Rain at last

So finally it has rained: over a week or so, with some periods of steady rain, punctuated here and there by a dry day or two.  Temperatures are around 20C most days, which is reasonable for early September but feels chilly after the heat we’ve been having.  When the sun is out, it is very pleasant but the breeze is rather fresh, especially first thing in the morning. 

Along the terrace

Most plants are slowly recovering from the dry weather; so too are the weeds, and the lawn has not only started to turn green but is likely to need cutting if this continues.  The drought has shown me which plants are real survivors: along the terrace, for example, the sage, achillea and sweet cicely have carried on regardless of the lack of water.  Admittedly they probably have their roots down under the terrace flagstones, which would help.  The achillea has behaved rather better this year than last, probably because of my staking of it: two rings of green link-stakes at different heights, with a cat's-cradle of twine between.  Most of the flowering stems have been kept more-or-less in place by all of that.

In the pots, the dahlias are gradually getting back to normal, though still hardly any flowers.  The one most affected has been ‘Sam Hopkins’, which I shoehorned into a too-small pot for its rootball, but even it is now putting out green shoots from the yellowing stems below.

New shoots on Dahlia 'Sam Hopkins'

One or two plants have even taken the opportunity to put out new, very belated, flowers - the sweet cicely and the wisteria among them.

Too busy with non-gardening things to do much out on the plot this week, although I have spent some time clearing the self-sown leaf beet plants from the veg beds and sowing seeds of winter brassicas etc in the cold frame. 

Down by the entrance to the Dump, a sparrowhawk (probably) seems to have dispatched a woodpigeon – lots of feathers, but fortunately no corpse.

Feathers by the Dump