Summer sunshine ripening the tomatoes, at last

It has been hot. I started the day again at 6am and watered the garden plants from about 7am. I could have delayed but I've been enjoying the early mornings when the temperature is lower and there is stillness aout in the garden. 

I had a reasonably good day in the market but the traders think the weather keeps the numbers down. I had a customer who had come up from Bristol on the M5 route who said the motorway is reportedly jammed for about forty miles with slow moving southbound traffic from north of Bristol across the Avon bridge into Somerset.

I like meeting the visitors to Stroud, of which there seem many these days, some on day trips, other staying  locally for a week. Then there are the locals who have become regulars, of whom quite a few come from other countries. I like being part of a cosmopolitan world.

I was tired when I got home but didn't have a nap. In the end I had more watering to do as I'm really noticing the benefits to the plants from n ot letting them become thirsty.

These tomatoes have been sitting in a green state for some time and I feared they would never ripen. But in the last two days they have suddenly turned red. I don't actually like to eat tomatoes much unless they are really ripe like the 'beef' tomatoes I grew up eating in southern France and authentic Salade Nicoise.