The British summer is well known for consisting of rain and disappointment. It always has been and this year is no different. It would appear ‘climate change’ hasn’t reached our part of Scotland yet!

My husband always says we get about 2 and a half full days of sun here with a sprinkling here and there – all the other days are cloud, cloud and more cloud. In fact, whenever we do get a clear day, its only a matter of time before we see the planes flying overheard leaving their trails of chemical crap which soon turn the sky hazy all over – again and leave traces of luminous yellow/green powdery stuff on cars, pavements and in the puddles. Oh, I forgot, thats a conspiracy theory. Its a regularly occuring conspiracy theory in this area then!

On a more positive note, I’ll start with that happy almost smug feeling I got when I managed to get the grass cut in both front and back gardens (including strimming the edges), before the heavy downpours started again. That of course lead on to checking the plants after said rain for any sign of growth and fruit development! The raspberry plants that line the shed were literally buzzing with all the bees that happily bumbled from one flower to another. The result of their efforts is promising to be a bumper harvest if the green fruits currently showing are anything to go by. In only a few days I’ll be able to go out and get a large bowlful – mental note to self: start finding recipes for all the raspberries!

A trip up to the allotment has resulted in a kitchen full of new potatoes, peas, cabbages, beetroot, a few carrots, bit of chard and a few blueberries. Our blueberries are not great this year but I’ve found the year after a good harvest is quieter and as they had outdone themselves last year this smaller amount isn’t a surprise.

If you’ve been able to keep up with my gardening news, you’ll know I lost all my runner and french beans so in a desperate attempt to get some beans this I planted a dwarf variety in a totally different part of the allotment and I’m happy to say all signs are looking good so far!

I’ve also had a complete disaster with the cucumbers but the tomatoes (which I’m growing at home, not the allotment), look set to break my tomato growing record by a mile! I’ve actually got proper sized tomatoes and they are turing red. I managed to acquire a couple of those ‘mini’ greenhouses last winter and even with the tears they developed pretty much the first time I closed the zip, this ‘air-vent’ doesn’t seem to have had any negative effect so I’m delighted. I’ve got cherry tomatoes, salad and beefsteak this year and even though the beefsteak don’t look too big I’m still pleased with them.

The low of the week concerns our poor dog Scooby, who on one of his walks, was attacked by a flying furball some might call ‘a cat’. This demented feline Freddy Krueger came at him out of the blue, at an angle and heavily armed. We’ve been working hard to get Scooby to walk past cats without going for them so he seemed unsure if he should fight back. I managed to ‘shoo’ the mad moggie away and we continued our walk but when I looked down at Scooby he looked visibly shaken – then I saw the blood. His poor nose was covered in it so I got a tissue and did my best to mop it up and stop the bleeding. He of course decided dropping onto grass (without warning), and rolling his face all over it would be a better way to stem the flow. He was right as it turned out and he soon became his usual happy wee self.

So, as usual in a week, highs and lows; bees and butterflies aplenty, harvests coming in thick and fast, mad cats with machete claws but still no resolution to the big tax bill.

Maybe that will be one of the ‘highs’ next week!