Hello! The garden is challenging and rewarding at the moment. The challenge lies in the continued arid conditions we have. Hot remperatures are not exactly rare in a North Carolinian summer, nor are stretches of dryness but it has been particularly hot and dry this year. I suspect this is why my various squash crops have been struggling. I strongly suspect I should have planted them all earlier so they were pollinated and growing fruits before the hot stretch started. Another lesson learned.

In my defence, it took me a lot longer than I anticipated to prepare the vegetable plot and this led to me planting stuff later than I wanted to. I thought I could get away with it - ha! Another lesson learned: don't butt heads with Mother Nature. It's not all bad though, far from it. I have tons of pickling cucumbers growing. They can be eaten like standard cumcmbers and taste very similar, or pickled. They're smaller than other cucumbers, growing to 5-6 inches in length and being a bit on the dumpy side. I look forward to some nice salads, partly flavourred with sweet basil leaves. My sweet basil is growing like mad and it is delicious. Delicious.

I also have my corn producing cobs, some very nearly ready to pick. I've been researching how to assess the ripeness of the cobs and I should have some in the next few days. I'll cook them immediately after picking, as the sugar in the kernels begins to convert into starch immediately after picking (apparently) and affects the flavour. I cannot wait to tuck into them. I've learned that next year I should plant them in a block for better pollination, but I haven't done too badly this year.

My tomatoes are finally producing fruit. My initial planting was washed away by torrential rain and this set me back a bit. But now the plants are growing well and fruit is apearing. I still have enough time for a decent crop - the cummer in North Carolina is long and the Autumn - of Fall as they call it here - is very mild too. More like an English summer, only hotter. Heh. Which brings me . .

I've been thinking about my Autumn garden for a while now. I will be planting stuff in about a month to six weeks, crops that will grow in our temperate Autumn and some that can resist a frost or two. Indeed, some vegetables, apparently, taste better after a couple of frosts - eg, parsnips (which I love.) Crops I intend to plant include beetroot, carrot, parsnip, collards, turnips and broccoli. Maybe cauliflower too, we'll see. As other crops finish I'll creare new deep, wide beds and get sowing.

Well that's it for now. More next time when I talk about my adventures in pumpkin cultivation. Well, not so much adventures as me bumbling about the garden poking seeds into the ground, but adventures in pumpkin cultivation sounds slightly snappier.

Tata!