Better a little late...

   Ooops I am a day late with my blog! The weather continues to be sunny and hot. As nice as

Blacktail Mountain Water Melon

it is prolonged hot sunny weather is not so good for the garden. Its as bad as prolonged rain!. The water melons have benefited and there are at least six that will be edible. We have had one and it was delicious! Other crops in the garden are suffering. I do not water my outside the poly tunnel tomatoes. It would be just a waste of time as I could not get enough water on them. Tomatoes need a lot of water. They are producing some fruit but after the blight hit there is not as much as I would have liked. The bantam sweet corn looks good as does the haricot buerre. The La Diva cucumbers, much to my surprise, have gone over quite quickly despite watering. Courgettes, round and straight and the squash are loving the sunny weather. These I do water. The winter leeks are stood still and the aubergines are a right off this year.  My carrots are looking good. I have been digging up the potatoes. Good crop of Bonnette Noirmoutier, Belle de Fontenay and Desiree. A disappointing crop of Corolle. Guess you cannot win them all!
   In the poly tunnel despite tomato blight there is an increasing amount of tomatoes to pick. The Wautoma cucumbers have been disappointing and are showing signs of going over. The Chrystal Apple cucumbers are at last producing but again they are showing signs of going over. I think the tunnel has at first suffered from high humidity, hence fungal attacks and then too hot from the continuous sunshine. Still, the jalapeno peppers are coming along and the beetroot has done particularly well. 
   My attention is now turning more and more towards autumn and winter crops. Autumn cauliflowers, winter cabbage planted out, carrots, turnips, swede and spinach all sown. I am going to try sowing winter onion seed this season. They will be sown on the 18th August!
   On the animal front the sheep go and  hide during the hottest part of the day. The pasture is brown. Good job these are hardy sheep! The last four meat chickens have been processed, one being a real skinny bird which I quickly BBQ'ed. The other three were decent weights, x2 @ 2.5kg and one at 3.5kg. Unfortunately one the egg laying hens decided it was her time to go to pastures new and took herself off to a corner of the coop and died overnight. No obvious cause, all the others are fine. She was probably one of the oldest. Her time had come. Mother hen and her two chicks continue to do fine. The chicks are now just over six weeks old.
   Hate to say this but I hope we get some rain soon.