Just Coming Good....

It is hard to leave the garden behind at many times of year but with a late Spring and now glorious - and long-awaited - July weather, it was particularly hard to say goodbye for five weeks the other weekend. Everything was 'just coming good' - my much laboured over vegetable garden in particular. The peas and broad beans and raspberries, black currants and potatoes which I have nurtured through an inclement season were beginning to bear fruit - but not quickly enough for me to enjoy. Ditto my Lollo Rosso and Little Gem lettuces. On the day of our departure I sent my youngest up to pick some lettuce for me to take to France with us - and the next thing I know she's reappeared with a barrow-load having dug the whole lot up! So as the deadline for our departure loomed large I suddenly found myself with the unexpected task of having to replant most of them in the vain hope that they would survive and flourish until my return...

I took a quick few photos of the main herbaceous border, just coming into full summer glory, and of the alchemilla mollis taking over the front terrace. By the time I get home it will be past its fulsome best, but I have planted some late flowerers in an effort to have something to come back to...