Well, perseverance has paid off - our first tomato! Here is a picture of it. The variety is tumbler. Mark and I ate half each. The flavour was good but the skin was a bit tough. Speaking with other friends who have had a tomato harvest this year that seems to be a common problem. Still we have tomatoes! I said previously that the Tumbler plants seem to be more robust against the blight. Typically we lost one of the Tumblers soon after. I have 5 plants left, 3 Red Alert and 2 Tumbler, Mostly they are now leafless because I am cutting off anything at the first sign of blight. I am removing the trusses from the plants that have developed blight on their stems and they are ripening well on a sunny windowsill. We have been eating the tomatoes cooked, either grilled or baked with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, and the flavour of both varieties is superb.

The carrots seeds that I sowed in the troughs are now showing through. We got some more compost and I sowed a couple more rows in the third trough. I also put some spinach, variety Campania from Marshalls, in one of the large pots (after replaceing the top few inches of compost). These seeds are large and a jade colour so very easy to see and sprinkle thinly on the compost. They have already come through. There are sufficient seeds in the packet for several sowings. The packet says to sow February - September. I maybe able to get another sowing in this year otherwise I will wait to early next year.

There were some sage plants in the garden, one purple and two green, that had got very woody. I decided it was time to get rid of them and start again. I have taken some cuttings (3" heel cuttings) and there were a few stems which had rooted which I potted up. So we will have some new plants for the garden and to give to friends who have asked for some. I don't use the sage for cooking so much as for making sage tea when colds and sore throats strike.  I hope the colds hold off long enough for the plants to grow big enough to pick leaves from! The plants have to be replaced every few years (i had left it a bit too long this time). In future I will replace them one at a time so that we always have a decent sized plant available.

We have had a couple of pots planted with pinks either side of the front door over the summer. The flowers are coming to an end now and so last week I bought a dozen pansies in the Farmers Market in Poole which I am going to pot up to take their place. I have put a few of the pansies in one of the Ali Baba pots on the patio. The pot has quite a deep rim but one of the flowers has now popped it's head up above the rim. I see a lovely big purple flower every time I open the back door... and I have to smile.