Monday, April 30, 2007

I'm back !

All things considered I had a good weekend. Had some much needed quality family time, helped Mum despatch some snails, told her about the toms she'd planted (2 Totem, 1 Marmande), watched the birdies and watched my daughter's kitten watching the birdies. At one stage I thought he was going to make an almighty pounce straight through the patio doors at a wood pigeon that was the same size as him ! I wonder who would have come off worst !

My dear old Nan was looking much better than I had expected. She's a bit fed up with her old body however, but her mind is still as sharp as anything. Her memory recall of events 80+ years ago is simply amazing and listening to all her stories was a joy. I'm hoping I'll see her at the end of June for her 98th birthday !

It was interesting to see how much further on everything is darn sarf ! All the trees seem to be far more advanced than up here and Mum's ground is definitely much drier than mine.

I had a good walk around the plot last night when I got back and all my babies seemed to have coped well without me. The OH did a bit of watering in the g/h and everything is looking green and lush. Am going to take today off work and keep my fingers crossed that today's weather forecast holds true ! More sun ! It's looking a bit grim and grey just now, but at least that means the soil has had some moisture.

I'll definitely get some more pics up tonight.

Hope yours was a goodun.

xx

Friday, April 27, 2007

Emergency visit south

this weekend dictates that nothing will be done in the garden. So i've made the most of some nice weather last night and was out on the plot til about 8pm trying to tidy things up a bit so that the OH won't have too much to do !

Quick run down on the happenings this week.

Planted up half the g/h with toms ! Need to get rid of the staging before I can do the other side. Gave away 3 boxes of surplus to requirement children at work yesterday, so i've only left myself ONE cream sausage tomato plant. how did that happen ???

got a tomato grow house half price from B&Q so have put 2 Legends and a Marmande in there, cover the front with fleece so it acts as a heater throughout the night, roll the door up and a sun protector throughout the day.

got the last of the peas in pots in the ground last night to fill in some of the spaces in the pea row. some that are already in the ground are coming on fine and have pods. the row i sowed the other side of the netting, under cloches are poking through now so hopefully when the time is right i'll have a nicely packed wall of peas. am resisting the urge to pick a pod "just to see" lol. by the time i get back from Lunnun, I might have something worthwhile to chomp on.

Broad beans aquathingies have started setting. I was overjoyed lol. The Green Windsors were toppling a bit so have staked those. I can just see some blooms coming on them too.

During the wet/damp conditions earlier in the week, Mr Sluggy and his entourage were having a field day, so some traps were put out, and the early morning despatcher visit found a cast of thousands from tiny ickle ones to bloody great huge ones. In an effort to get the composter working a bit better I slung them all in there, as well as some carefully placed projectile shots over the hedge. Most satisfying. they had gone for some of the marigolds, little scoundrels. I hope it's not fatal !

Beet in pots are doing ok and the ones under cloches in the whisky barrel are taking hold really well.

The calendula dotted around the place are just lovely. I'm so pleased with them as they're gorgeous. 4p's have bloomed already, windygale's are still in ickle pots but will plant them out once I'm back. The Lemon Zest's have germinated both out in the front border and in the module tray, so will prick them out when I'm back too.

Carrits are doing well. The parmex in a pot have lots of lovely green growth so hopefully there's great things going on under the surface. The rainbow trial ones in the black bucket have germinated nicely and I don't think there will be much need for thinning. The first born of those, really doesn't look anything like a carrit though, so will have to hoik him out i think. serves me right for gloating early eh ? The Red Cored and Nantes are up in the bath, nicely and evenly spread. Need to sow some more rows.

Courgettes have been potted up and are now out in the g/hs. Didn't like the heat yesterday though, so I've made sure to open all the doors today.

Still can't get to grips with the cucumbers though. Germinated nicely but now they're looking a bit sad, droppy, scorched and generally unhealthy. I don't think i'm a cucumber person. Think they suffered from the heat yesterday as well as the courgettes.

Both garlic's are thickening up nicely and am hoping for great things there. Even the over wintered onions look to be growing a bit now. The red barons planted out at the end of the winter are looking better than the OW'd ones though.

Strawberries have had their fleece removed and now covered with netting. There are various blooms with ickle strawbs appearing.

Sweet peas are in. Some up an arch, and last night got some netting up the side and halfway up the roof of the big g/h. Got growbags at the base and stuck some SPs in there.

Honeysuckle started to look a bit mildewy already, not really surprised with the rain tbh, so gave that a good squish with some chemical or other !

Fuschias are going mad ! All my cuttings from RDM55 have exploded, really should take some more while I have the chance. My standard hardy fuschia tree is looking very nice and lush. Really is looking more like a tree and less like a twig. I've promised that I won't drown it this year.

Planted up a hanging bag with petunias which is now hanging in the g/h. Got loads still to plant up though. Will wait to see where I have gaps and chuck them about !

Existing salad bed has had two good cuttings now, and I had loads more seedlings in a tray so have made the whole of that bed salad/radishes now. Think the heat got to them yesterday so gave them a good water last night and they seem to have recovered this morning.

Nasturiums and freesias are looking great. Nice wee erect plants. Am still hoping that we've had the last frost though.

Aubergines are still inside. Both kinds have been potted up now. the Black Beauty's which were sown earlier are getting massive, and the calliope are trying hard to catch up. Will definitely try to find homes for them all, but I've got about 16 plants ! Oh well lol.

Cox's Orange Pippin is in bloom and looks lovely. Currant/goosegog/blueberries all looking fine.

Lillies are going as mad as the fuschias. I've got the shorter varieties outside, but the very tall ones are still in the ickle g/h and one good blast of wind and they'd be on their sides !

Decking being oiled so is still empty. Nice rich looking shade of neutral ! Hope that it helps seal some of the cracks ! One of the patio doors dropped yesterday ! Couldn't shut the damn things, but eventually got them closed and locked last night. Must be a heat thing. Man coming to look at it over the weekend.

Mr Robin has just paid me a visit. Nice to know he's still around. Infact I'm sure he just flew into the g/h there. Hope he can find his way out again lol. Ah yes, there he comes.

Got three yellow bottle brush seeds from windygale that have all germinated, promised that I'd post him some pics ........ soon windy soon ! They have faired much better than the cutting that I took from mamalion's red bush which has gone all dry and crispy. My forsythia twigs seem happy enough though, so will plant them out along the communial border when I get back. Will try to train it into a nice low hedge in years to come.

I've not even started on the beans and squashes which are all still inside in their various pots, root trainers. Most of them have germinated, along with some extra varieties of tomatoes. That's where they're staying until after the weekend. Germination of the Morning Glory's was a bit sporadic, so have sown some more this week.

Sorry for lack of pics, but wanted to get something written before I fly off. My poor old Nan isn't well, so an emergency dash is called for. She sounded chirpy enough on the phone yesterday, but at 97 you have got to be worried. So come on old girl, you've been through plenty of battles in your long life, one more little one should be a doddle. Love her to bits.



Hope you're all having a productive time of it people and I'll be back Sunday night.

Take care folks.

xxxx

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The broadies are setting !! Hip hip hoorah!

Just been out slug despatching and spotted numerous tiny pods on the aquathingies.

apologies to Mr Bee who obviously has been working hard in my absence.

The SS JAs have just put in an appearance too.

Still really rainy, but who cares ? I have growth ! lol Oh I love this lark.

:-)

Sunday, April 22, 2007

A quick fly through the weekend !

Another weekend been and gone. So much done with so much still to do.

Cleared the deck to give it a power spray with a wizzy machine borrowed from the boss. Of course it drizzled all weekend which meant the deck treatment didn't get done, and we'll probably have to borrow wizzy machine again next weekend. I moved all the bird feeders to divert our feathered friends away from clean deck, but tell the pigeons they're supposed to stay away ! They're not that bright and keep landing on it looking for food. While we had the sprayer, the OH did the paths and concrete steps to our place and upstairs ! I've never seen anything look so clean ! They're positively beaming ! Neat little toy and will certainly plan on getting one in the next sales.

With the deck clear, it's gone back to looking enormous and I quite like it that way. Less is more so they say, so I'll be having less pots and more space when everything returns to normal.

I never did tell you the story about the auto vent opener did I ? Well to cut a long story short, it was a right royal pain in the butt to fix the first one, a million and one holes drilled in the frame and we eventually managed to get everything lining up ! I wasn't filled with confidence when the OH was going to start drilling with the glass still in ! :-O (shaking head and sighing smilie). Still after 3 hrs on the first day, and an hour on the second, we managed to get it on, lined up, but no temperature to test it out on !! Since then, I've actually seen it work a couple of times, once being tonight when I'd put the heater on to look after the newly potted up toms ! So I had to run out and turn the thing off. lol We still haven't plucked up the energy to install No. 2, but really should, and soon too. If this mild weather carries on, I can see me needing all the ventilation I can get soon.

Right, where were we ? Ahhhhh ! The veg !

Courgettes: Defender, Astia, Black Beauty, All Green Bush - first lot sown on 6 April have mostly germinated and half of them potted on today. The other half really do need doing but I've run out of pots ! I got some root trainers from ebay last week and sowed some more in them, just as an experiement ! :-P Remember the 57 tomato plants ? That's just about par for the course. Read on and you'll see how I've mismanaged the sowing this year.

Aubergines: Calliopie sown 17/2. Sowed 6, wanted 2, got 5 (potted up)
Black Beauty, sown 5/2. Sowed 6, wanted 2, got 7 ! (need potting up - no pots !)
All looking healthy but do need to move on. Move onto where I've not go a clue ! I've run out of space in the g/hs and they're all still on the window sill.

Carrits: Parmex in pot in g/h, thinned, and lots of lovely green growth, just waiting for the golf balls now. Hopefully because they've been up on the staging, old rooty fly won't have found them as I've not kept them covered !

Rainbow (A4A gals trial bucket) have germinated and coming through nicely. Took the lid off them today to give them a bit of air. Won't put it back on now as they're well on their way.
Nantes in the bath, coming on, but quite slowly. Could do with some sun and I should give them a bit of a water. Ditto Red Cored Chantenay. I've sown these two rows really thinly so no need to thin !

Broad beans: aquathingies, lots of blooms now rotting and going black. can't see any have set. Where's a bee when you need him ! The plants themselves continue to grow so i'm not at all worried, but it would be nice to have some more bees follow the "This Way" sign lol. Green Windsors have looked a bit floppy lately so gave them a good drink and propped them up with some canes. I would liked to have thought they'd be finding their own water supply by now, but perhpas it's been THAT dry that they needed a helping hand.

I have PEAS ! about 3 or 4 Twinkle pods. They're fattening up nicely but will be gone in two shakes of a lambs tale. Well you don't think they're actually going to get to the kitchen do you ?

First sown beetroot doing well under the pop bottle cloches. Sowed some more in the root trainers for some succesionals.

Beans - all germinating nicely ! I love seeing them push their way up through the soil and throwing it everywhere lmao.

Squash - sowed some of Sarah's Japanese dumpling and Futsu. I think they'll be through tomorrow morning !

Garlic seems to be fine, Runty too. Onions still seem a bit lacking, especially those that have been overwintered. Don't think I'll bother with that again in the autumn.

Strawberries have a few blooms with teensy tiny fruit forming. Oh can't wait for them !

The salad leaves direct in the bed are really taking off now. Had a couple of early cuttings already, but now you can almost watch them growing when I take the fleece off.

Think that's it ! Doesn't seem anywhere near enough given the fast that I've been working my butt off for weeks on the things, but I've probably forgotten half of it but that will have to do ......... as Zebedee would say ... BOING ! time for bed !

T'ra

Friday, April 20, 2007

This one missed the Blooms, but so deserves a mention !




I love it so much ! And when the sun went in, so did it. And the good news is that I've got dozens just like it waiting to pop.

Oh happy days !

[:D]

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tonight it's the flowers and blossom !

I thought, if I blogged in categories, it might be easier to manage, so tonight we hit some blooms !

I sadly neglected to take many pics of the spring bulbs, but here's some pics of things just arriving now.



The blueberries, as previously mentioned are really looking lovely. The pink is the
Sunshine Blue, the cream is the Chandler.



























The Cox's Orange Pippen has a lovely bud. Having read all the horror stories about growing this variety, I just hope I get a decent amount of blossom, not so worried about the fruit ! :-)








Now my thinking is that bluebells should be blue ! Otherwise it just ain't right .... but must admit these pink ones do look lovely but the blue ones are still better.











The forget-me-nots (that were sown last year) are a spectacular blue, which my camera just doesn't capture. They're quite vivid. Have sown some more this year, hoping to fill the corner.








The honeysuckle is really looking healthy, I just hope it stays that way with none of the mildew that it had last year. Certainly doesn't seem to have suffered any from a good old haircut.



The broad beans just about creep into the bloom category ! The aquathingies at the back were sown last autumn and the small ones at the front are Green Windsor (I think, can't find the packet atm). I grew those last year and was pleasantly surprised, so this year I've grown a few more !


I planted out a whole tray of Naughty Marietta marigolds along the front edge of the middle border and side bed and have got quite a few calendula in the ground now. I just hope the frost stays away long enough to let them settle in.

My good friend rdm55 from work and A4A kindly gave me two boxes of fuschias over the weekend. He is growing them to exhibit this year and has given me some of his babies. I just hope I can do them justice. I loved his shade shed, which was basically a shed with netting instead of walls/roof and his garden and the neighbours was to die for. I think it was actually big enough for a football pitch !

Right, that's the blooms done ! Tomorrow - the veg !

Monday, April 16, 2007

Tomato Audit

I know I've still not covered the weekend yet, but counted the toms tonight, so thought I'd chat about them first.

A few of them had gone a little pale and yellow, probably running out of goodness in their wee cramped pots. The advice from the GYO peeps was a magnesium sulphate foliar feed.

Having asked the question (where do I get it), trotted off up to the pharmacy at lunch time and purchased a 200g tub of Epsom salts for the bargain price of £1.29. If this works, it will be the bestest £1.29 I've spent so far this season !

None of them are in a really bad way, but more than a few looked as if they could do with a pick me up. I'm just not ready to put them in their black buckets yet. The g/h isn't ready, I'm not 100% convinced the auto vent is opening and closing as it should and I've still got far too many other things in there to be able to move the toms in permanently.

One of the problems I've encountered was sowing some varieties direct into milk bottle pots ! They've grown like mad, but now they're running out of steam in the original compost and some are so tall (hmmmmm the poor Tigerellas are somewhat leggy) and the only way to plant them deep would be to stick them in the black buckets now.

The overnight temps in the g/h have been around 40-50oF and I'm not convinced that's warm enough to leave them in the g/h overnight. I'd be devastated if I lost ANY even though this was the actual count. One is still a rogue, but think it's been identified as a Tres Cantos.

Tigerella - 6 - Poor leggy creatures, really are very lanky - Some from Liska, some from a new pack - sadly didn't label which was which. The best will be Liska's naturally. :-P
Pineapple - 6 - My most specialist babies this year as they are Supersprout's
Legend - 4 - don't know where these came from but I had a whole pack so I may have bought them ! :-O
Gartenperle - 5 (still to be potted up and they're not looking good atm)- left over from last year's packet
Cream Sausage - 5 - from my Mummy - Mum thought they had "Banana" in their name, but Supersprout and I thought that Cream Sausage was a closer match.
Muchamiel - 3 - from the lovely Biscombe
Tres Cantos - 4 (including the rogue)- Biscombe again
Black cherry - 2 - ain't got the foggiest, so if anyone's reading this that sent them to me - many many thanks and please put your hand up so I know ! lol
Gardeners Delight - 8 - cover of a mag packet
Harbinger - 6 - lord only knows
Ferline - 3 - Lishka
Marmande - 2 - Lishka
Golden Sunrise - 2 - Lishka (i think)

What I'm going to do with them all, I haven't got a scooby doo and I've made a new season's resolution to carefully note anything that anyone sends me lol

Anyway, enough of the gabbing, here's some pics of the jungle.

















































While I was uploading the pics there, I suddenly remembered that on Saturday I sowed some San Marzano Lungo (a plum type), Santium (an early bush - which is handy as i've sown them so late lol), and Tomato Tumbling Tom (one for the hanging basket). How could I forget !

I'll make a note to remember how the foliar feed goes and let you know.

And oh how I love running my fingers through the leaves and sniffing! ahhhhhhhhh - perfume !

Cheerio and good luck to everyone with their toms.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Kibble Palace, Glasgow

The OH read that there was an orchid exhibition at the Kibble Palace and thought I'd like to see it, so we toddled off up there yesterday for a peek.

I wanted to blog up the whole of the weekend now, but I think I'm about to fall asleep over the keyboard, so I'll just post the pics of yesterday and tell you the story about the auto vent tomorrow ! :-P

The orchids were fantastic. Such exotic flowers, strange colours and detailed markings. Anyway, hope you like the pics ! They say enough for themselves without me butting in.

See ya tomorrow !





















Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Right, what happened at the weekend ?

How time flies when you're having fun (but back to work). I've been meaning to update this for days now, but the fresh air of the weekend and then the mugginess of the office has wiped me out for the past few nights.

So .... what did I do, let's put the tape on fast forward and see if we can't get through everything in five paragraphs or less ! (some hope lmao).

In no particular order :

Thursday afternoon, they let us run away at lunch time, so with the sun in the sky and a shovel in my hand, I made a concerted attempt at breaking up the borders trying to make the cricket balls of clay more like marbles. Lot's of people suggest smashing with a rake but I can get to grips with this approach. Instead, I just a chopping action from the back to the front of the bed, with the spade turned towards me bringing all the balls that won't break immediately to the front of the bed, where I pick them up off the path and throw them to the back. Repeat process until fine tilth ! lmao. Did this a couple of times at the side bed and then cheated and threw two bags of multipurpose compost on top where I'm going to sow some poppies and other wild flowers and annuals. On Monday, I planted out some marigolds, probably too early so out came the cloches. I used the entire stock in the shed so have gone on the scrounge for more !

The sun went in of course on Friday and was quite cloudy and chilly, but I got some Meteor Peas, Hestia Dwarf runners, Courgettes Defender, Astia, Black Beauty and All Green Bush (the Astia and All Green Bush have romped away and are through and out of the propogator already), and sowed another couple of short rows of Chantenay Red Cored Carrots in the bath. THEN I spotted that the Early Nantes in the bath are just coming through now !

Saturday (according to the diary but I actually don't remember it) the sun shone all day ! Did lot's more digging in the side bed and central border. Also worked on the front border and sowed: candy tufts, love in the mist, forget-me-nots, lemon zest calendula and some Lasy Daisy asters free with one of the mags. So that's the front bed done. Also planted out Mum's Acanthus Mollis which I hope will prove to be as purple as I've seen pics of. The grass needs a cut but all i had time for was to dig up some dandelions. Just hope the rain holds off till the weekend and I'll do it then.

Sunday returned to cloudy and chilly. So I satisfied myself by sowing three different varieties of Morning Glory, all of them purple or black: Purple Haze, Star of Yelta (from Georgie), Knowlians Black (from another v. kind A4Aer who's name slips my memory ! :-( ) the pictures on the packs look stunning, and I can wait for them to flower ....... but a long while away yet.

Sowed some more Lemon Zest Calendula in trays for the back garden, Brachycome and Limnanthes douglassi (still can't get to grips with these botantical names - so Swan River Daisy and Poached Egg Plants) from Trixibelle (I think - oops). I WILL have bees and butterflies this summer ! I WILL !






The lily house is going mad ! I've done nothing for these poor plants at all cept the occasional bit of water, but inside and out of the g/h they are just sprouting like mad. At least I have the g/hs to protect them this year when we have the odd mad hurricane !



The fruit garden is coming along and I've stuck some netting up over the blueberries(and currently a dead currant stick and the rosemary bush). The ends are still open so I hope it will allow the bees but discourage the birdies from getting in there. When I'm outside, I'll lift it up totally to allow the buzzing ones greater access. Must admit I'm impressed with the buds on the blueberries. Both varieties (Chandler and Sunshine Blue) have plenty of buds, one a pinkish tinge, the other blueish. The gooseberries are showing lots of green growth too, so no doubt I'll swap the rosemary for them at some stage. The only reason the rosemary is under there is to stop the perspex panels flying out when it's windy !! The arch in front of the fruit cage is destined to be for the sweetpeas. Both Lishka and I reckon this should provide some lovely natural shading for the g/h!

Right onto the toms ! They're bloody everywhere ! I've discovered during the week that Supersprout's Pineapple Toms are a potato leaved variety (which made me even more confused that usual), but everything is just going bonkers ! I tried to pot some up today (the pineapples being most important this year - Supersprout would never forgive me if I didn't get a decent crop). Actually I don't think she'd mind at all, she's not the type ! but it's important to me to raise her babies as she would like. Whatever else I give away, I won't be parting with my pineapples.

Biscomb's Muchamiel and Tres Cantos are going great guns. Quite a change from the sunny shores of Spain to the grey old west of Scotland, but I live in hope that I can replicate a bit of the med north of the Wall.

The skidded Tigerellas have recovered and are growing well. I'm running out of big pots fast, so have no idea what I'm going to pot up the aubergines or the rest of the toms in to be honest.

God forbid I should actually have to go and buy some bigger pots ! That really would go against the grain.

Right I think that's enough for tonight. Will try and get up to date tomorrow.

In between the panic, this is great fun but so much still to do ! No news about the lottie yet. No word from the secretary either ! Bad show if you ask me. I still haven't written it off totally, but I'm not at all sure that my wrists would stand up to a full lottie ! I've already decided that next year, onions will be surplus to requirements. My over wintered ones really haven't taken off as I hoped, and they're so damn cheap that it seems silly to give over masses of land space to them (although there is still the front lawn to dig up ;-P).

We'll just wait and see. If the plot offered looks like a wilderness, I'll think twice, if however it's beautifully manicured and well worked then it would be churlish to refuse. In the meantime Kay Pee's Plot is keeping me nice and busy thank you very much, and there are alway more pots to be sown.


Lishka's runty garlic is putting on a considered performance. i slung in a couple of Red Baron onions just to share the space.

Cut my first crop of salad leaves today, and had them with a few radishes and some bland old supermarket toms together with some grilled salmon for tea. Just the simple act of going out and carefully cutting just enough for something you're going to eat then and there, makes the whole escapade worthwhile.


Oh lordy ! nearly forgot the most important bit ...... the A4A gals carrit trials. Here is the treasured bucket ! No cheating now eh girls ??

Right, enough blethering. What I've missed tonight, no doubt I'll catch up before the next episode starts.

Moral of the week: never under estimate the amount of compost or pots that you'll need !!

T'ra fellow plottees !

xx

Friday, April 06, 2007

Time to roll my sleeves up

and get started !

Not long back from a week away leaving my babies home alone ! Everything survived, if a bit on the leggy side. It was glorious weather apparently while we were away. The bird bath was nearly empty when we returned.

All the vulnerables now to the twice daily march to/from the spare room/greenhouse but it's rather cloudy and chilly this morning, so they're sitting down by the patio doors waiting for the sun to shine before they go out to play.

Just noticed wee buds on some of my more advanced calendulas (in the g/h) and have plenty more coming on.

The gifts of home made fuschias that I took to Mum, Mamalion and Nan went down well and I still have plenty left for me.

All the Naughty Marietta marigolds are doing fine, nice sturdy little plants, but the Jolly Jesters and Mum's "brown" ones are still a bit wibbly. I'm keeping watering to a minimum and hope they'll take off once the heat is turned on !

Spent all yesterday afternoon, uncovering the borders next door and giving it a good old dig, smashing clay lumps, forking and raking. The ground almost looks friable now although my "breadcrumb" fine tilth resemble golf balls and marbles ! It really does need some improving.

The onion sets in planted a couple of weeks ago seem to have taken ok, but my overwintered ones look like they're really struggling.

Salad leaves now in a raised bed are really starting to grow. Won't be long before I can have the first cutting, and some radishes will be ready by then as well. Parmex carrots in the g/h pot are looking good, but the Early Nantes in the bath have yet to germinate.

Both types of broad beans are going great guns. Lots of blooms on the aquathingies. Now I just need a bee !

The blueberry bushes are budding well, but the raspberry canes still look like sticks ! One of the Ribena sticks has growth but not the other one (but I suppose that was planted later).

All the spring bulbs and flowering nicely, mostly in the front border. A lovely show of chinodoxa. I can see loads of new buds on one of the jasmin's from where i'm sitting which i'm pleased about as it looked quite weather ravaged over the winter. the standard hardy fuschia has plenty of green (that was the one i nearly drowned last year so i'm pleased there were no lasting damage).

The sparrows are pulling apart a hanging basket liner for nesting and this morning a blue tit looked at the bird box, but only briefly. I do hope we get some to stay.

Mr and Mrs Robin however have disappeared since our holiday. Perhaps they're in a huff with us for leaving them to their own devices.

Today I will mainly be sowing: Courgettes (All Green bush, Astia, Defender, Black Beauty), Chantenay Red Cored carrits, Hestia runner beans, Tomatoes: Santiam, San Marzano Lungo, Tumbling Tom Red) and I think I'll put sow some peas direct as the first lot of Twinkle don't look to be taking very well.

Got some Morning Glory's soaking so will sow them tomorrow.

The sky is clearing .... slowly .... so one last cuppa and then I'm off outside !

Have a good sowing weekend. Hope the sun shines for you all.