Chillies have been ripening well. One of the later ripening varieties is Aji Amarillo (yellow chilli) which is worth waiting for because the pods are huge and thick fleshed with a moderate heat. In Peru Aji Amarillo paste is much used and it is easy to make yourself. Deseed the pods and briefly boil, then cool and peel, blend with salt and a little garlic. The paste can be refrigerated in a jar topped with some oil for a month or two, or frozen in an ice cube tray for longer preservation. It is very good on fish baked in foil.

Over the course of a warm summer a couple of palms have put on considerable growth. A spiky Date Palm is developing a sizeable crown of leaves and has just been potted-on into a 39 litre Air-Pot container after extremely vigorous roots were seen. In a conventional pot these roots could have circled around becoming  pot bound – possibly pushing the plant and soil upwards.
I have also propagated a smaller Fan Palm from seed which has grown surprisingly quickly and become well established in a 3 litre Air-Pot container. Borderline hardy in northern U.K. both these palms might be planted outside eventually but seem happy in pots for now.