Margaret's Garden Journal for July 2008

Lilies flowered at the beginning of the month but needed staking as we are still experiencing strong gusts of wind. Foliage of dahlias, crocodmia and gladili cover soil left bare after the great forget-me-not cull. Two dalia plants were in flower by the second week of the month. Penstemons and evening primrose added colour.

The carrots I sowed in June have come through far better than the Aprol sowing. The soft fruit is doing well again although the strawberried finished eatly in July. The unpruned shoots of the autumn raspberries gave fruit before the summer variet, The tayberry set more fruit than last year and are sweeter than the loganberries which began to ripen by the second week. The broad beans set better than last year and have produced pods higher up this year as well as he first flush near the ground. Many of the pods of the early pea plants given to me by Mark yielded 12 peas, but he can't remember the name of the variety.