Loganberries finished - loads of plums now

All that's left of the loganberries now are the jars of loganberry jelly in the fridge and the job of cutting back the fruiting branches - leaving the new growth to produce fruit for next year. Despite problems with mould, no doubt caused by the miserable wet summer we've had, we're starting to get so many Czar plums from the tree that we hardly know what to do with them. So far, some have been added to our Rumtopf, another batch have been turned into an 'instant' (ie. no maturing) chutney to have with a curry & yet more have been made into delicious plum jam, which we enjoyed on pancakes this morning.

Plenty of tomatoes are ripening - the pick of the bunch are the Bloody Butchers - and, having survived the slug onslaught, our leaves are now ready to make some great salads. A particularly nice salad we've been enjoying involves dressed leaves, broad beans, feta cheese and chopped dill. It's another good thing to add thinly sliced kohlrabi to as well. Also doing pretty well are the little purple and white striped Calliope aubergines. We've had a couple so far and there are 5 or 6 more at the moment getting towards ripeness. But we're a little nervous about our chillies. The plants are all doing really well, but we've been having such scarce sunshine that it's touch and go whether they'll ripen properly or fall victim to mouldiness.

Our problems of course pale into insignificance compared to the situation facing farmers in England this year. Will the weather ever turn sunny?