Pushing up the daisies

We are in the middle of a very puzzling dry spell. Of course that is good news for humans that want to sit outside drinking mojitos and getting tanned but bad news for a veg garden. So it's been water + mulch for the last fortnight. Some things hate it - the lettuce have gone AWOL. But surprisingly the garden is still thriving. Picking our first courgettes - they are very early this year. The spuds have been wonderful. i pulled up the first rows of belle de Fontenay and they have been replaced with two butternut plants and a row of some unidentified brassica which may be broccoli or caulis. The achocha is finally liking its sunny spot and has started to climb its stakes. I like its pretty light green colour and fine tendrils. The beans are doing well. The runners are about 20cm high and starting to twine around their supports and the French beans will be flowering soon, good, beans before our holidays. More carrots, turnips, beets, lettuce have been sown, tricky in this hot weather. The tomatoes are getting very big and I have the first baby fruit (again very early) and plenty of flowers. The peppers next to them also are doing well and are close to flowering. Afraid that the broad beans were heavily affected by rust and aphids so I ripped them out, added fresh compost and sowed some beans and peas in their place. Now I need to get cracking on some swiss chard plants and buy in leeks and brussel sprouts which failed from seed for me, as usual. The grapevine also needs tying in.