many years. besides black fly there has been an infestation of white fly, these were almost killed off in winters gone by with the harsh weather, not so now. Greenfly has also been very bad, mind you there has been lots of butterflies about, although the cabbage white are a menace, the others look so nice.

I will post photos of some vegetables, also an update on my grapes, they are ripening well but to be honest, not quite sweet enough yet. My peas that I set in the polytunnel a week ago are just showing through, well some of them anyway. It just goes to show what protection can do to help.

I will not show the roses as they have black spot and most of the leaves have dropped off. To be honest, I am not too keen on roses because of the diseases they get. My friend's wife has bought me 2 types of rose, one is called Happy Times, I can't remember what the other one is called I have just been out to see and it is called Magic Pink, to be honest it looks very poor. I don't look after them really. I should do though. My friend's daughter has a herb garden and has been on Gardeners World when the late Geoff Hamilton was alive. Anyway she has bred a new type of Lavender and last autumn I was lucky enough to be given one. It is called Hardstoft Pink and this year it has survived the winter, I did put it in the polytunnel as his daughter did not know if it would survive outdoors in the winter. I took a cutting and I will leave one out this winter to see if it will live through a winter probably be a mild one this winter though. Now to photos. Hopefully will write more tomorrow.

P. S. I think I have found out how to put comments after my pictures. I try to persevere. it is rewarding when I find out something that helps.

As expected NBG.

Oh well will try to post rest of photos. That is peacock butterfly and fruit trees plus hazel nut tree. I hope nobody looks too closly as I have posted I think two repeats of photos and do not know how to delete them. Still that is me. I promise to try harder next time. More soon.

Butterflies

This time I will try to post some butterflies, I have a red admiral that took ages for me to catch it with the wings open. They are not as common as they were several years ago. Also I feel a little sad when I take the pea haulms up after picking the peas, also the broad beans, my mind seems to tell me that summer will soon be over. It is funny really because the last business which was the kiosk on the car park by the sea, the season didn't start really until this week end which is the start of the local school holidays which last for about 6 weeks.

I really do wish I knwe how to get the best out of this blog, if there is anybody who reads this hae suggestions, I am willing to listen to them. I have never had any training on computers at all so I am a complete novice. My age also doesn't help. I will always be grateful to the young German for giving me the basic knowledge. Anyway I will try to post butterflies then if possible some photos of my apple trees and a hazel nut tree. If I make a bit of a mess, please forgive me.

Well here goes. Butterflies, red admiral, peacock and small tortoishell. Apple trees, Sunset a cox type but better where I live, ready late September and will keep until late February. James Grieve, this apple can be used as an eater or a cooker. It is ready in late August, early September. They will keep if kept in the salad box in the fridge until after Christmas. The other is a Bramley, a 100% cooker. Everyone in the U.K. will know what this apple is. I have kept the odd one in the fridge and used it in June, this year was no difference. I did manage to use it in june as an apple sauce for a pork chop. It was quite sweet too. Let us see what happens to the photos. Fingers crossed.

Correction

First I must correct myself.

Yesterday I said that 2" of rain was 70mm, it is in fact more or less 50mm.

Now to today, I have just seen the weather man and he informed us that there were very heavy showers in the area and he was sure that there would be flash flooding in places. As usual we managed to miss it all. Mind you it has been somewhat cooler so that is a blessing. It also has helped these last few days to ripen my grapes. Well so called grapes as they are small. I have posted a photo of them and when I eventually pick a bunch I will put something beside them to give some sort of comparison. Besides the grapes I have pust some tomatoes and the last few grapes. they are on the extreme right, The tomatoes are large plum, small plum and Gardeners delight. I use the plum tomatoes as there are very few seeds. My Italian friend has a separater, this is a tool, I think it is hand driven, to separate the pulp from the seeds and skin. He uses this for making his pasta sauce. I think he bottles the pulp. I have found these a lot better for me because of the seeds seem to get under my plate so if there are just a few, which is in fact what the plum tomatoes have vey few seeds. As you will notice I have put coins for you to see the size. A 10p piece, a 1 euro and a USA quarter. Hope it helps.

I pulled some beetroot for my friend today, I will hopefully post the photo of them tomorrow.

I have saved lots of pea seeds as they seemed to get ripe and go over almost overnight. I have also saved broad bean seeds. I try to save these each year as I do runner bean seeds. The broad bean seeds are not quite dry yet. The apple trees shedding lots of fruit, I guess this is because of the ensuing drought, still there should be plenty on although they are a lot smaller this year.

Yesterday, I set a small row of Greenshaft peas in my polytunnel, I will see what happens but should get a taste in late September or early October.

My plum trees are not good. Each year they are attacked by greenfly and I seem to be fighting a losing battle every year. The leaves are so badly affected that a large proportion of them drop off. Still I will waits and see what I get.

Those who have followed my blog will know that I use selected vegetables. I use Arran Pilot new potatoes, I save some and use them as seed potatoes. I put them in the salad box in the fridge, leave them there from September until I want to use them. My postman friend gave me some Home Guard potatoes. I will give my honest opinion when I use them, hopefully within the next week. That is all for now, I don't expect any rain at all. By the way, I have taken some cuttings of Lilac from my neighbours tree. I have lost several over the last few years. Incidentally she lost one herself this spring. I lost a large Charles Joly, certainly very mature about 8ft tall almost 2.5 metres. Thats it for today, more soon.

Failed

As I expected my rain dance failed. It is so sad that many areas have been flooded and we have had next to no rain for abouy a month. In Leeds which is about 90 miles away about 150km. they had about 2 inches of rain 70mm last night. I guess I did not dance hard enough.

Today I will show you my water collections. I have 2 green conical water butts catching water from the greenhouse. Each is capable of holding 600ltrs. I have 2 other small ones holding I guess 100ltrs. The large one which I have connected to my Karcher pressure washer holds I think 1200 litres. I have never had it completely empty since I have had it installed. I only use this for my polytunnel though.

I have been taking several photos and over the next couple of days will post them. I have taken a few butterflies, some vegetables and fruit. I will also show you how the grapes(blackcurrant size) are beginning to ripen. I still have a few cherries left but the wasps are eating them before they are really ripe. I am plagued out with wasps this year. My cherry trees had an awful lot of black flies on them and now the wasps are there taking the nectar.

Today was supposed to be cooler, well it was but only a degree or so. The weather man has just been on and said that it will ber cooler tomorrow with occasional showers. I presume that means we will miss them. Also that the weather will once again turn warmer towards the weekend. I guess one must not grumble. When in January and February the temperature was several degrees below freezing on many occasions.

My friend is calling on me tomorrow, I have a marrow, he loves that so he will be happy, I guess he will also want a few beetroot. I will try to take a photo of them if they are O K.

Will go now and water the greenhouse, I have taken photo of some different tomatoes, I now try to use them with just a few seeds as they get under my plate. More soon.

Something different

Today I had my LPG boiler serviced. I have it done each year. Chris the engineer came as usual. I told him that I had filled in a survey from Energy Saving Trust but was so disappointed at their reply. I informed him that I had cavity wall insulation, loft insulation to the maximum, double glazing, energy saving lamps in each room a thermostat on my hot water tank, also insulation on it but not to the thickness I would like as it is in a confined space. Had I nothing at all my rating would have been G which is the worst. The ratings go from A which is most efficient to G. I was given a rating of F. If I had a new boiler fitted and thicker insulation on my hot water tank, then I would move up to the princely rate of E. He told me this. Energy Saving Trust is not a government run scheme but a private run scheme. It is however backed by the Government He informed me that if I wished, he could fit a new boiler in for £2000. however if I went to them they would offer me a new boiler for about £3700 but there would be a grant of about £2000 with a total of £1700 to pay. He then informed me that they would then charge the government about £5000. He told me once again that it was not worth my while as I would never get my money back. I then informed him that my friend went to a seminar. I asked him to find out about wind power, he was more interested in solar heating. He told me that wind power was on hold as there was not a suitable sort of windpower that was good enough to generate more than about 500watts maximum. He then went to see about solar power. He was informed that the total cost was about £2800. He then asked how long it would be to get your money back. About 20 years was the reply. How long are the tubes guaranteed for he asked. 10 years came the answer. He thanked them. We were both disillusioned. Anyway, Chris on hearing this confirmed all. He had been on a course and the maximum guarantee was 11 years, some were as small as 7 years. He too was not impressed.
The moral of this is beware as this seems to be more of a way of the people involved in selling the products are interested in making profits and not telling you all the facts. Chris also told me that more carbon footprints are being used in producing the panels than what would be saved on the use of them. He would not say this is 100% true but thought it was so.
Oh well, this is my little gripe, I very rarely digress from my daily news. Tomorrow I hope to get back to my usual routine.
By the way, I am going to do a rain dance tonight to see if I can make it rain a substantial amount. Back to normal tomorrow, I hope.

Back to the heat

Wow,

Once again it is terribly hot, this afternoon the temperature was 29c, too hot for me, also the amount of rain has been next to nil. Still I am beginning to get some produce out of the garden.

the cherries are now about finished, the wasps have had a field day but I have had my fair share of them, I gave several lots away so I must not grumble, the size was good considering the lack of rain. The grapes(more like blackcurrants) are beginning to ripen, I gues they will be ready in about 3 weeks time, well some of them anyway.

As you will notice with the photos, I have a nice marrow, it was a courgette which I let grow, also the runner beans are coming on nicely. The large ones are Enorma and the smaller ones are Scarlet Emperor. I am about 2 weeks late this year due to the late frosts. I have had 4 meals off them so far. I have also had quiet a few beetroot, tried to pull some carrots up and with the hard dry ground, I left half a carrot in the soil on a few accasions. Will have to get the fork and loosen them.

Went to the G.P this morning and I am not happy as I have to go again for further blood tests and eventually make another appointment to see him in about 6 weeks. Further to my visit on August 12th for an internal inspection, the next day I have to go to the diabetic clinic. Will it ever end?

Tomorrow for a change, I have a man coming to service my C.H. boiler, thank goodness I have his mobile number, last year I waited in all day and he turned up at just after 5.00pm.

Let us see what happens. More soon.

At last some rain

Well on Tuesday night we had some rain in fact it was a heavy shower with some thunder, last night was similar and today we had another heavy shower. It has also turned cooler. I had to go for blood tests this morning, so I got up early before 6.00am and about 6 30 I decided to pick more cherries. It was just as well as the wasps were eating them . I guess that there were several dozen wasps eating the fruit. It is funny though, I did not bother much about them and they were intent on eating the cherries. Well I picked the majority of them then decided to take the netting off so that the blackbirds could also help themselves. I made a punnet up and packed them ready for Dave the postman. I waited all yesterday morning to catch him, just my luck, it was his day off. I did not expect to see him as my appointment was for 10.00am at the surgery about 3 miles away 5k. As it happened I saw him on my way to the surgery and I knew I would get mail so left them out by the front door. He managed to get them so hopefully I will see him tomorrow.

After having my blood tested, I went to the local town to see my friends who took over the business form me 13 years ago. Unfortunately, the photos of the kiosk were blurred. I will try again next time I go. I did take photos of the beach, you will notice that it was deserted, it has been cool and showery these last few days. I did take them a few potatoes that I dug up fresh this morning and some cherries. The potatoes were small and the ground is still very dry.

By the way if you look carefully you can see the small town in the distance, mind you it is a wonderful beach. More soon.

Another picture

Well last night we had some rain, nowhere near enough for the gardens but it was gratefully received. I gug the garden where the first early peas were, (Little Marvel) and was disappointed to see that the rain had not penetrated the soil; at all really, still today has been cloudy and also it was cooler around 19c. As promised I have taken another photo of more cherries. These are called Stella and nice and sweet. Also I have had my first tate of runner beans, these are called Enorma, if last year is to go by, then they will bear friut early then nothing much after. I have followed up with 2 old favourites. Scarlet Emperor and Painted Lady. Both are most reliable and will, if the weather is kind fruit until late October. We will have to wait and see. I have also had some beetroot(Boltardy)it is the first time I have ever had any go to seed but it has happened this year. I put it down to the unusual weather.

Weather this week is supposed to be unsettled with some heavy showers. If we get a heavy shower, I think we will have had more rain than all of yesterday. We will have to wait and see. Went to see next door neighbours today with some cherries. She gives me fresh eggs. I went and looked at the chickens, they look well. they have 4 at ther moment but say they will get another 5. I told them to get a sign and sell eggs. Later when I went out to clean the outside windows I saw a box of 6 fresh eggs. She told me that as soon as they laid 6 I would get them, so they are extra fresh. The trouble is, as I have repeatedly told her, I use a maximum of 6 eggs a fortnight.Still it is nice to have regular fresh eggs. More soon.

Cooler

Today has been a cooler day thank goodness. On Friday the temperature reached 30c. This is most unusual for a seaside place, on Saturday it was 28+c. Sunday it was very breezy but the wind was a hot one and the temperature reached 27c. However today it has been around 17c. As you will see from the photos, these were taken on Saturday morning before the heat of the day, I have plenty of cherries. Unfortunately the photo is not good they look marked. I can assure you they are not, I have put an English 10p piece and a 1 Euro coin to give some idea of the size. It always aggravates me when you get a photo or a film is shown of a bird, insect animal or flower and you have no idea as to how big it is. A Kingfisher is a perfect example. The majority of the general public have never seen or will ever see a Kingfisher but have no idea as to the size of it.

Also I have taken a photo of my runner beans, there are some on and I now have enough for a meal. The frost has made about 2 weeks difference with the frost damaging the tops on all bar one, it is this one that is producing beans.

Now to the greenhouse, I am sure that it has been too hot for the tomatoes to germinate as it has been too hot for them to set. As to the grapes, I have noticed that the odd grape is beginning to ripen. I knew I should have thinned them out, but my Italian friend insisted that I do nothing at all. I now know that this year, most will be around the size of a blackcurrant. I have tried one and although they are small, they are tasty and will be sweet when they are ripe.

I hope that with the cooler weather my ankle and foot will become more normal with the swelling receding.

The forecast today was for rain,up to now, we have not had enough to wet the ground completely but right now, it is raining as hard as it has done today so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I will keep all updated.

No change

Today, my friend came to see me, my watering system in the polytunnel was playing up. I think, well I do not think, I know that I need another power washer. He will now look for one for me. I dug him some potatoes up. Surprisingly, there were quite a few on each root, smaller than they should be but the skins were nice and moist so they will scrape well. Also today, I have picked a few cherries, I will take photos of them tomorrow. The weather is set fair and it is going to get hotter if that is possible.

The photos show the shallots in the garden almost ready to be lifted, and in the polytunnel being dried. I have since got most of them dried and into nets so I will have enough for the winter and plenty for setting next year.

I have 1 runner bean almost ready, it is about 25cm long 10" the variety is Enorma. There are a few more nearly ready and I think I will have a taste in 2 or 3 days.

I have noticed that this year there is loads of white flies about. I can not recall seeing so many before. I guess it is because the prolonged hot and very dry weather.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are beginning to ripen. Gardeners Delight are going well. The plum variety are nowhere near ready though yet.

Beetroot in the garden is beginning to be harvested, also greensage garden peas are plentiful but must be picked quickly as they will soon go to seed.

Apples and plums are only fair, the greenfly have once again played havoc with the plum trees. There are plenty of plums falling off the trees. I guess this is because the lack of rain. Still I should have some.

Again today there have been lots of small tortoishell butterflies about, also the odd cabbage white, I must cover the broccoli plants or will be in trouble. More to follow.

Health

Yesterday, Monday I went to see the local doctor with health problems. He was not too pleased, he has arranged for me to have blood tests and has made an appointment to see him again Monday week. Today I went to the hospital for my review with my consultant gastroenterologist. he was also not too pleased, I now have to go for an internal inspection in August. Oh well. such is life.

Now to other things. Once again we have had no sign of rain at all. However my shallots are almost dry. I will show photos another time. Recently there has been many small brown butterflies. I think they are skippers. I managed today to get a photo of one with it's wings open. They almost every time land on a flower and close their wings. I also took a couple of photos of the small tortoishell butterflies. Last year we were informed that there was a shortage of these butterflies due to some insects eating their eggs. I did not notice any difference, this year too, there have been lots about. I managed to get a close up of one on a scabious. I like the flowers the bees also like them.

With the weather being hot, the cherries are almost ready. I will take a photo of them when I start to pick them, I guess it will be Thursday or Friday.

I stopped off at my Italian friend on my way home from hospital. About 3 years ago I gave him several strawberry plants, this year he has had lots and his wife has been eating them every day. He gave me either a nectarine or a peach tree which has grown from a stone that was thrown away. I did not wish to disappoint him but almost certainly it will firstly grow huge and secondly will probably not come true as it could well be a hybrid. I doubt if I will live long enough to see the outcome. I did look at his grape vine and his grape are not a lot larger than mine, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Let us hope for rain soon. More later.

Still Hot

Again it has been a hot day, the forecasters keep saying it is getting cooler but not here. It is approachig 8.00pm and the temperature outside is 26c. It is tiring and I am beginning to wonder if it is too late if we get any rain. The peas have looked the best I have had for years but unfortunately they are now getting old before they are getting filled. I do have a small row that I have put some water on. You will see just how good they look. These are Hurst Greenshaft. I consider these to be the best early main crop around. There is another called Greensage, these are a little smaller and do not need sticking and are more of a leafless type. Anyway Greenshaft are a long sweet pea and have 9 or 10 peas oper pod regular. Quite often 11 are found too.

As you will see, my cherries are ripening and the photo is of the variety Stella. They are a beautiful sweet cherry, you must let them ripen fully though. It seems like they almost grow 20% more as they are ripening.

My teeth are playing up once again. This horrible Colitis, still there is nothing I can do, have you noticed that toothache always occurs at weekends when there is not a dentist available? I hope that I can get an appointment before Tuesday, this is when I have my next appointment with my Gastroenterologist.

We will see what happens. I hope that within the next week we get some appreciable rain.

Eyes

Yesterday I had my eyes photgraphed. here was such a mess as there were two places testing. The letter advised all to go and report to the van, I went there but a woman who was disabled, complained that it said that wheelchair access was available. This just was not so. However a man said to her that she might have to go to the main centre and it was upstairs. I checked my letter and found that I should be at the centre. This woman told me exactly where to go so off I went. Thank goodness I was not too late and did not lose my turn. I was there only a few minutes when this young man came and ushered me in to have drops put into my eyes. This is to enlarge the pupils. It also did sting quite a bit, anyway he suggested that I talk to this nurse about the study that was being done. I agreed to join and spent an enjoyable 20 minutes answering a questionaire. I then went back to the waiting area for no more than 5 minutes. The young man again invited me in and checked my vision. I was surprised when he said that it was quite good. He then took 4 photos and then invited me to inspect them with him. He informed me that I had cataracts but NOT where the vision is and that an operation would not be of any advantage to me, I would just have to accept that my eyes are not as good as they were. So that was that.

I hope again that the photos are on the same page. One is of the shallots taken a couple of days ago. Since I took the photo I have lifted them, I will take another photo when they are dried more. The second is of my runner beans, I have been watering them regular and today I have noticed that some are now forming. There was I think just 1 when this photo was taken 3 days ago.

Again the weather has been oppressive and very hot. Forecasters say that although rain will be heavy in the west, hardly any will get over to the east. It has also been the driest first 6 months of the year for over 80 years. I am concerned about my grapes. I so much wanted to thin them but mt Italian friend insisted that I took none off the vine. I think there are about 40 bunches. Oh well let us hope that all will be well. Let us hope rain will arrive here. More soon.