Ash Keys

I have three days' photos to catch up with, so I'm making the easy choices for now. These are ash seeds, or keys, hanging from the largest of a group of ancient trees on the hilltop. Some branches of the ash look quite sick, which may be a indication of ash dieback, but may also just reflect its age. 

I walked up the hill quite late in the day, when the life was fading. The days already seem significantly shorter, now that we're midway between the summer solstice and the equinox. I'm hoping the better weather we are promised will bring enough sun and warmth to perk up the squashes and aubergines and ripen the fruit. It was almost inevitable that the long spell of very humid, windy and mild weather would bring blight: this weekend, I discovered the Charlotte potato plants blotched and fading. P has removed the tops and dug a few for immediate use. They have cropped well, with the copious rain providing a good yield and plenty of good sized potatoes, so it's not catastrophic if we manage it carefully. For the moment, the blight resistant Sarpo Mira plants seem fine, though the Desirées will no doubt succumb very soon. I hope my greenhouse tomatoes will escape, and so far the Merrygold ones on the balcony, which are supposedly blight resistant, are not showing signs of disease. It's proving a rather unrewarding year for garden produce.