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Still no rain. The only rainfall since the beginning of June was a thunderstorm in late June. All of our plants are on starvation rations of water because the well is very slow to refill after being pumped down. However, it is still refilling so all is not lost. Our damage list so far includes the peas, which are looking disastrous, and the broccoli, which went from tiny heads straight into towering blooms more or less overnight. Also about half of our runner beans did not germinate, but I am not sure if this was due to bad seeds or drought. The redcurrants gave a very depleted crop and the blackcurrants nothing. But the pumpkins are loving it and growing well and most of the other vegetables are surviving, although I do not dare to transplant the leeks until their new bed has had a real soaking and they are looking a bit overcrowded in their seed bed. Gooseberries and cherries both gave good crops, although with unusually tough skins.

And on the bright side there are no mosquitoes - our pond has more or less dried up. But there are also no frogs. I suspect that the depleted borders of the pond made them easy picking for the storks.