The powers that be will say they were forecasts not promises. Whatever they were they did not materialise and the garden remains in desperate need of rain. I haven’t watered the potatoes, hoping that there was enough rain in the early growing stage to get me through to a crop. It’s not been too bad, smaller in size but the good taste compensates. The flower garden is truly suffering and as today’s promised rain faded away I took to watering the collapsing plants. Getting up close makes it clear how the self-seeders are showing their thuggish nature. There is some work to be done. I’m on a promise for a thunderstorm tomorrow. In the meantime here’s six from the garden this week.
One
The first three are annuals sown to fill the space left by the fig tree. The roots of the fig may be shallow but they are tenacious and it was all I could do to carve out some planting holes for the seedlings. The first is a pink poppy, from seed supplied by fellow SOSer Fred. They are about six inches high – lack of water I’m sure.
Two
The French marigold ‘Carmen’ seems to coping a little better with the conditions and fills the corner quite well..
Three
Cornflowers. I shared half with my daughter and now I’m wishing I’d kept them all! I’m sure they are looking good in her garden too, which I’ve not visited for a few weeks now.
Four
Here’s an unknown clematis. This was struggling early on and so I tried to give this a weekly watering can full. It’s showing positive results. It needed to re-establish after being messed about by the removal of a rose arch and rose.
Five
The drum stick alliums benefit from getting the water I empty out from the bottom of the water butt. It seems to have helped and the bees truly appreciate them.
Six
Apples. How will they fare I wonder. I’ve picked up the last of the June drop, I hope. Will the sunshine make for tastier apples? I must be patient.
I’ll make the most of today’s cooler temperatures to cut back geraniums and clear the strawberry patch of all the over ripe fruit. There’s plenty of rose bay willow herb to be pulled up as I go. I have the agapanthus to look forward to, they are just about to open up. It must be July. Jim’s garden awaits the curious, always something different as well as links to other SOS gardens. I hope that those who need rain do get some soon and those that have too much do not suffer. Happy gardening.
n20gardener 
That’s funny! I recognized my little poppy before reading the text. It actually looks a lot like mine, but that’s normal. It’s usually this size, so lack of water? I don’t think so.
This clematis flower has such a beautiful, powerful colour! I love this contrast.
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Good to hear the poppy isn’t suffering. I’ll let them seed and perhaps they will come back next year.
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Cornflower is remarkably resilient. Even in the chaparral climate here, it can self sow into areas that lack irrigation, and bloom at least part way into summer. Clematis, though (!); well, we do not even bother growing it (although we have one at work), because it is so sensitive to aridity. Yours is impressive.
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Well my cornflowers are definitely lacking irrigation this year.
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We’ve had quite a bit of rain but not _too_ much, so I’m not complaining. I love the picture of the allium & bee.
Fingers crossed for some much needed liquid refreshment for your plants!
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We just keep missing the showers. So very dry. Maybe tomorrow 🤞🤞
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I hope the rain has arrived! It seems to have visited Wimbles this afternoon. Here we had some overnight rain and drizzle, not sure how deep it has penetrated the ground though. I am sad to say I didn’t grow any cornflowers this year, they really are the most heavenly blue.
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I agree with you on the colour of cornflowers. Glorious. Still no rain even though Wimbledon had some. All used up before it got here!!
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I never have much success growing cornflowers. They’re such a lovely blue. I hope you get a thunderstorm. We desperately need some rain here too.
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Hoping you get some rain too. I can’t say why the cornflowers germinated. Who knows!
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Love, love, love the Poppy; the form and the color are beautiful. The other blooms are lovely, too. And yum…apples in your future! I hope you’ll get some needed precipitation. We are just about to have a thunderstorm here within a few hours. We’ve had plenty of rain, which is good because it’s been very hot (30-33C highs) for a couple of weeks. I’ll send some rain your way… 😉
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We had a couple of mid week showers that barely touched the ground. But today we have real rain. Very happy!
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Re apples: the June drop has been especially heavy this year but, then, the crop is an exceptional one as it will also be for plums and other soft fruits.
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I’m hoping that the rain we have finally received will help them along too.
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Nice to see some annuals. I think they tend to be ignored sometimes, which is a shame.
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I renewed my acquaintance with them this year and it’s been worth it.
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A lovely summer garden.
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