Once again it’s very hot here with temperatures around 30 degrees plus. The rain of last Sunday – really, the one day I have the family over and it rains – was welcome and filled two of the large water butts and one small one. Total 868 litres plus some odds and ends from the greenhouse butts and I’m nearly through it already. I am looking again at the garden to see what I can add in to extend the colour but planting will have to wait until September. Here’s what’s happening at the moment.
One
A melon update: My second year of growing melons and you would have thought it would be a bumper year. There have been plenty of flowers but only one has come good as a melon. Two or three other melons formed but then rotted off. I’ve been hard at work cutting back the side shoots and stopping the main stem. Now I have to decide when is the optimum time to pick this precious fruit.
Two
The grapevine over the pergola regularly produces grapes but at this time of the year they split and never ripen. The previous owner said it was a Black Hamburg, which, as many of you will know, is an indoor variety. Today the wasps are having great fun and it makes sitting under the welcome shade a little nerve wracking. I think in future I will cut off all the grapes and have beautiful shade and no wasps!
Three
The Hollyhocks have been to be featured again. They just keep on growing. There was a touch of rust on the lower leaves early on but the hot dry weather seems to have kept it at bay. Reader, I measured this one. It is eleven foot six inches! Does that sound like a challenge? Bring on the hollyhocks. This one is growing up into a dead fruit tree. It never got to fruiting stage so I can’t identify it, other than to say that I suspect is was a stone fruit, maybe apricot, which succumbed to leaf curl and oozing this year.
Four
Also doing rather well are the rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’. I have my eye on these for dividing this year. Spreading this wonderful colour around the garden will be a pleasure.
Five
I was late sowing the cosmos this year but they have started to come into flower. This one is Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Click Cranberries’. I’ve planted them in a block but I think this one will look good dotted around the border next year.
Six
Lastly a zinnnia. This is taken as a close up because my planting scheme went awry. I planned to mix the zinnias and some ammi visnaga together but the ammi germinated late and is only just looking good enough to plant out. Without the ammi to add some froth the zinnias look like soldiers on parade. Maybe it will look better in October.
From here it looks like crispy lawns and parched plants for a little longer. See what else is going on at The Prop’s blog – there you can find links to all the other great SOSs.
n20gardener 
A lovely six. I especially like your hollyhock as all of mine have been a bit rubbish this year.
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Nice splash of colors! I’m a bit jealous of your grapevine … I don’t know how mine is but with a lack of rain, the pips are too small this year. About the melon, I’m happy to see you’re successful this year! Cut it (and taste it) when the last leaf before the fruit starts to dry and it turns yellow. The scent of melon is also a good sign …
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Don’t forget to cut one or two leaves after the fruit to make it grow !
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That Cosmos is a really gorgeous colour. I didn’t realise they came in such strong shades.
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Love the Cosmos. I’ve grown a bright pink one before (the variety escapes me at the moment) but the semi doubleness of this one is lovely. One for the list! My Ammi started really well but they haven’t coped with the heat and I’ve consigned most to the compost bin sadly
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I don’t know if mine will even flower. What a strange year we are all having.
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You have a lovely colourful garden and I envy you that brick wall! Nice colour for the Cosmos, I chose a semi-double one White Psyche and it has and is flowering well, but so tall! A bit too tall for my usually windy garden, luckily there hasn’t been too much this summer.
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The purity I grow also get tall but again I was late sowing and they are much shorter this year – also less water of course!
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That melon looks wonderful! I can almost taste it. Love the cosmos, not one that I have heard of before, but one to look out for. Great six 🙂
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Sorry about the others, but that is one lovely melon. Your plans for dividing the Rudbeckia are a wake-up call for me. I need to divide a Rudbeckia, but also several crowded patches of bearded irises. We’re lucky – it’s cooled off a bit here and gardening has gotten fun again.
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Still 30 degrees here and staying that way until Wednesday – had to rescue a clematis today. I hope I got to it in time.
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Many thanks for the melon tips. I am looking forward to the scent arriving 😊
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Lovely six. It must be great to grow your own melons and grapes, I bet they taste fabulous.
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Thank you, the melon we do get to enjoy but the grapes don’t come too much. I think it’s the wrong variety for outdoor growing. The shade is good though.
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