I went out to pick some raspberries (in the background) after lunch & spotted that ‘Mary Rose’ had started to bloom again 🌿🩷🌸🩷🌿 #RoseWednesday #roses

Rain! 💦💛💦💛💦💛💦 This morning the raindrops are the stars not the flowers, we’ve had the first ‘proper’ rain over night in months, with puddles & everything! I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be so pleased with rain in the summer! Hope you’ve all had some. #rain #summerblooms #mygarden #bloomscrolling

We actually had a bit of rain last night, sadly not enough to do any good. The asters seem happy though, the temperatures are perfect at the mo. 🌿💜🌿💜🌿💜🌿💜🌿 #tuesdayblue #summerblooms

Well, it’s not been the best year to grow anything in a hanging basket! But so far I’ve managed to keep ‘Tumbling Tom Yellow’ alive & producing the sweetest little cherry sized fruits 💛 #SundayYellow #tomato #tomatoes

🎵“Look at the stars Look how they shine for you And everything you do Yeah, they were all yellow 💛💛💛 Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne' Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise' Courgette ‘yellow golden’ Courgette ‘black beauty’ Chilli ‘yellow blaze’ Rudbeckia ‘goldsturm’ #yellowsunday #sevenonsunday

Chilli fiesta 🌶️💛🌶️💜🌶️ 💛Naga ‘Yellow blaze’ 🔥🔥🔥 ❤️Sweet pepper ‘Ramiro’ 💜Naga ‘Smooky rainbow’ 🔥🔥🔥🔥 💜‘Buena Mulata’ 🔥🔥 #chilli #chillies #chillipepper #homegrown #greenhouse #kitchengarden #sixonsaturday

We’re in the pink! 🌿🩷🌸🩷🌿 There’re not as many flowers as usual, as they are all going over so quickly. Hopefully the cooler temperatures will help the late comers bloom for longer. Splash of rain last night too 💦😁 #sixonsaturday #bloomscrolling #summerblooms

Pink gladioli bending down to say hello to pink rose ‘Gabriel oak’ & the yellow coreopsis 🌿🩷💛🩷🌿 Bit nippy out watering this morning 🥶😄 #flowersonfriday #pinkfriday #pinkflowers #SummerBlooms

How to make the ‘gardeners mate’ very happy. Grow him cucumbers & make them into cucumber cake 🥒🍰🧑‍🌾 Recipe on the blog if anyone else has too many 🥒🥒 walnutkitchengarden.co.uk?p=5049

Some of my gardening buddies this week 🐝🦋🐞 ‘Common carder bee’ having a rest. A ‘Gatekeeper’ I had to rescue from the greenhouse. Tiny ‘Mint moth’ on the Basil. ‘Ladybird’ on the coreopsis. ‘Silver Y’ moth camouflaged. Bumblebee on dahlia ‘Honda pink’ 🌸 #InsectThursday #mygarden

Would you like a look at my chillies & peppers? 🌶️🫑💛💜 Sweet peppers 🫑 Biquinho Red, Ramiro pepper. Hot chillies 🌶️ Naga yellow blaze, Naga smooky rainbow, Buena Mulata. #chilli #chillies #chillipepper #homegrown #greenhouse #kitchengarden

They’ve mentioned heatwave again this week, but I think we might be lucky here. It’s a bit cloudy & breezy with evidence of a little rain & our weekly forecast is for low to mid twenties🤞 I could watch this ‘Karl Foerster’ grass all day, but work is calling! 🌾💙 #tuesdayblue

Last week’s Garden Diary blog. Giant moths in the house. Giant bees in the agapanthus 🦋🌿🐝 #gardenblog #blog walnutkitchengarden.co.uk?p=5616

Garden Diary – Giant Bees & Moths amongst the Agapanthus

As well as giant bees on the agapanthus, I had another exciting, large flying visitor this week, a Humming-bird Hawk-moth ‘Graeham Mounteney’.

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Even the foliage on this purple carrot is beautiful 💜🥕💜 Think of all that vitamin C, I’ll definitely be seeing in the dark 👀🥕🥕🥕 #kitchengarden #homegrown #growyourown #carrots

How healthy does this £2 rescue dahlia look? 🌿🩷🌿🩷🌿 I was tempted to buy the whole shelf of them & put a stand outside my home. So sad to see good plants in shops that don’t look after them! What a waste of energy! #magentamonday #dahlialove #dahlia #pinkflowers

Still behind with my garden diary blogs. Last weeks, last week diary 😂 It’s too hot! walnutkitchengarden.co.uk?p=5600

Garden Diary – Wildlife watching whilst watering

Benefits of watering, it makes me stand still, which gives me time to notice even more wildlife. I’ve had a ‘silver Y’ moth on the scabious every morning, which has encouraged me to keep deadheading.

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Rain, rain, rain 💦💛☔️🤗💦 Well actually, not that much but it’s very welcome. The coneflowers of Rudbeckia laciniata 'Herbstsonne' look refreshed for it. Much cooler too 💛🌿 #SundayYellow #summerblooms #rain

It’s a tomato bonanza for #SixOnSaturday today 🌿🍅💛🍅🖤🌿 The hot sun has ripened so many fruits all at once. A few giveaways but lots of tomato sauce for the freezer 😋 #tomatoes #heritagetomatoes #tomato #homegrown #kitchengarden

Got ya! 🦋😁 Humming-bird Hawk-moth ‘Graeham Mounteney’ returned again yesterday & I was in the right place at the right time to video this amazing insect. It loves the phlox paniculata 🩷🌿 #moths #plantforwildlife @savebutterflies

I first grew Echinacea from seed about 15 yrs ago, it was really easy. As it’s a shorter lived perennial, it’s a much cheaper way of replacing plants 🌿💛🩷💛🌿 #FlowersOnFriday #Echinacea #summerblooms #bloomscrolling

My bumblebee population is still happily buzzing around the different flowers in the garden, but I’ve had some humongous bees on the agapanthus. Got to be nearly 4cm 💙🐝💙 #bumblebee #insectthursday #agapanthus #savetgebees

No only do these purple potatoes look gorgeous, they taste like proper old fashioned potatoes that my dad grew. Scrumptious! 🌿💜🥔💜🌿 #kitchengarden #homegrown #potatoes #patchpotatoes

I’ve finally captured my Humming-bird Hawk-moth ‘Graeham Mounteney’. Not the best photo, so I’ve used 2 off the Butterfly Conservation website. Not sure if I have 1 or multiple, but it’s even been in the house! 🦋 #wildlifewednesday @savebutterflies.bsky.social

A nice tomato haul tonight after finishing the watering 💦 This will make some delicious tomato sauce for the freezer 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅 #TomatoTuesday #homegrown #tomatoes #KitchenGarden #gyo

It’s Agapanthus time 🌿💙💙💙🌿 And, originating from South Africa 🇿🇦 they can’t get enough sunshine, ☀️☀️☀️ lapping up our recent heatwave 💛 #TuesdayBlue #summerblooms #agapanthus

Late again with my Garden diary blog! I’m blaming all the heatwave causing all the extra watering 💦💦💦🥵 Link below #gardenblog #blog walnutkitchengarden.co.uk?p=5581

Garden Diary – At least the tomatoes like the heatwave!

The only good thing about this heatwave, is that it’s the right time of year for the tomatoes, and they’re ripening so quickly. This is the earliest we’ve had beefsteak ‘Brandywine’ tomatoes.

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These Biquinho Red peppers have the most fabulous habanero chilli flavour, but no heat! It’s weird, as your brain is waiting for the burn, that doesn’t come. Great even added to a salad 🌶️ The name is Portuguese, & translates as ‘little beak’ 😊🌶️🌿 #chilli #pepper #Homegrown #kitchengarden #Gyo

I have 5 colours of Phlox paniculata & they all flower at slightly different times. Unfortunately the early ones didn’t look good for 5 minutes with the extreme heat, these later ones are looking better though 😊🌿🩷🌿🩷🌿 #magentamonday #summerblooms

A new mangetout for me this year ‘Golden sweet’. They look pretty but more importantly they are true to their name, they also have the thinnest skin. Delicious 😋🫛💛🫛💛🫛💛 #kitchengarden #sundayyellow #homegrown #peas #growyourown #gyo #growyourownfood

Cooler this morning, thank goodness! Still plenty of flowers blooming, but sadly they haven’t been lasting with the excessive heat. Talking of heat, we had Jools Holland & co. in #Wrexham last night. They were brilliant, but gosh we all very hot 🥵 🌿🩷🌿🧡🌿🩷🌿🧡🌿 #SixOnSaturday #summerblooms