174E - July: shouldn't it be warm?

 First of all: well, hello, over there in Hong Kong, China and Singapore🤗. I am chuffed (but rather surprised) that you have cared to read my blog in such great numbers. You are very welcome. Some of my favourite plants come from your part of the world.

Just before it became cloudy again

   I have almost forgotten those few, warm days, because ever since we have been pelted with rain for days, and it was chilly and we've had storms, that tried to ruin my balcony garden. Fortunately nothing has been really damaged. But may I moan at you for a minute and state that I am utterly fed up with our weather?

   And not just me, my allotment neighbour was feeling hopeless, he said.

   I know how he feels. When Puck and I walk our walks, she looks at all the torn off branches (thick ones!), and my doggie then wants to sniff all of them. She then looks over her shoulder at me, and because I speak dog since I was 9, I know she means to tell me that those branches don't belong there.

Clouds changing to storm

Despite my grumbling I cannot complain about my garden. All plants are upright and blooming. The self-seeders can romp away, and especially in the border next to the greenhouse they have succeeded in beauty.

Gorgeous, right?

   I had lifted

the Solidago

though, that

was romping too

enthusiastically to my taste.

 So I tore out the spent Valerian, cleared that green snot from the frog pond (an everlasting chore), re-bound the windblown jasmine and then it started to rain. Again.

Achillea millefolium 'Terra Cotta'

But even overcast skies have their advantages, because when it is sunny, all my Achilleas are 'yellow', but look at what happens when the sun is hidden!

At home in my balcony garden I filled a large black bin bag with the rotting heads of my Pelargoniums...such a shame. Especially the white ones were looking sad, brown. They hate that rain.

And the Tomatoes also, lots of bedraggled yellowing leaves. The fruit is still hanging, but whether it will ever turn red, I don't know.

My potatoes, yay!

   But just look at my potatoes! Only one potato planted in that pot, and five meals for me (I don't eat many...my diet). I adore patatas bravas.

   Less successful so far was my raising of tree spinach. I was gifted some seeds by a friend, and believe me I mollycoddled them. Nice light, just enough water, everything just so, I even sang to them. They were doing poorly. So, anyway, when that potato pot came free, I decided to plant them just the same, and put them out on the balcony. And they immediately hung their heads...wuzzes! But, to my utter surprise, when I looked at the balcony the next morning, they had survived the chilly night and rain, and had grown 3 cm. I am not joking.

Chenopodium giganteum

Wow!

So maybe I will get to taste them after all. You can eat the purple top leaves in a salad, and treat the older leaves as spinach. I will stirrfry them. It should grow to a metre and a half, well, bring it on! Perhaps this plant actually likes our present chilly summer?

Okay, this is it for today.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are in the world.

Renée