My summer so far

Hi David Great blog as usual. I am quite metricated now with regard to temperature, so i have converted you to Celsius. 100?F = 38?C. My only experience of that sort of temperature was in Spain. Walking past the chemists one evening the digital sign on the roof showed a temperature of 36?C. It was blooming hot. I think it is a trait of most gardeners and in particular English gardeners to never be happy with the weather. It,s either too cold, too hot, too dry or too wet. At the moment here today it is a very pleasant 70?F, but i am stuck inside working at a computer screen. Last night i picked a bag of courgettes which i have dumped on an adjacent bookcase so others can help themselves. I always grow too many of the dam things. Good to hear you are battling on. Regards Glenn

Hi Everyone, (especially David), David, So sorry to hear what you have been through,I am glad to hear you are on the mend and able to keep up with some of your gardening. The temperatures have been tough on our gardens here. My Amish paste, the best producer last year, suddenly just died, after getting only a couple of pounds from the plants. It looks like I might be losing some other varieties as well. The rest of the garden is still holding up pretty well, despite the heat. No beans of any kind yet this year- blossom drop from heat and then heavy downpours, but I think I will still get a decent harvest before the fall. I am on restricted ( again!) gardening- not allowed to lift more than ten pounds, and not supposed to be doing things over my head. At least last Summer I was off lifting restrictions for a time and reclaimed part of my garden space that was over run with ivy and shrubs that needed taming! My husband did finally go and take out completely one Forsythnia shrub that we think was trying to grow into the sewer line. So when we finish with that space, I will have a nice new full sun area to work with, something I always need more of! I have been working on fermenting and culturing techniques for vegetables and dairy. Also have mastered Kombucha making, but need a new culture. I like these perservation techinques because they do not depend on refrigeration or electricity to make them. I did freeze some of the tomatoes though. Have to have them on hand for sauces during the winter. I also joined a local organic CSA, which has comlimented my own gardening efforts well. The Basil crop is exceptional this year- I will be making pesto to freeze. Also, although I do not grow them, the melons and peaches are also exceptional this year, the best in many years! Have been getting pictures up on facebook, but still having trouble mastering the upload here. That will be one of my fall projects. Was very disappointed in the Burlington County Farm fair this year. Not at all what I expected out of the new grounds. If you are disabled, think twice about even wasting your time paying for the so called handicapped parking- a good 1/2 mile from the entrance, and that is not even close to all the areas of interest. Glad I did not have my husband with me that day, or I would have had to leave. Hope that they correct that for next year's fair! So to David, keep getting better and to everyone else, hope that your gardens are surviving! Take care, and happy (HOT) gardening! Susan