This weekend has been very much a weekend of no gardening other than to water my plants as they have needed the water. Part of this is because plants are mainly just growing as they do, but part of this is because I have been enjoying a few days of nothing much-as I feel should be the case over Christmas! Today I am talking about what is happening at the moment in my little garden.

First up for discussion is my sweetcorn, which is growing rally well. I now have cobs growing on at least three plants, if not more. Most of my first sowing of both types of corn have at least tassels on them, with later sowings growing well and will follow with tassels soon.

Beans are next. I’m really happy with these at the moment too as I thought that I wouldn’t have any beans at all this summer. So far, I have three nice purple bean pods that are growing bigger every day. There are also plenty of flowers on my bean plants, both fresh and spent, so I should get plenty more bean pods over the next few weeks.

Tomatoes are a bit of a mixed bag really this year. The first plants that I have sown have grown well through a lot of spring, with plenty of flower buds, but I still have only two plants with tomatoes on them. I do think that a lot of the problem has been the heat we have had so far this late spring and summer. We have had lots of days above 35 degrees Celsius, coupled with the fact that I placed my tomato plants close to a white wall which reflected a lot of heat too-which is why I think it has been a little hot for them in that position. The tomatoes I have on the relevant plants are growing really well. I will see how these plants go over the next couple of weeks, and if there is no sign of improvement or flowers, I’ll remove the ones that have no tomatoes on them.

I do have some other tomato plants that I have in other positions in my garden and they are growing well, without any issues. There are some flower buds on these plants which is a good sign.

Next up is my dalia. After having a couple of leaves get what looked like sunburn, it seems to be recovering really well. There is plenty of new leafy growth appearing. Best of all, one of the flower buds is really growing well and I’m really looking forward to seeing the flower when it opens as I will then know the name of the cultivar that has survived thus far! Plus I’ll have some really nice flowers.

I do have plenty of new seedlings that are growing well. I am leaving them a little longer before I pot them up, just because I want them to be a little stronger before I do. There have been a few failures too, but that’s a normal part of gardening.

As I have the next week off work, I will be getting out in the garden and doing a few more things. I have to do a good sweeping up session, as I haven’t done this in ages, but that’s mainly because I don’t like doing it. I’m also going to sow some succulent and cacti seeds-I got some more a couple of weeks ago as I want to try growing them again. I’m hoping for more success this time! I’ll also pot up any seedlings that are ready to pot up potted up.

Finally, the weather for the week has been mostly cooler. We did have a very hot start to the week with an awful 39.9 degrees Celsius on Monday, but since then we have had temperatures that are around 23 degrees, which is far more pleasant for me. Our low temperature for the week was 12.7 degrees Celsius, which is cold for this time of year.