Two days of sun and a thunderstorm

Rather more than two days of sun, actually, and definitely more than one thunderstorm.  Two nights of spectacular flash and crash (and downpour), and intermittent daytime bouts since then. This coming week should be more settled, less hot and humid than the end of last week but dry for a few days at least.  I managed to thin the plums, rather belatedly (some are already starting to turn purple), in advance of the storms, in case there was wind as well, but fortunately there was no damage.  Some of the plum trusses were huge, and I removed a whole bucketful of plums; it goes against the grain to cut off big, healthy fruit, but it's for the best.  There are still lots on the tree.

The apple cordons have also been pruned, and this year I've tried to tidy up the shape of the trees as well as cutting back the long growth.  There's a lot of aphid damage on them and I put the prunings in the green waste bin as some of them looked a bit diseased.

The garlic (a bit small, but not too bad) and shallots (better than I had feared) have been lifted, as well as a healthy crop of potatoes that had come up underneath.

A bit too red

The flower display in the garden is tailing off, as it tends to do at this time of year.  There are still a few roses, but the big display is over.  There's the crocosmia, and the Lilium henryii is still to come; the francoa is in flower, and of course the Big Yellow Thing, but the general picture is a bit colourless.  Even the rampant pink geraniums are going over.  Nearer the house, the display is better, with still lots of pinks and the lavender, and of course the pots on the patio; the salpiglossis in these is fading a bit, but the overall picture is still colourful.  The flowers on the ricinus plants are striking, but I hadn't bargained for the bright red that they bring to the mix; it goes not too badly with most of the other reds in there, but not with Penstemon 'Garnet', which just looks wrong with them.

The last baby blackbird seems to be mostly independent now, although still hanging around with mum a bit.  Mum is taking it easier, and sunbathing a lot, even just a few feet behind me as I was picking the last red gooseberries; she's quite trusting.  The fruit has been attracting a pair of bullfinches as well as the blackbirds, and the odd sparrow has been in there too (we have lots of sparrows, and they're still mating and nesting).  There were glimpses of a small brown bird today - a warbler of some sort, probably.  The butterflies are coming out; a red admiral was around the other day, and a few meadow browns.  The buddleia is starting to flower, so I'm expecting more soon.