I am cursing this wet summer, for the first time in several years, Botrytis has struck the strawberries . Botrytis, a form of grey mould thrives in damp summers and causes the fruit to rot before it ripens which is so frustrating. The only way to tackle it is to remove all infected matter and to improve air circulation, and even so it's tricky.

I have spent time this afternoon carefully picking off infected leaves and fruit,  and then removing some healthy leaves to increase air circulation. Only time will tell. If you are looking at mouldy strawberries there is more advice on dealing with Botrytis on Strawberries.

There are more reasons  to hope for some warmer more settled weather.

The heavy rain and torrential downpours are not kind to tall plants such as Thalictrum and Delphinium which, as they only have a single flowers spike, when its gone, it's gone. I cut a bunch of Thalictrum down which had been snapped by the torrential rain, such a shame as the summer started so well. The long range forecast looks better especially for those lucky gardeners in the South and East.