Well what a busy day it’s been! I’m exhausted, very dirty, but very happy. I’ve managed to spend the entire day in the garden, which doesn’t happen very often. Usually it’s either just the morning or just the afternoon. This morning Mark and George shifted another 5 tons of top soil (only need another 5 tons and then I’m done) and have half filled what will become the fruit bed. I’ll order the last 5 tons when I get paid at the end of the month. They both worked very hard and in temperatures in the mid to high 20’s.

While they were doing that Emily was helping me tidy the pots and trays away and put them in the garage. Then we ventured into the scorching hot greenhouses. We were checking for any side shoots on the tomatoes, and nipping out their tops if they were tall enough, and tying in any tomatoes that needed to be done. It was very hot in the greenhouses and the thermometer was nearly at 40 degrees. Needless to say we kept popping outside to cool down. We then had to move some chillies down a shelf as they are now getting very tall. Once everything was sorted we then watered and fed all the plants. Everything is growing really well in both the greenhouses which is really exciting. Emily was very pleased to see some peppers starting to grow. We keep picking cucumbers which is lovely, and all I’m waiting for now is for the aubergine fruits to start to grow.

I got Emily to sow some more sugar snap pea seeds, because I’ve just planted out one batch into large pots in the garden. The new sowing are sitting on the floor in the 6×6 greenhouse and hopefully they’ll start to germinate in a couple of days. Must make sure I close the greenhouse doors at night, otherwise the mice will eat them.

Then it was time to systematically go through each bed and weed and water. The potatoes are growing really well, and my lettuces are abundant. The beetroot are swelling nicely and the broad beans are doing well, although I’ve got a few black fly, so I’ll have to sort those out, still it can be easily remedied. I have sunflowers growing in each bed, and some are growing really tall. Still no flowers, but that’s good as I want them to grow much more. Once the flowers open they stop growing.

All the brassicas are growing really well. I keep moving the netting up, but have got to make the frame for them. I have the wood all cut and ready in the garage, so I just have to put the frames together. I’ve hopefully got Thursday off this week, so I’ll get the kids to help me put them together.  They clearly like it in their bed, as the brukale is about 18 inches tall, and the cabbages are firming up nicely. Again I checked for weeds and then gave them a thorough water.

Then it was onto the cucurbit bed. Which also has a few tomatoes, sweetcorn and beans in as well. Basically a bit of a mish-mash bed. I suppose I could say it’s a 3 sisters bed (corn, beans and cucurbits) with a few tomatoes and sunflowers thrown in for good measure. Again a little light weeding and a thorough watering. I’ve harvested quite a few courgettes so far, and there are loads more growing.

Then finally onto the 3 square beds at the back. One I have asparagus in, which is growing really well. I’ve not harvested any this year as I thought I’d let it settle first. Another has onions and carrots in. The onions are growing well considering they went in really late, but the carrots are a bit pants. The seed is old, so that’s why not many have germinated. And in the other square I am growing my garlic. Again this was put in very late, but seems to be growing really well. When I watered these beds I put the hose of very fine spray and gave the chickens a little cooling shower. At first they were a little confused, but soon they realised that it was a good thing and enjoyed what I was doing.

Once all that was done I sorted out several plant pots on the patio, clearing the spent flowers and any gaps I found, I planted some more flowers in. I then started to weed the flower bed next to the patio. It’s been a bit neglected, so I gave it a lot of TLC. It’s not finished, but looks much better.

So after a busy day it’s time to settle down to a good hearty meal. Emily and I have made a fish pie and we’re going to have some salad with it. In the salad is lettuce, radish and cucumber all from our garden. The tomatoes are from the shop, but soon ours will be ripe.

Hope you all had a great weekend, and had as much fun as I did. Here’s hoping I can pop out in the garden during the week and get a few more things done.