After the last couple of weekends being frantic, one with ringing for the Jubilee, and the other with a retirement party and collecting George from university, I finally had a weekend to myself and at home. Saturday morning was busy with shopping and getting pet supplies, the chickens eat so much. The afternoon was house chores and we had a BBQ in the evening which I managed to get it all cooked before it rained. There are 6 of us in the house at the moment so that’s a lot of food for a BBQ. Still the best thing about a BBQ is the left overs for the next couple of days.

Sunday, after morning ringing, I was out in the garden. I let the chicken out in their extended run and 6 out of the 7 decided to have a dustbath in exactly the same place. Now when I have a bath (not in dust but in water), I like to have a bit of space, but clearly they all love each other so much they want to squash together.

The heavy rain over night had watered the garden beautifully, but the outside tomatoes had been bent over a little. We had thunder and lightning as well, but I wear ear plugs and an eye mask in bed so didn’t see any lightning, but heard the first bit of rain and a slight rumble, but then went back to sleep. So the first thing I did when I got in the garden was to tie up the tomatoes inside the greenhouse and outside in the garden and side shoot the ones that needed doing.

Not all tomatoes need side shooting. If they’re a bush variety then don’t side shoot as that’s where the fruits grow from. If they are tall growing tomato plants then they do need side shooting. I know that some people plant the side shoots and get new plants, please feel free to do that if you like. If you’re growing your tomatoes in pots, and those pots are sitting in trays, just put the side shoots in the tray and when you water goodness comes out of the side shoot and is absorbed by the compost and into the plant. I’m guessing you could also soak side shoots in water for about 24 hours and pour that on the tomatoes that are growing outside, I don’t see what harm it would do.

The side shoots are the little stems that grow between the main stem and a leaf.

Here’s a video out side shooting that you might find useful….

I then finally managed to plant out my Sweetcorn. The first batch I sowed, only 2 plants germinated, so I sowed some more and they did much better. I bought more seeds, so maybe the others were a little old, I’m sure I’d only had them a couple of years. Sweetcorn needs to be planted in a block and not a straight line as they need to pollinate with each other and it’s best done in a block. This year I’ve planted mine out in-between my pumpkins and squashes, so they’re in a block, but not in straight lines.

Here’s how I planted out my sweetcorn…..

And finally I harvested a load of rhubarb, this I will cut up and put in the freezer. I gave the rhubarb crowns a very good water and feed with Shropshire Seaweed Fertiliser.

That was all for this weekend. The flower beds will need to be tidied and watered. Time to get my butt pump out instead of walking backwards and forwards with watering cans. The large raised beds also need a little tidy, but those will be jobs for this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to pop out before I got to work and when dinner is cooking I can pop out again.

If you follow me on my Claire’s Allotment Facebook page to see what I get up to during the week.

Have a wonderful week ahead and I hope you get to play in your garden to.

TTFN xxx