Is this really the last post of August? How did we get to the end of summer already. Still coolish days (16-20 deg), stiff breeze, a few sprinkles of rain, we are back to our traditional end of August. There are still lots of lovely things delivering colourful joy in the garden. Here are some of my beautiful colourful blooms for this week’s #SixOnSaturday.

I’m not sure how much I like this new dahlia variety, but it certainly packs in some colour, especially when it shines with newly fallen rain.

In the dry borders, buddleja have loved the warm nights and sunny days. The yellow one is always the most successful, still flowering well as the season ends.

After a long dry spell, I thought that roses had finished for the year. It seems they were just having a rest. These are back, with their gorgeous blooms and spicy scent (wish I could share that with you).

This year, Japanese anemone are early, fewer than usual, but dealing well with blustery wet days as well as sunshine.

Echinops always look lovely as the summer season ends, always one of the last plants to come into bloom, and always providing a snack bar for bees, overflies and other insects. I think this is a honey bee enjoying some nectar.

Last, pow, another dahlia, this one not so great for the insects, but it’s form is just perfect and such a rich colour, I hope my dahlias will last another month, maybe more if they go into the greenhouse.

Colour, form, in just a few short weeks it will be dark and cold as we five down into winter. At least there will be lots of colour from this year’s high season Sixes. I hope you enjoyed mine this week.

Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Mid0August and a more typical Scottish weather pattern has resumed, finally! Coolish days (16-20 deg), stiff breeze, a few sprinkles of rain. The change, and the nights drawing in, reminded me to start stripping the foliage away from my greenhouse tomatoes, to help them ripen up. And that help is now delivering.

This week, I’m staying put in the warm greenhouse, and showing off my tomatoes for my #SixOnSaturday this week.

“Imun” is sold as an ‘early’ variety — not in my experience, most of my toms have ripened late thsi year, all in the last 2-3 weeks. This is a chubby, pinkish tomato, nice and sweet.

I like to mix and match a range of different varieties, somehow I only managed to grow one yellow tomato this year. Jen’s Tangerine was a good choice, great colour, tasty, not too thick in flesh.

Mini-tomatoes are always great to have for a salad. “Red Cherry” does exactly what it’s name suggests, sweet, juicy, little toms to just pop into your mouth.

Back to my more colourful crop, this one is “Blue Fire” — they do start as blue(ish), as they ripen they turn into a dark purple and the red at the top suggests this one is nearly ready. I have not sampled this year, but I do remember that the flesh is good, the tomato looks fantastic sliced, but the skin can be a bit thick.

For some reason “Tigrella” isn’t as striped as it is some years. These mid-sized fruit have a feint vertical stripe. I wonder if this is because I’ve grown them on from last year’s seeds harvested from my own plants?

Last but not least, a now annual favourite that I collect seed from every year, “Audrey’s Love” is a sprawl bush, perfect for the greenhouse bench, and her fruits are heavy, heart-shaped and delicious.

Wow, fruiting tomatoes really does mean that summer is nearly over. Despite the very ODD year we have had so far, I will miss, as I’ll miss those light, long summer days. Time to get the food dehydrator out, so that I can dry tomatoes, apples, courgettes and so on, to jar up and get me through the rest of the year!

Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

So lucky are we…..so lucky to live far enough north to have had a few mm of rain (grass in greening) and not to suffer in the UK’s 5th heat-wave of the year. It’s a scary situation, more than ever I am grateful to live in beautiful Scotland. This week, it’s been back into the high 20’s here, summer blooms are really going for it, lots and lots of flowers.

I’m sharing blooms in pink for my #SixOnSaturday this week.

Dahlia’s are loving the unusual heat. This is a new one, in a hot hot pink, wow.

Much more subtle, but flowering a lot, cosmos is enjoying growing in those warm plant pots by the greenhouse.

A perennial sweetie found its way into the garden. I have it under control this year, growing up a frame. The blooms are beautiful though have no scent at all.

Another new dahlia, pink, but with an open centre to attract bees and lots of overflies seem to love it too.

Japanese anemone are responding to warm dry weather by flowering about 3 weeks early. I’d better love them while we have them this year!

My favourite pink thing in the garden this week…..just LOOK at these luscious lilies, flowering on a 1.5m stem, so many blooms, and in the dry south-facing bed with no watering. They have done me proud.

I’ve enjoyed finding this pink selection….also makes up for me not posting last week. My birthday weekend, I was down in Yorkshire fine-dining, no gardening in sight!

Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot

Somehow, in the last week, we have switched from scary hot summer to ‘back to normal’. It’s warmish in the day, windy, with temperatures dropped below 10 deg C on some nights. We finally had 3 days with some rain this week, and a lot of it…it took us to about 50% of a historical rainfall total for July, the only 3 days of rain this month — a lot better than most parts of Northern Europe. I think it’s therefore time to show you some of my lovely summer veggies before the cool nights start to make them sulk.

Here’s a fruit and vegetable special for my #SixOnSaturday this week.

I will start with the promise of things to come. In the greenhouse the grape vine is producing a huge amount of fruit this year. I’m having to tie up some of the branches to stop them breaking. These will be large sweet and purple in about a month.

On the back wall of the greenhouse (south-facing), I have tried a squash that usually doesn’t make it outdoors. Trombocino — what a ridiculous plant….this fruit is about 40cm long. Perhaps time to harvest soon in the hope it’s smaller siblings may grow too.

While we are in the greenhouse, tomatoes are late this year. I may manage a tomato-special soon, but for now, here is the wonderful ‘blue fire’ ripening to blue — it will go purple later as the red pigment comes. Yummy!

In the garden. Runner beans often do well here in eastern Scotland. They are large, early and very succulent this year. It is already hard to keep on top of the harvest, picking before they become woody.

I am very proud of my outdoor courgettes this year. They may well feature again in future weeks. For now, this is a classic fruit, actually as big and strong as the supermarket delivers. but I swear these are fully organic, sweeter, tastier, and there are no food miles…..20m from plant to frying pan.

Last, a delicious pea, can’t remember the variety. The pods are a wonderful purple, but the pea just regular green. I tried a few early as mange tout, but nope, horrible and stringy. So peas do need to be podded. Ah well, at least they are easy to find.

I’ve really enjoyed growing veg this year, despite the need for very regular watering. I hope you enjoyed the view too.

Do join in with your own 6 things from a garden. Thanks to those leaving comments on the blog. I do read them all, keep them coming. And do join in with #SixOnSaturday. 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/. And I’m on mastodon @julie3dharris@mastodon.scot