Summer’s sweltering – London approaches the 40 degree Celcius mark for the first time in recorded history. Too hot to garden in the daytime lately, which is a sad state of affairs.

It’s been a funny growing season. Flowers and fruit are doing well, but other crops falter and seem in suspended animation. I planted a cucumber in June and it’s still not even producing flowers or growing that vigorously even though we’re tending, watering, cossetting… Same for our selection of sweet and chili peppers. The zucchini so far has avoided powdery mildew but again, not producing or growing much. I wondered if it was a soil deficiency but our beloved Sardinian co-allotmenteer who is an expert in all things growing and has had a plot at the allots for almost 20 years says his crops are similar to ours. A bad year. Climate change?

At least the flowers bloom, thrive and are beautiful. Here’s a selection of shots taken by the big dude.