Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Fruits of our labours

Well, not much labour, really. It hasn't been very difficult.

The fig has lost about eight fruit to what I can only call Shrivel - I shall assume that it is due to humidity and very high heat (thanks for your helpful diagnostics)...Stress. Fear of summer.

But two very fat figs are ripening and will be ready in a few days.

On the roof, the inner leaves of the cherry tomatoes have turned crispy brown, and it remains to be seen whether this will affect fruit production. These are the after-effects of the insane temperatures we had two weeks ago, and at the end of June.

Today was pretty awful in terms of wet blanketness, but now I am watering more.

At last we have some interesting skies. Nothing to rival last June's, yet, but I was very happy to see the huge cumulo nimbus tower blocks rolling in as the evening progressed.

An aubergine!

Another watermelon. I wonder what will happen. They react so fast to dry soil: their skins go limp and I sense a great sensitivity within these taken-for-granted shells. Oh, Marie: WATER melon. I just got it. Oh dear. Even more water needed.

The second last handful of blueberries, I think. What a rewarding little shrub. Everyone should have a few.

I ate the strawberries before photographs. There were two ripe, red ones, warm and sweet.

For the Frenchman's perspective on rooftop goings on, read his new post.


  1. Jealous of your blueberries. What kind did you plant?

    My tomato plants look equally nasty, but the fruit just keeps coming.

    This seems to happen during the hot summers. The plants are bad for photo ops but still good for eating!

  2. Some growers actually take the tomato leaves off once the fruit starts to ripen, so I shouldn't worry. My little blueberry in a pot (donated by a friend, who neglected it for a year) has never produced a single fruit. Any idea why not? It will be transplanted when I move, and be given a happier life, I hope.

  3. Jane I blush to say I have forgotten. Damn. I'll email GRDN to see if they can tell me.

    Rachel, I'm just guessing that it may need more acidic soil. Also it may need a friend for cross pollination. Even if it is self pollinating it will yield more with cross-. I use coffee grounds for my soil. Also needs lots of sun.

    Down south you can have rows of blueberries :-)

  4. Augergine is such a nice word! I like it so much more than eggplant! Glad it's doing well. Your tomatoes may slow down in their flower production from the heat, but they will come back - hopefully until October.

  5. Long time lurker. Discovered and have really enjoyed your blog over the last 2 months.

    What a beautiful aubergine! Do you have issues with bugs with it? I was told they're very "painful" to grow.

    If it makes you feel any better about your tomatoes my Chicago apartment porch tomatoes have been infested with spider mites; it's a war I've only just begun to fight.

  6. Thank you webb, that is good to know.
    How do you like "brinjal"...that's the one I grew up with.

    Helbells, thanks for coming out of lurkage. Honestly, not sure with the aubergine/eggplant/brinjal. I always thought the opposite: easy! Maybe they're painful to grow because they have spikes quite close to the fruit, when ripe? Spider mites, yeah. I have some, and I'm ignoring them.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...