Shades of green

The garden is looking good, I do like to see the structures in place in the veg beds, it all feels productive, In the flower beds I still have a few gaps after planting most of my young new plants, I am waiting to see what does come back, I have lupins growing which aren't ready yet, they are taking their time to grow. I do love all the different shades of green everywhere.

This raised bed is for lettuce and small salad bits, its easy to get at, I only cut leaves never the whole plant as they will keep growing. I have started a tub of mixed leaves as well. I have edged the sides with copper mesh to keep the snails away, the cover is rustic, it keeps out pigeons and Lilly. I cut the lower leaves which my neighbours chickens had as a treat.

My peanuts are doing well inside my greenhouse, I have very few plants left inside, even with the net curtain up for shade, the temperature inside has been baking. I did offer my spare 5 seedlings on marketplace, sadly no takers. I reset my thermometer inside the greenhouse on Sunday, the highest reading was 40.8° and the lowest 14.3°, I never shut the door in the warmer months.

A tale of love, obsession and beliefs, you meet the love of your life, she teaches you so much, she is a bit strange and then after 4 months together she disappears, what do you do, search for her even if her past is so secretive. A fanciful topic, a good story, I enjoyed the ending as it left you with questions. Book 35 read this year.

I have picked a couple of cucumbers, I'm not waiting until they are fully grown, I'm hopeful it will help the plant stay strong, we have tiny green tomatoes, all planted outside in a raised bed. We have been eating lettuce for a while and enjoyed our first new potatoes. I am going to pick broad beans soon. I did purchase 20 nice strong french marigolds from Tesco to add to veg beds, after a good soak they were planted later in the evening. 

I have watered the fruit and veg beds every night, as well as pots with flowers in, this heat is harsh on our plants, so many not used to dry weather, my water butt levels are dropping, not much I can do about it, I never refill with tap water, once they are empty, that's it. My latest small water butt is working well the water inside has liquid seaweed added, so much easier for me, just to pour some when needed, its tucked behind the garage so in the shade.

I have not been out much this week, I prefer to stay at home, I did pop to Lidl on Monday for a top-up shop, I've not walked to the village or the park, I get no joy being out in this heat. It got very muggy on Thursday afternoon, we had a few spots of rain, daughter was at a local beach and got soaked, we stayed dry.

Today we are back inside the garage the final bit of our refurb, we had the new doors fitted yesterday, it's all coming together.

Veg

 My broad-beans do not look as good as in previous years, I am hoping more shoots will form and then flowers and beans, I will dig out the leeks, which again are small, I have plans for this bed, I want to cover the ground to warm it up. Another free potato plant in the front corner, every year I have managed to leave a tiny spud behind.

This bed has done better over the winter months, I harvested carrots and cabbages, the onions will stay again for at least 6 to 8 weeks. I already have my plans for the summer in both beds, runner beans, peas, tomatoes and a cucumber plant.

I have earthed up my first early potatoes in these two bags, and I have planted my second earlies in another two bags, I have carrots in two large pots and shallots in a huge tub, I hope to start another bag of carrots soon.

I am having success with my peanuts in the greenhouse, I have 3 small plants in each bag, I still have 5 more smaller plants and in the square pot Molly's are growing. These bags will stay here they require heat and light all through their growing season. I am going to try to grow a couple plants outside as well.

I have lettuce started in my raised outside bed and under cover in the greenhouse, I have spring onions and radishes coming through. I have started two different tomato plants as well. My runner-beans and peas won't be started for a few weeks, unless the weather becomes warm again. I aim to grow more salad leaves this year, my neighbour won't accept payment for her fresh hens eggs, I am planning to provide her hens with fresh greens every week whilst I can. 

My winter veg was very mixed this time, I won't grow leeks again as hubby does not use them so much in his cooking, just for soups. Brassicas take up too much room in my small garden, I will still grow a few, so far I try and keep these beds full through the cooler months. 

I can't wait to be growing in the veg beds, the rest of the garden is full, I have a few more grow bags to utilise, its a good start to the new season.

Changes

I have put some of my pots on the raised bed, these are all hardy plants, I am waiting to see where gaps are, these are the fillers. I have sown two different lettuce seeds, plus radish and spring onion here at the back, I want this raised bed to be full of salad stuff. I have planted some of my Ranunculi plants, for now in pots, I have more to go into the ground, two of the foxgloves are also in the ground, the rest can stay in pots for a bit longer, I'm always planning for more colour. 

I popped to B&Q for some slate, and looked at reduced plants, as you do (well I do), the saxifrage was reduced to £2 per pot, the white crocus were full price, I just loved them.

My daisy bed looks much nicer with the daffodils and white crocus planted, the crocus are in front of my hyacinths around the central daisy, the saxifrage are in the chimneys. I don't require anymore spring plants here. I'm just waiting for the fleabane daises to regrow. 

Most of my spring bulbs pots have been move to this area, we can see it from the house. I have changed the railings, this one hubby cut down for me, it was at the back of the garden, the red acer now can grow free, before it was getting tangled in the higher railings.

The taller railings are now along this path in front of the greenhouse, I hope it will help keep the huge rhubarb leaves from falling over my path. It feels much cleaner, hubby did a great job of sorting here, the last two arches were cut shorter, hubby has lifted them to the same height, attaching them to the raised bed, only I see this bit. The previous shorter railing can be seen here. 

Every year at Christmas I get hyacinth bulbs for an inside display, I love their scent, once they have died back I have been planting them in the garden, I try and mix colours, now I have a nice display, most are in the daisy bed. This year I still have my white blooms in the greenhouse, I am going to replant them for another show this year inside. 

Moving the railings was on my short list of jobs to do, we had chatted together, hubby was not sure, he is happy to go with my ideas, he now likes this configuration, it was the biggest job for this summer, or maybe not, I get ideas for improvements all the time. I've been outside most days this week and loving it.

I am sorry to all my northern readers, who are itching to get into your gardens, here down south we are a couple weeks ahead, this warm sunny weather is great to get ahead on the garden task and hardy plants, it's still far too early to work with anything tender.

I am keeping my head in the sand over world affairs, I worry about so much, mad men creating war can't be one of them, hopefully Starmer will hold his ground and keep us out of it, we did fill our car with petrol, it was a quarter full, now with a full tank it should last at least 6 weeks. 

I am busy altering costumes for World book day, Molly and George on Thursday at Will on Friday, Will could not get the uniform he wanted, so I'm being creative. 

End of August

Whilst the garden is looking good, there is lull in work for me, its nice to have time to sit and enjoy our work, so many plans have come together to make this space ours. Even with laundry on the lines its still perfect for us, these photo's were taken on Monday, last day of blue skies and sunshine. Note the happy hubby pottering in his garage, can't remember what he was doing other than his happy whistling.

Almost everywhere is full of late summer colour, so many beautiful flowers, I really have changed what I grow, the asters are now along with the zinnias the stars, I prefer the asters as they do no grow so tall, I have a cutting of a salvia hotlips and coleus, which I hope to have some good plants for next year. We are still getting small harvest, runner beans are still giving, and raspberries are bountiful. Hubby was unable to stop the water leaking from the water feature after George's crash, he did try a couple of times, so now I have a tall planter, which already has a lemon balm plant in. 

As yet we have not had much rain, it was supposed to rain on Wednesday, but again it's was cloudy and bright, we did get 2  five minute showers, just enough to wet the ground. Thursday again we woke up to blue skies, we had a tiny bit of rain overnight, it felt much cooler, I wore my long jeans, first time in ages. We had a huge storm in the morning, great but still not enough rain. I'm busy inside with my seeing machine, having loads of fun.

As a gardener I'm always thinking about the next planting/harvest, what space will become free, when and of course what to plant next, I use my raised veg bed as two square meters, making four squares, I do like to ensure I rotate my planting, it's something I understand, I do have to check what can follow what to ensure my soil is being looked after. I will give all 3 of my raised beds are good layer of leaves  collected from daughters garden, I will top them off with my homemade leaf mulch, and let them lie for the cooler months, I can then cover until next year to warm the spot for early planting. I'm hoping this will work, I really don't want to purchase any more mulch, I'm hoping it will protect my broadbeans, leeks and cabbages which will still be in the ground.

Getting things done

 My lovely astilbe was not doing well in the square bed, so I decided it was time to move a few plants, I dug out my red rose and put it in a pot, the astilbe I put in its place, it grew well in this bed before and will look good with all the fleabane daisies. I popped another shrub in the vacant hole in the square bed, it's got plenty of room to grow. After all the recent rain it's beginning to show signs of new growth.

 I have a composting issue, my hotbin is working, but since I have my veg beds, I have times more often when I have stuff waiting to go in. If it rains it all gets messy. I love my hotbin as it breaks everything down much quicker into compost with no smells or flies. I have ordered a second bin, expensive but useful, with all the issues with rats, it's a good option.

I've changed the small fences on my one of my raised veg bed, they are metal wrapped with plastic, they do look nice and should last longer, I really did not want to add more plastic in the garden, but prices dictated these were for me, I require 6 for each bed they do look good from our seating area. I have wrapped the bed in netting to stop our cat and others using the veg beds as a toilet. I will do the second bed in the coming days.

Apologies to anyone who has seen this post before, I published it in error on Monday, I often start a couple of post together on different subjects, I've never posted the wrong one before.

Molly helped me in the garden yesterday and was very helpful with my harvest, eating the raspberries and blueberries. I cut a cabbage and cauliflower for tea, and we dug out a potato bag, they were small as I expected, the other bag I will leave for a few more weeks, she was so happy telling me 'we are tato farmers'. I was overjoyed later to hear her tell her mum, 'did you know tatos grown in soil'.

I am working outside, doing all the messy jobs, I am in the right frame of mind to get stuck into them, keeps me from thinking too much, it's also nice to get things sorted before the coming heat wave, the recent rain has topped up all my waterbuts. My new composter is due later this week, so I will be able to place it and empty my tubs of green waste, the area behind the garage is always in shade so I can get it sorted quickly.

We recently went out to a show 'Go your own way', the music of Fleetwood Mac, at our local venue, it had been booked for ages, the first half was definitely not to our taste, focusing on Stevie Nicks, not my favourite band member, the final half focused on Christine McVie, much nicer. The night was billed as their legacy rather than a tribute band, which gave them more licence to play around with the music. 

Weeds

 Dave has been talking about weeds on his blog, Northsider, he has a lovely organic growing space, it's hard work, he grows all his veg and propagate plants to sell, it's somewhere I would love, it would be my hubby's nightmare. 

Dave asked me to show my fake grass paths around the raised beds, if you remember almost 2 years ago hubby made 2 raised beds, which we placed on our back section of our fake lawn, you can see the whole post here. After placing the beds, we cut away the grass and dug out back to the soil, 

They have been a huge success for me, I manage a small veg harvest, each bed is 200cm x 100cm, the size was decided on the space we had, taking the width of our lawn, less the width of 2 paths, roughly 2 meters, therefore making 2 x 1 meter beds.

There is never enough room, I have a raspberry bed, with my blueberries in a tub in the middle, in another bed I have a strawberry tower, with rhubarb and a gooseberry bush. I have loads of buckets and round bags, which allows more summer veg.

I am always on the lookout for weeds, with 6foot fences around our garden, they help keep weeds out, I try and grow as much as I can from self sown seeds, I have more weeds in my flower beds, I often purchase plants and weeds are arrive in those pots. I am outside every day, so as soon as I see a weed I pull it, I know birds drop seeds, I have found a couple flowering plants which I have not planted. 

With my green paths, I get very few weeds, nothing in the middle, only ever along the decking boards of the raised beds, I pull them whilst they are tiny before the roots get too huge, I don't add weeds to my compost bin, and if I purchase any compost I try and use good brands, I'm using Westlands at the moment.

We have lived here 16 years, it is a small space, easy to maintain, my different beds have been well looked after, the redesigned garden added 3 beds, 2 veg and 1 flower all at the back of our old lawn, hubby built them, I filled them with quality soil, again I'm in control.

I grew up in Somerset, one of 9 children, dad had a huge back garden all full of veg, I understand neat rows, the ability to hoe around the plants, always working to ensure everything grew well, my older brother Mel also loved the veg garden, sadly I don't have any photo's, I have asked my sister to send me copies, she has all mums photo albums, sadly she will ignore my request, I'm visiting soon, maybe she will let me look through them.

The one plant I have introduced is a creeping buttercup, only in the back fruit bed infront of the greenhouse, it was a mistake, I am pulling up runners in hope I can stop it spreading too much, I do love the tiny yellow flowers. The heat has stopped us doing much, so a bit boring here at mo. 

Back garden

 I decided to wash the outside of my greenhouse whilst the path is clear, it's a very simple job, the inside is dirty, that will be done once all the plants are gone. I managed with just one bucket of soapy water and a couple of kitchen waste water.

 

The leaves are forming on our Magnolia tree, which is very pleasing after the huge chop it had late last year, I was never worried about the tree, we have used the tree surgeon before so I trusted him. The tree in full leaf is important as it gives shade to my greenhouse throughout the hot summer months. 

Hubby had a bit of a trip in the garden and fell, he landed on my raised bed with the onions in, the onions were flattened but will be OK, but my woven fence is hanging in, it's propped up and very delicate. I said before I was very disappointed with them, now I need to decide what should replace them. Hubby is ok, just needs to watch where he is going, he tripped on my plastic trug.

One of my foxglove plants is blooming, the other is a bit behind, most of the plants in this bed are returning from last year, soon it will be full of colour. I am having to water this bed daily, it's on the sunny side of the garden, our neighbour has not cut back any of her plants, there are elderflowers growing which are taller than our Magnolia tree, it's always dry. If you look you can see Lilly sat on my pot under the acer.

Monday we had rain, not a storm, not a shower, not enough to wash away the chalk drawings the children had made the day before. I just hope our reservoirs got more rain. We are going into water saving here, I got a camping bucket, one which folds down, it's now in the kitchen sink, capturing loads of water, which will keep one water but topped up. We have always been very careful of our water use, we do not have a water meter, it won't save us money, but it make me happier. 

We saw a huge hornet flying around our garden, I know there have been sightings here in UK of the Asian giant hornet, it's the first time we have spotted one, on checking Mr Google, it's seams I don't need to worry. We have seen so many more bees, and similar flying creatures in our garden this year, they swarm the daisy flowers, we do love to watch them.

We are both enjoying the hot sunny days, often inside for a couple of hours to avoid the heat, we did pop to our favourite garden centre, hubby wanted some new heather's, the squirrels dug his out of their pots, a few small plants were purchased for around my wildlife pond and a huge yellow poppy just called to me.

Gone to seed

It's a busy time in the greenhouse, here I have loads of seedlings, mainly flowers, plus a few cucumber and tomatoes. I have started the task of potting induvial seedlings, I will only sort as many as I need, the rest I will spread out in the seed tray and once they have grown some more I will offer them to neighbours. 

On the small greenhouse shelves I have more plants in individual pots of various sizes, most of these are flowers, some are small purchased plants I have grown on, again I have more than I need, I'm aware I can easily loose a few at any point.

 

One side of my raised veg beds is now a cold frame, these plants don't need to be under glass, most of these I have raised myself from cuttings, under the plastic domes are my cabbage plants, I have 7, 3 did not make it, these are all looking good after moving them. They are under my netting.

This is my newly created salad bed, it has a cover to keep Lilly off, I have various seeds in here, there is also a perspex cover which I pop on over night. It's working well, the mixed leaf salad has healthy growth, I can also see spring onions and radishes coming up.

Each day this week I have spent an hour outside, getting little bits done, most of the time inside the greenhouse, I should have plenty of strong flower plants. Our local pet shop has their flower strips back in, 4 or 5 plants for £1.49, this year I only purchased 2 packs, I have most of what I require.

My greenhouse is a busy spot, it's always full at this time of year, I do love to spend time inside, the joy of seeds growing into healthy plants always gives me great pleasure, I have opened the door every day, my window has an automatic opener, it's in the sunniest spot in the garden. I have very little to do elsewhere in the garden, just a bit of weeding and dead heading my daffodils, I'm waiting for my tulips to open, in hope I have the blooms I'm expecting.

Lilly is very happy we took her onesie off on Thursday, in hope she would leave her wound alone, after a long session of grooming where I watched her, she is not bother by her scar, it's the next step in her recovery. If all goes well we are thinking of letting her outside on Saturday, after 14 days locked inside. 

We both had dentist this week, no problems for either of us, we then popped to B&Q, hubby had a few things to get, I got another calendula, I love the orange flowers, we got a few different bags of compost, all Westland brand, I don't ever purchase Verve as I have had poor results before.

Growing to eat

 This veg bed has a row of parsnips still in ground from last year, two rows of carrots, under the plastic covers are ten cabbage plants, broad beans are flowering at other end. My new netting cover is working, it's very easy to open for access.

This veg bed is not so full only onions, the bigger space will have runner beans. In the two pots are raspberry roots, in hope of new plants. I need to get two flexible pipes for the frame of this net cover, for now it works like this.

I have popped my seed potatoes in these two bags, they are placed in the same spot to grow as last year. The cover on top is an old greenhouse shelf, there to stop the cheeky squirrel. In the lower photo both containers have carrots in, the one on the right are heritage, I also had a few extra heritage carrots which I popped in the raised bed.

The handle broke on this tub, it is huge, in here I have cauliflower plants, I don't want them too big as only husband eats them, I have netted the top to keep cabbage whites out.

This is my raised bed, the mesh is to stop Lilly and pigeons, it also has a plastic cover, as well as the heritage carrots, I can see mixed salad leaves and some radishes. The marigold is thriving and the fushia in the front is budding.

This is the path in front of my greenhouse, I use it to get to my raised bed through the winter months it's clear, now the growing season is here, I use all the space I have, the huge pot in the foreground has tulips in, once they have finished I will plant a cucumber in the pot. At the very end is the small bed made for sweet-peas, which have settled in well. You can see my rhubarb is growing well, it's an early variety and in its second growing year, so we can pull some soon. The tower is full of strawberry plants.

It's been a fun few days, meeting Molly and daughter was good on Friday, we visited three shops before stopping for a drink, cake and a chat, we got two new scooters for the little ones to use in our garden, Molly understood we were taking them to our house and did not moan. Saturday we had Molly and Will, whilst daughter took George to his extra class, these are done through our local Downs Syndrome charity, George is doing well he is happier going since he started school, once home, the younger ones played on their scooters. We had hotdogs for lunch followed by cake, all ate outside, perfect family time.

Sunday I was really lazy, stayed in bed for ages, Lilly snuggled with me, later I spent time in our garden, mainly in veg section and greenhouse, I am starting now to get ahead, it's a risk because if the weather turns cold and frosty I could lose loads. My flower seeds are starting to show, they are undercover inside the greenhouse, the plants I potted up are all doing well. I planted another tub of sweet-peas outside,  hopefully I will have loads of flowers. Hubby sorted his side of the garage, I did mine last week, we both love tidy spaces, he has also been moving tubs for me and transplanted a big climbing rose from his front garden to behind the garage of the back garden.

We did not get any notable amounts of rain, which is a disappointment, two of my water butts are only half full, we do live in a drier part of the country, I will need to water again soon, it's a job I do enjoy. Everything at this time is about the garden, every hour worked now is rewarded throughout the coming summer.

More jobs done

I have been struggling to keep Lilly off my veg beds, she quickly learnt how to get under the nets, I do not want cats on my veg beds, so hubby went online and got me this netting which is used for fruit cages. We had to change the frames as this is heavier than the simple pea netting, using bits we already have. 

My raised bed in behind the pond has always been used for flowers, being so high it does dry out quickly, I dug down a third and placed a membrane across the soil, I then sieved the soil back, I have added blood, bone and fish, the plan is to make it into a salad bed, it's in a sunny spot, I hope the water will flow through slower, hubby will make a net frame to fit on top of the wooden sides to keep animals out. I have left one section for flowers I have a fushia which tumbles down the front.

We popped to a couple garden centres, I found a pack of 20 tiny plugplant snapdragons, which looked nice, I have popped them into bigger containers, which once grown will fill in some gaps in the garden. I also have my mixed sweet-peas in their long root pods, I have picked the growing tip from each one in hope they get bushy.

I got 2 packs of bulbs, the back of my square flower bed needs a few more plants, these are very bee friendly and much cheaper purchasing plants, here 18 possible plants for £7.98. I have already planted them, they all looked healthy with some growth on.

Sue from HerinHimout2 blog was commenting about Simon Akeroyd, he works with RHS and has so much good useful information which he passes on, I follow him on Instagram. These are my garden books, I often look through them, both of the Simon Akeroyd books are very good, I did have some Monty Don books but his books are not as informative as these.

I got 2 bags of John Innes compost, 40 litres, BOGOF, so 80 litres for £6.99, my favourite garden centre now has a reward card, this was one of their March deals, I do prefer good quality compost, and of course it's peat free. We are visiting local garden centres, we are looking for new garden recliners, hubby at 6'2" finds most recliners a bit short for him, so we are now looking for chair and stool, I'm enjoying have a look at all the plants, this is already an expensive month.

Tuesday afternoon we worked outside, I did the bits shown above, hubby started cleaning the patio, he has a brush attachment to his power washer, which made getting the green off much easier. The net frame for the raised veg bed is using tall runner bean poles, the bottom half at each end with a flexible pipe, the middle is a top jointed pole with a vertical pole, I got them when Wilkinson's closed, I have more than I need. 

Lilly is outside every day, she is happy in the garden, as yet not climbing, if we come inside, she comes in calling for us to go back out, hopefully we will have a lovely summer where we can be outside everyday. We are getting through our (ahem my list) of what we want finished before the growing season starts, it is a small garden which I do like tidy lines, every chore outside is a joy to me, I wish I felt the same way about housework. 

This week

I adore these daisies, there are seven plants along this boarder, they tumble just as I wanted and soften the edge, this bed has been a pure pleasure for me, they flower from early spring until the frost arrives, should look good for weeks, very little work and a simplistic look.

I love honeysuckle, it's take a few years for this plant to thrive, it's along the rear fence beside the greenhouse, there are a mixture of climbing shrubs here. I'm not a huge fan of climbing plants, except along our back fence, I do like to see a clean tidy fence boundary.

I have sorted my raised bed infront of my greenhouse, I have always grown flowers here, but with the pond below I want to come away from flower blooms dropping. The section nearest the fence has an established fuchsia which I did not want to move, so I have placed a wooden barrier and made that section for flowers. I have sorted the rest of the soil, removing the few bulbs I planted and any stones, this is going to be for seedling and salad, I have salad bits in the covered pot.

My title, This week.... I've worn long trousers everyday, trainers a couple of times and found my fleece for a couple of evenings, we are turning on lights most evenings and have started closing our blinds in the sitting room, the outside of our windows are covered in moisture every morning, we can't see out for a while, sadly our season is changing. I'm not sure I'm ready for summer to end, it's not been a great season  or year.

Sunday after heavy rain through the night we woke to blue skies, we had just a sprinkle of rain and a sunny afternoon, I worked outside enjoying the warmth from the sun. I also worked on my 2023 book and April is uploaded, that's a third done, the publishers sent out an update, which now does not have the font I use as included, so rather than pay more I have changed the font, I actually prefer the new font.

Monday was mixed, dry with a few sunny spells, I did not do much outside my back is playing up again, sorting the raised bed was awkward, I could not stand close enough and I had to twist a bit, all heading for aches in my back, I stayed in we had a couple of parcels arriving. I changed the font on my 2022 book, and checked through the pages again, I had a few tweaks to make, but it is finished again, ready for November discounts.  

Food production

My fruits are mixed, the strawberry tower is full of berries, just a bit later than previous years, so I'm happy to keep the tower in it's spot, our blueberries are again full of fruits, like the strawberries we are having the start of our harvest. The raspberries are very different, the middle section has hardly any growth, which is disappointing, the end section is doing well.

The veg is very mixed my leeks and cauliflower plants in one raised bed are doing well, I have popped in a few cabbage plants and some more broccoli, and netted to keep out white cabbage butterflies. The second bed not so, my runner beans look terrible, beetroot and parsnips are OK and one broccoli plant left, there is plenty of time for the root veg to grow.

Other things growing in buckets and bags are thriving, I have some peas growing, my carrots in 3 buckets are thriving as are my courgettes. Tomatoes are behind, I do have some forming on my big plant the other two are spindly, my cucumber died, I do have another growing, but it's behind.

One small harvest for Sunday lunch, I cut the cauliflower small as only hubby eats them, more carrots from thinning, we had it with a salmon wellington, from Lidl, very nice indeed.

My rhubarb is huge, I have not taken any in this it's first year, the gooseberry bush is more of a twig, which is OK, before I had issues with saw fly, so keeping it green was my aim this season. I have had loads of success with fruits here over the years. 

Things are growing, but my runner beans won't come to much after the snail and slug destruction, which is a shame as we both love them. It been years since I grew veg, so I was not expecting miracles, any harvest is a bonus and the start to this growing season has been very different. Finding what works in the garden is always the key to success, the raised beds means I am not growing in our heavy clay, which is always a struggle. It's all about balance in an organic garden, so this year was about bringing this new part up the the balance I have in the rest of the garden.

I have netted most of the gardens, the pigeons and collard doves are making loads of mess and nibbling at everything, my mad neighbour loves them, she feeds them, but not every day, so when there is no food next door, they flock into our plot.

I've been off colour over the weekend, so not much done other than watering and picking some fruits, I have netted my blueberries as the blackbirds are nicking all the ripe ones, so far they have left the strawberries alone. Plenty of reading time.