August and early September in our courtyard garden

In August our courtyard garden saw many warm days and also quite a lot of rain. For a week at the end of the month we woke to cool mornings hinting at the imminent arrival of autumn. However this week saw the start of September and we are back to mild temperatures and pockets of warming sunshine. I've loved what I've grown this summer in our containers. Mr C and I have made the most of our courtyard as much as we could depending on the weather. We have enjoyed eating lunches outside, using up the rocket and chard in yummy salads and enjoying the fresh air.

This week our tomatoes have started turning at last. I picked the big red one today ready to add to a lunch this week. These tomatoes have been the largest I've ever grown in our courtyard. We have lots of green tomatoes ready to enjoy, I think I may have to ripen them on our windowsill so we can enjoy our crop sooner.

The carrots are growing and I've started seeing small pops of orange through the soil. I don't think that they will be very large but I'm so pleased with what I've managed to grow so far. I did neglect them a little (oops!) and probably could have thinned them out more allowing a better crop but we wait and see what I end up digging up.

The courgettes have continually flowered and we now have a number of small courgettes growing.

We enjoyed these courgettes in a ratatouille we cooked this week.

We have a few courgettes still growing.

Even on the cloudy and rainy days our space looked bright with the few flowers left in our garden. Our geranium filled window boxes are still blooming as are the marigolds I grew from seed. I love that a packet of seeds for a few pounds has given us so much colour in our garden all summer.

The hardy geraniums in our courtyard are still flowering from time to time. I need to do a little dead heading to see if they will flower once again but I'm pleased with how they've continued to flower a few years after growing them from seed.

The chard is still growing with vibrant orange and purple stems. I love the purple veined leaves adding colour to salads.

The chilli plants are also grown from seed have just flowered. I think that they are a little late this year so I may have to wait a while to have a little crop of chillies.

Our little courtyard has definitely seen one of the most productive summers of container gardening ever. We've had the longest period of time with flowers blooming thanks to the marigolds. I'm delighted to have grown more than one courgette this year and to have a space I'm really proud of. How is your garden looking?