Not as bad as I feared

First visit to the plot this afternoon, after an absence of two and a half weeks in which it's rained quite a bit. You'll understand my trepidation. I was expecting to have to scythe my way in, grass shoulder high, tigers in the undergrowth; that sort of thing. Not a bit of it. The worst I could say is that it looked a bit unkempt. Wilma often says the same of me.

An hour with the strimmer soon saw it looking positively dapper. And nothing seems to have died or gone AWOL. Well, apart from the cherries. This was the first year in which I was expecting some and there were certainly some, quite a lot in fact, on the tree when I went on hols. Today, just a single solitary one clinging grimly on. At least I think it was clinging grimly on; it's a bit hard to tell with cherries, notoriously tight-lipped emotionally they don't give a lot away. What could be the cause? We've had a lot of high winds, apparently. Perhaps they just blowed away; the tree was swaying a lot. Or could it be birds/squirrels? Hmm, possibly, but the cherries were a long way off ripe. Either way I take two lessons from this (shrugs philosophically) - stake the tree so it don't sway about so much (should have done this already; Doh!), and net it to keep thieving blighters off (Ditto, Doh!).

The plums and sloes are holding up well on their trees, the salads are coming on well, Fort Brassica is intact and the contents are growing and the Blackberries, although listing heavily to port following the strong winds, are coming on nicely.

But I always hold the best till last (come on Wilbury, get on with it, you're such a tease).

Strawberries!!!!

Aren't they just yummy? I'm really pleased with them. They've had no protection and hardly any of them have any bird or slug damage. They're Marshmello and I can assure you they taste just as good as they look.