Wow, the last post for August already, the bank holiday weekend down in England, the expected cool and winder conditions. What to do? I’ll show you some hot summer colour to warm us all up.

Dahlia first, a wonderful bright bright red. Most evenings, each bloom seems to end up with a little golden bee attached for the night. Great spot to wake up for breakfast I guess.

I am a huge fan of crocosmia. This one is lucifer, though it does look a little orange. It may be a hybrid between lucifer and a smaller orange one. They are very vibrant and make an interesting cut flower, but rather thuggish!

Garden lilies have been decimated by lily beetle this year, especially the ones I grow in pots. Except for these, which flower much later. Maybe I need to invest in some later flowering lilies for next year: these are gorgeous.

For a few years now I’ve tried zinnia from seed. So few of them grow and flower, perhaps we just don’t have the warmth. But when they come through, the blooms are lovely.

Much better from seed, my cosmos are huge this year, some nearly 2m tall. They don’t last well in the rain, but if carefully deadheaded they do keep on blooming.

Last but not least, another really wonderful potted dahlia. This one is bigger than my hand. No bees, but a perfect flower.

That’s my #SixOnSaturday for this week. Join the sixes on Mastodon or other instances in the Fediverse via #SixOnSaturday, we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

I know it is late summer now because my evenings and weekends are filled with harvesting the bounty of the 2023 growing season. This week I’m showing off some of my latest fruit and veg, soon to be prepped for drying, freezing and maybe even canning this year. BTW, I did win some prizes at my garden show last week. Take a look here: https://mastodon.scot/@julie3dharris/110877827848568978

At the very end of their season (and a little too late, some were too soft and shrivelled already) are my purple gooseberries. These will hit the freezer as there are not enough for jam this year.

I also cleared my broad bean patch in the last week. These have been magnificent this year, I’ve at least 3 boxes for the freezer, great to pull out for stir fries and ‘garden pasta’ dishes that will remind me of summer in months to come.

I suspect I’m mid-season now for tomatoes. I long ago gave up trying to grow them outside, we are simply too cool and windswept in this part of the world for them to thrive. But in the greenhouse, I’m very pleased with the results.

An all-year rounder that I’m very fond of now is the ‘walking onion’ (also called Welsh onion). This is a perennial, seems to avoid the white rot that attacks other onions if I grow them, and pops up with lots of lovely little onions at the top of the stems. I use these as ‘cut and come again’.

A fruit at the very start of the season are apples. I have 9 trees (legacy of past custodians of the garden), no idea of the varieties. These are always first, they don’t store well, but do make lovely pink juice.

Last, but very much not least, I’m attempting to grow Trombochino squash this year, as recommendation from the “Gardeners World” TV program. I don’t know if these plants are hardier than other squash (most of which have sulked/died already), or if I just gave them more care, but they are looking fabulous so far. Apparently these can be eaten like courgettes now, or left to left sweeter and browner into Autumn — I’m planning to try that with some of the fruit.

That’s my #SixOnSaturday for this week. Join the sixes on Mastodon or other instances in the Fediverse via #SixOnSaturday, we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

I’ve chosen very simple sample of garden loveliness for this week’s #SinOnSaturday. Today is my local village Annual Flower and Produce Show. I’ve entered mostly in the fruit and veg categories (plus one big bunch of flowers), here are some of my favourite entries.

I hope there’s a good chance for a prize for courgettes this year. After watering and gently singing to them this week, I’ve managed to collect 3 decent fruit, all about the same size. Fingers crossed.

Tomatoes are good too, though 2/3 of these have little blemishes on the bottom, so I’m not sure if they will be be up to scratch. From the top they look so good I just had to enter these 3.

There’s always a ‘veg not in schedule’ category. I have entered a handful of achocha, a Peruvian vine, related to exploding cucumber. My plants do very well in the greenhouse, and not badly against a south-facing wall in the garden. they are great chopped and used like bell pepper.

Although the rhubarb path got a bit exhausted back in dry June, it has been revived by the July rain. I am rather pleased with my offering for this year’s show.

The last veg on show today are my chillies. The variety is “Nigel’s outdoor”, supposedly hardy enough for outdoor growing in the UK. This seems to be holding up. Two of these fruit came from plants in the greenhouse, the other from an outdoor one. Looking good, but maybe not similar enough for a prize this year?

Last up, I won first prize for raspberries last year, this year it was hard to find 12 fruit on the plant. There are plenty of fruit, just not ripe. I did manage after some rummaging around.

Wish me luck, this lot and more have been delivered to the village hall now. The show opens at 2pm and I can go see how I’ve done.

That’s my #SixOnSaturday for this week. Join the sixes on Mastodon or other instances in the Fediverse via #SixOnSaturday, we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

August is the time for harvesting veg, feeling chuffed about the successes of chilli, toms and beans, wishing I’d got more radish in, and wondering why beetroot just didn’t grow at all. Also, a week to to until the local Annual Flower Show, so need to sing gently to my plants. here are 6 of the best so far for #SixOnSaturday.

Nothing nicer than a courgette flower, except a flower with fruit behind (this one isn’t).

Brassicas do SO well in eastern Scotland, especially in a year like this, with low butterfly numbers (but I do wish there were more…it is too cool and damp). Cavalo Nero is a favourite, with gorgeous texture and colour that it retains when steamed or stir-fried.

In the greenhouse I’ve realised that less is more with fewer chilli plants, in bigger pots, giving me more chillies. Now a little bit of sun to heat them up would be great.

I am looking forward to Queen of the Night ripening up. She’s a rich purple-black tomato, medium sized. Hoping that the promised black-to-red interior colour will appear as the seed provider promised.

Back in the garden, it has been so cool this summer that spring-planted chard hasn’t bolted, each plant is growing strong, will be a great autumn crop.

Last but not least, a much more transient garden joy: runner beans, looks like we’re going to have a huge crop this year.

That’s my #SixOnSaturday for this week. Join the sixes on Mastodon or other instances in the Fediverse via #SixOnSaturday, we need a few more folk to toot on the topic: come join us. All you need to do is find 6 things in your garden to show us. Then post on social, or add a link at Jim’s blog below. For regulars, our organiser is Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/. Also on twitter @JamesLStephens. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot