I was away in July. I didn't actually do any gardening. But the weather was sunny, with plenty of rain, so the plants grew anyway. When I got back, I harvested a 3.5kg courgette (i.e. marrow) - the size and weight of a newborn baby! My gardening neighbours were all lined up to see the look on my face when I discovered it... They had left it there on purpose. And that was only the biggest one, the other three came to roughly the same weight again, 7kg of marrow to eat. Let's throw a marrow party! Any recipies?

I missed part of the strawberry harvest, which is a real shame, and the brokkoli went to flower or seed, but not to brokkoli. The wasps like it. Rocket and lettuce had gone to seed, kale only partially, and there's so much kale ready for harvest that I really really don't know what to do. I loathe it enough as it is, but those quantities!!!

Leek and raspberries aren't doing too well sadly, but herbs, apples, rhubarb and brambles do, and the tayberry bush that I almost killed off in transit last September has taken on impressive proportions. I've even got a flowering garden now, with lots of little splashes of colour.

It looks wild, but wild in a good sense. Plenty of work, but also plenty of harvesting.