Thursday

 Good morning!  We have more sun, rather hazier than yesterday but still - it shines!  I'm loving it!

Yesterday ended up very busy indeed.  It started with a trip to the most local garden centre which is also very good.  No fusses and fancies, just honest, well brought up plants, thousands and thousands of them!  £1.20 each or five for a fiver for veg and herbs which seems extremely good value seeing as they are such good quality.

After failing miserably with the home sowed tomatoes and cucumbers, I'm not going to try growing them from seed again.  I know it is better value but this way you can choose from a wide range of different kinds.  I got tomatoes, cucumbers, three more strawberry plants because they looked so very good and two chilli peppers, apache which I have grown before and liked.  I also got a codling moth trap for the garden (must protect those baby apples), some wire rings, some canes and some slow release granules.

Then it was a case of knuckling down and getting them all sorted.  They're all in now and none has wilted or started looking unhappy so fingers crossed.  Here's some photos of the kind I show year after year . . .

Cucumbers - perhaps they are a bit crowded but three seems to suit that container and they always do well.

Six of the tomatoes, all different, I think - no, there's two sungolds but the others are all different.  The remaining plants are in pots along the fence as last year and my lovely neighbour, Chris, is giving me her five left over plants so I'm well stocked.  I dearly love fresh tomatoes, picked and eaten, and want to make sure I have enough to share with Beth, Alex and Dad.

Just to the left of the tomatoes you can see the little chilli plants - they're not quite as close to the tomatoes as the photo seems to show.

Spot the ripening strawberry.  This isn't from one of the new plants and about time too!  :-)

I freshened up the mints earlier in the year, took out most of the roots and discarded them, replanted the rest with fresh soil and it was well worth it - must start making my mint tea again.

From left to right; chocolate mint, mint sauce mint and apple mint.

I dearly love baby apples!  Now I have my codling moth trap out, that's the best I can do for them so now it's just fingers crossed and talk nicely to them.

Then I went down to the allotment with eight of the tomato plants, the mower and the strimmer and lots of good intentions!

It now looks as an allotment plot should look.  Almost every bit of available soil has something there, whether you can see it yet or not, the grass is as neat and tidy as it will ever look and it's all very satisfying.

Tomatoes - eight different kinds.  Yum.

A general view.

More baby apples - redloves this time.

By the time I got home, I needed to change for personal training.  Dear Lindsey had offered me a slot later in the afternoon as it would be a bit cooler by then.  This worked extremely well for the whole day as it meant I could do all the gardening in one go rather than splitting it in half.

I also got some washing done and line dried and, generally, it was an extremely satisfying day.

And now my back hurts!!

Today is another busy day.
I need to bustle around and get the house in good nick.  Then Chris is coming round for a garden chat after which I must plant out the tomatoes she is so generously giving me, bless her.  
Then it is packing, etc, because this afternoon I am back off to Dad's.  My brother is also coming down from Scotland this afternoon so we can have a long weekend - I haven't seen John for about a year and a half, not since Christmas 2019.

Have a great day, everyone.  Enjoy the fine weather while it lasts.   :-)