A few doing their thing at the moment ....

lovely Dawn. your garden is looking much happier than mine. my own fault as I have not been watering it really.

So much colour in your garden now Dawn ... the Sedums are starting to colour up ... thank goodness they are as my garden is a lot less colourful than yours right now!

Meadow, yes the drought has meant hardly any slugs or snails and the gravel drive is weed free and you're right about the black spot but it's not been good, the heuchera are washed out and persicaria is pale too.
Hi Seaburn, I've only watered new plants but I stopped about three weeks ago but it's so dry again.
Thanks Shirley, I was lacking colour a couple of weeks ago but its getting some now.

Well your plants look great to me. Our garden has been neglected this year but we are slowly beginning to get it back into shape. No splashes of colour like yours, sadly.

Your Sedum (or whatever they've changed the name to) are looking great. My Autumn Joy have all hot green flowers this year, weird.

Its sad that your gardens have been under so much strain. We havent had the same intensity of heat, nor length of drought here. I’m sad to see the summer gone. August has beeen dire. But its good that we have had some rain now. Your plants look great though Dawn, and with so many shrubs and trees, you won’t have lost much? Enjoy the autumn...I hope we get some September sunshine!

Well its been a trying time for plants but your garden is certainly strutting its stuff now!

Thanks Eiryls, I need to get July colour, I've tried but it always looks at an Inbetween stage mid summer.
Siris, do you think autumn joy will change colour, I must check mine, oh yes the name has changed to something ridiculous, let me check, yes here it is - Hylotelephium!
Thanks Stera.
Karen, it's a shame August has been drab for you, it was so hot here again yesterday, cooler by Friday but we're desperate for rain again, what we had last week really did the trick, hopefully I've not lost much in the garden, the plants just looked very sad and the grass brown, it's the new woodland plants I'm worried about as they're new and I don't know they're habit so some could be just dying back until spring maybe.

Your garden looks lovely Dawn, the plants must be enjoying the 'proper' weather we're having now.

Thank you Hywel, its recovered well really but needs rain again.
I hope you're ok.

It is heartbreaking Dawn, to see our plants under stress with the heat, I'm so pleased yours are coming back now...my heucheras are the same, but most things have done very well, and we are still in the heat zone, it has been so warm and dry these last few days, I think we're in for rain tomorrow though. My slugs and snails have still been munching away regardless!

Yes I'm fine thanks Dawn x

We've had some rain here but it's been mostly drizzle and hasn't wet the ground at all.

Don't be downhearted Dawn your garden will bounce back as lovely as ever it looks good to me , your toms look delicious Yummy ... but you always did grow amazing tomatoes in huge quantities x ..

You're right to feel encouraged looking at these lovely photos! I particularly like your toms and sedums.

Such lovely clear photos, everything looks good. The plants are all having a second fling now it has cooled down a bit. Let's hope we all get a nice long Autumn so we can go on enjoying our gardens. Winter is always so long, the longer it's delayed the better!

Your plants are looking lovely, Dawn! Your tomatoes are doing you proud as well!

The little rain we have here in the last couple of weeks has made no end of difference all the grass is practically back to normal & there are so many millions of seeds germinating all over the place!

I know exactly how you felt Dawn, I had such plans for filling that July gap, as with yours the drought put paid to that, I emptied all four of my compost bins over mine in the middle of July, made it look even barer for a while, however it did help my plants, I now have little areas of greenery coming through on my rockery plants, I honestly thought a lot of them had succumbed..I do have more colour now and my lawns are green again, actually, it is raining as I'm writing, daughter is looking for a rainbow as the sun is still shining, really weird weather today..Your photo's are lovely, I love the Sedums, for some reason, the lovely dark ones will not grow in my garden, the others will grow anywhere...

Hi Dauwsaunt, I did post a comment last week but it seems to have vanished!
I think your plants look fab. Throughout the dry spell I prayed that we would have some rain to help my garden recover after we had some landscaping work done just before the hot weather arrived, and now it wont stop!!
I wanted to ask about your amazing tomatoes. You seem to grow them in some kind of tube. Is this something special for toms? I wonder if you would share some of your secrets for success?

Thanks everyone, yes things are looking better. Sue I can relate to what you say. Amy, I had a good teacher on tomato growing ;-)

Hello Cat. The pots are bottomless but not pots at all its strong pipe, like landrain pipe say 10 inch diameter, cut into sections. It gives the plants more depth. You can get a grow bag, cut two circles the diameter of the pipe, then nestle the pot in, fill with compost ready for planting. I grow from seed on the windowsill around March, grow them on and plant in May, you can keep topping the pot up with compost during the growing season. I now have raised beds, full of compost which I top up each year from my compost bins before planting. Feed with tomorite every third watering once they have toms the size of peas, but watering is the key, I water only when they need it, when the compost is dry, weather dependent it can be every other day or twice a week. Let me know if you need to know anything else and I hope this helps :-)

I know how you feel Dawn, a disappointment in July, so glad we opened in early June when the garden was at its best....the lawn has mostly recovered, but there are areas where it is definitely dead!!
Your garden is looking good now though, obviously the rain and the lower temperatures has helped it recover......and restore it to its former glory....

Hi Dotty, I’m so pleased you opened when you did. I’ve been longing for a hot summer for the swimming pool and that’s been great but the garden has depressed me, plus it was too hot to work in it, except watering. Seeing brown grass is definitely not easy on the eye, hopefully it all grows back. Thanks, yes it’s recovering and I see new growth on the plants. It rained all day Sunday hooray!

Thanks for your reply Dawn. My wife's the tomato grower and I was telling her about your fabulous crop.
She usually grows her own plants from seed also and grows them in 10 or 12 inch pots, but gets no where like the amount and size that you do. I think a big element here is the watering and feeding, which is my job. I have to hold my hand up and admit that I'm frequently guilty of over watering.
We used to go to a local gardening club and I remember one time we had a guest speaker who worked for the late Duke of Westminster on his Cheshire estate. He told us of the occasion when an estate worker was severely reprimanded for overwatering tomatoes. Potentially, it seems, a Capital offence!!
I'm probably not feeding enough either, so I'm determined to mend my ways and take on board your advice. Thanks again for your reply, I've only recently found your blog and I've now flagged it as a favourite and look forward to your next instalment.

You're welcome, yes watering is very important and of course a good summer like the one we've had does wonders, ventilation is also important, they don't like draughts but windows and doors open when it's warm is good, it reminds me, I need to close my windows at night now it's cooler. Over watering a potential capital offence, oh dear you better be careful but when you do water (as and when required) they need lots.
It's nice you're interested, it seems a bit of a dying art these days.