Thanks for all the kind comments on my last posting. After a busy summer of continually emptying the rain gauge, I have found time to turn the computer on again. The bookies have already paid out on the annual rainfall prize - go collect your winnings.

2015	Snab	Brize
January	103.4	65.5
February	22.6	43.9
March	32.2	27.4
April	58.8	20.9
May	55.3	66.2
June	53.2	27.8
July	128.5	63.4
August	75.5	65.4
September	77.4	64.6
2015 to date	606.9	445.1

You may have heard it's been the worst summer in Scotland for 40 years. Ok, July was wet, but taken in isolation July and August were unremarkable. But they came on top of a truly cold and miserable May and June. September was typically lovely apart from two downpours that wrecked the monthly total. As a result, most things have come late this year. If I kept accurate records on these things, I could tell you that my Warwickshire Drooper softened up 30 days later than in the not altogether very special summer of 2014. But with a few exceptions, the harvests keep coming. Roll on the good times...

• Gluts: blueberries, raspberries, plums/greengages/damsons, apples, alpine strawberries, blackcurrants, honeyberries, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, kale, parsnips, basil, eggs, weeds.
• Other notable achievements: grapes, apricots, cherries, flax, oats, spelt, barley and rye.
• Must do better: asparagus, beetroot, carrots, broccoli, strawberries.
• Jury's out: quince, medlar, mulberry, chestnut, hazelnut, goji. 
• No shows: pears, pumpkins, sunflowers, honey, Al Lotment.

The autumn in pictures.

Yard of kale

Stan-dried tomatoes

Free product APLs - soon to be made into a aqueous phase liquids -
(strangely similar in colour to the groundwater in Slough)

I found my thrill...

Marjorie's ripe just as my Drooper's finished

The art of gardening: still life with landscape