Thursday

 Good morning, everyone.  Yesterday was a really beautiful summer's day, warm with a bit of a breeze and so sunny.  Couldn't have been better if I'd ordered it from Amazon!  

Yesterday, I set off to Greenbrook garden centre which is always nice to visit.  Their plants are in such good condition and are so beautifully displayed.  They have a wonderful selection of metal/ceramic/extremely heavy pots of all shapes, sizes and colours but, while I love the heavier pots, it's just unrealistic for me to go that way.  They are far too heavy to move around the garden without danger of causing a hernia!!

However, inside, there's a good selection of plastic pots, again all shapes, sizes and colours.  I headed for that part and found three, one for the fig and two for the columnar fruits that will be arriving at some point in the autumn.  

I went to look at the bags of soil, compost, etc, and was delighted to see that rather than have expensive John Innes number 3 (recommended for trees and bushes), they had a more generic tree and bush compost.  I got two large bags of that which should, if I did the maths correctly, be enough for all three pots.
Three bedding plans and some slow release granules later and I was at the checkout feeling rather pleased with what I'd bought.

Then it was personal training time.  I'm terribly unfit after more or less two months away from it but we pushed on through and did some of what I used to be able to do.  We've decided to share the time between exercise and massage with the former gradually taking more and more time as the weeks go by.  While my calves and ankles are very, very much better, they are still not 100% so we talked about specific calf strengthening exercises I can do at home.

After lunch it was allotment time.  I spent most of the time giving everything a jolly good watering and mowing the grass but also got one double row of the autumn cropping broad beans in.  The courgettes seem to be OK although, sadly, one of the babies seems to have blossom end rot so I do hope that is just a one-off.  The runners are coming on a treat although not ready to pick yet and I came home with six baby corn cobs, a few raspberries and a nice bunch of sweet peas.

I had intended to spend some time in the garden, getting the new plants, including the fig, into their homes, but I was shattered and went to sleep instead!

Today, there's just three things.  I'm going round to Chris' for our usual Thursday chat, then down the allotment to weed, water, sow another rob of broad beans and a row of mangetout for Beth.  I'm not sure about them but she was sure that they have time to grow.  I'm using the supports where the tomatoes were so I can easily fix protection round while they are babies.

In the afternoon, I intend to blitz the garden.  While the tomatoes and other fruit and veg is coming on a real treat, the leaf and herb bed and the flower bed are both, frankly, in a terrible state and need a good sorting out.  I have a tree to pot and three plants to deal with, a sage to replace the one that died last year, a pretty little dianthus and an alstroemeria which I've never grown before but was a great favourite with Mum and Dad.

Have a lovely day, everyone, and stay safe.  xx

Wednesday

 Morning, everyone.  After a bit of a cloudy start, it turned out beautifully and it was warm enough to sit out very happily.  Fingers crossed that today is just as good.

The first thing I did was go back to the Peugeot garage because, to my dismay, I found I had arranged an MOT/service time when I couldn't be there.  Fortunately, I saw the same man as before and he was very nice about it, changing the time without any hint that he was thinking 'daft bat' or something similar!
Then I pootled on to M&S because I had forgotten that while I was at Dad's, it was Val's birthday so I'd missed it.  They had some very healthy looking lavender so I got one for her, plus a nice card that didn't say 'Happy Birthday'.

It was so very good to see her again and to have a really good chat.  I've missed her.

I was so pleased when my new little fig tree arrived in the afternoon.  It's a lovely shape, very pretty and look, it even has three little figlets too.  Now I need to find out how one knows they are ripe (which these aren't yet, obviously).  Diane?  You're au fait with figs, aren't you?  Do you know, please?

(the other two trees won't be arriving until the autumn)

The flamenco apples are starting to look ginormous and they still have more than a month to go.  

Today, I think there's just the one scheduled thing which is personal training with Lindsey.  
However, I need to go to one of the many garden centres around here to get a pot for the new tree plus some John Innes no 3 (hope I can lift it) and anything else I see and - er - fancy!
After PT and lunch, I will be off to the allotment as my seeds arrived yesterday so I must get a-sowing and, as usual, watering.  So although there's only one thing in the diary, it looks like being quite a busy day today.

Enjoy, everyone.  xx

Tuesday

 Good morning, everyone.  Today looks promising with sunshine and no rain predicted.  I'm happy about that as I have a friend over.  Yesterday was also pretty pleasant although morning and evening was quite chilly.

Tuition yesterday was good with several things taught and understood (we hope).

I drove into town to the Peugeot garage and arranged for the service and MOT before driving on to Aldi.  I didn't have a big list but, seeing as I was almost next door, it seemed sensible.

Then I came home and pottered.  And really, that was my day.  Oh, I did the ironing too.

Today, Val is coming round.  I haven't seen Val since May, before I had to go up to Dad's.  She's coming for lunch and I'm so looking forward to a good chat with her; she's very sensible, practical and kind with a lot of understanding and we seem to get on really well.

The morning will be spent getting things ready and after she has gone I will water at the allotment - because tomorrow is supposed to be dry too so I think it will need some water.

I've just had a twenty minute potter in the garden, dealing with the tomatoes.  I've just taken off the lower leaves and thinned the others (it helps to air the whole plant, thus making it harden for blight to take hold, and allows the sunshine to get to the fruit) and, suddenly, I can see quite how many tomatoes I am going to have.  It's very exciting . . .

I won't be going short, will I?  It's just as well they are about my favourite thing!

Have a grand old day and stay safe and well.  xx

Monday

 Good morning, everyone.  The sun is shining and, unlike the last several days, it's not starting to cloud over.  It would be lovely to have a sunny day and a bit of warmth.  Yesterday gave us intermittent rain and, well, maybe it was just me but by the evening I felt so chilly I turned the heating up for a short time.

It was a happy-busy day yesterday.  A roast dinner is not difficult but it does take some time prepping so I got all that done first thing when I feel at my most energetic.  By the time Beth and Alex arrived, everything was ready and the house smelled wonderful.   I've just made a soup with the leftovers - roast beef, new potatoes (good old allotment), roasted butternut squash, carrots and broad beans (more allotment) with passata and stock, etc.  I love Sunday roast soup and, for just over 100 calories per portion, it's very SW friendly too.

After lunch and a tidy up, we drove Alex home and then stopped at the allotment.  It was drizzling but not to worry, we weren't there for very long.  We dug up several more potatoes and came home with quite a bagful; they're doing very well at the moment.  Beth also pulled a couple of baby corn - I had the first lot so those were hers.  The courgettes are doing OK, sending out new growth and some babies.  There are plenty of tiny runner beans coming along.  After a good start though, the dwarf French beans are not so great - quite a lot haven't come up yet and, when you consider that all the ones I've sown at home have germinated and are showing above the soil, you can't blame the seeds.  It could be wildlife - there's plenty at the allotment, for sure.  I have a few more seeds left so, if there's still gaps by the end of the week, I will re sow and see.

The seeds I ordered (mangetout and autumn cropping broad beans) should arrive today so I can get them out in the next few days.

Anyway, back to yesterday.  When we got home, we had a drink and a chat before Beth headed off back home.  It was a nice day.

Today, there are two things on the timetable.  The first is the weekly tuition and the other is that I need to go down to Robbins and Day and organise my car service and MOT.  Apart from that, it's just the usual - mow the allotment grass (assuming no rain), bit of weeding, talk to the plants and so on and so forth . . .
Quiet (apart from the mower), gentle and productive.  Just what I like.

Have a lovely day, whatever you have planned.  xx

Sunday

 Pinch and punch for the first of the month and White Rabbits!  There, that's got the tradition over.  Seriously, can you believe it is August already?  We're well past the longest day and I'm noticing later sunrises and earlier dusks now.

I've just done my daily tour of the estate!  There are nine cucumbers in various stages of growth (plus the two in the fridge) so it's just as well I like cucumbers and also that they are short ones, around six to eight inches long.  No tomatoes to pick this morning but loads are starting to turn so, with a bit of luck and some sunshine, there will be plenty in about a week.  There are loads of baby chillis on the apache plants and flowers on the purple chilli plants I bought last week (must get them into proper soil).  There are blueberries to pick and a strawberry to watch over with several more on their way.  The flamenco apples are starting to look most attractive - a good size and very healthy with no blemishes or signs of moth damage.

On the more decorative side, the fuchsias are flowering as are the Japanese anenomes while round the front there's a glorious muddle of crocosmia, dahlia and all sorts of perennials.  It's a nice time of year, August is.

Yesterday was a bit of a gloomy day with a few brighter patches.  We had some rain (no allotment - must go today though) and after each shower I went out to give the tomato plants a shake - it helps them to dry off sooner (thinking the dreaded blight here).

The Morrisons delivery came just fifteen minutes late.  If they're having the same pingdemic problems they had on Friday, I think that was jolly good.  No subs, everything was there and looking good.

Today, Beth and Alex are coming over to Sunday dinner so I'm doing a roast.  I've been busy prepping all the veg so all I have to do is get the beef in (slow roasting) and do the actual cooking.  

Then, weather permitting, we go to the allotment to dig up more new potatoes and see if there's any more baby corn to pull.

So a pretty gentle day but a very pleasant one.  I hope you have a good one too.  Be safe.  xx

Saturday

 Good morning!  The day started off fairly fine but it's clouding over now so - another typical old-fashioned Summer day, I guess.  We had some fairly gusty bouts of wind yesterday but nothing too challenging, thankfully.

SW was  nice.  More and more people are returning now and more are staying for the session too.  Yesterday, Jen showed me how to do the booking in and payment thing (bit complicated but I'll get there) so now I can cover either that or the weighing, freeing Jen up to talk to the new members when they come.

Then it was on to my last shorter Friday session with Lindsey.  Next week we're back to an hour on Wednesdays which I am glad about.  Because I don't have the nerve to turn up at SW in my lycra leggings (no rude comments, thank you!), I take my exercise stuff with me and change at Lindsey's before we start.  Nice of her to let me do it but it isn't ideal really.

I spent the rest of the day at home, doing housework, etc, before popping round to Morrisons for a few bits I needed that evening and didn't have.  I've got a delivery coming today so it really was a small shop.  All went well until checkout when I realised that great long queues were forming at both forms of checkout.  There were very few people on checkout too, maybe because of the pingdemic as Morrisons is usually very good at opening another checkout.  The queue went right from front to back of the shop and then round the corner which was boring, but people were very good and patient.  Let's face it, getting moody wouldn't make any difference and I guess the Brits are good at queueing!

As it rained, I didn't go to the allotment.

Today there's nothing down in the diary until the Morrisons delivery between four and five this afternoon and the house is pretty clean after the cleaners worked their magic yesterday so I will have an unplanned day apart from allotment where the grass needs a haircut.  

One exciting thing (exciting in my world anyway) is that I've just looked and the dwarf French beans I sowed last weekend in the pot beside my French window which doubles as the back door and a couple are breaking through the soil.  Something else to nurture.  That makes me happy.

Wishing you all as good a day as I hope to have.  Stay safe, well and contented. xx

Friday

 Morning, everyone.  How are you all?  Well, I hope.
I've woken to rain.  It seems to be clearing now but showers are forecast later which could mean anything from a few drops to a real downpour.  No need to water the allotment, anyway, so that's good.

Yesterday morning's mini harvest from the garden.  One of the cucumbers and all the tomatoes are now gone and I'm umming and ahing about the chillies.  Maybe a spicy burger?

Chris and I got our chat after a debate as to whether it was a bit chilly.  We decided to give it a go and settled in my back garden where the stiff breeze died down and there was real warmth in the sun.

Strawberry picking was a lovely experience.  They've developed the place since I was last there and now have loads of parking available.  The need to book is working well in that they are now not inundated with pickers in great long queues to have their containers weighed, nor at the end to pay.  I took a reasonable sized plastic container and managed to fill it without too much trouble.  There was a reasonable walk to the far field where the strawberries are this year (they also have a nearer field which has not been used this time) which was perfect for exercising my calves and ankles.
The strawberries themselves are in long grow bags on trestles so there's no need to squat down to pick but some berries hang down so they are accessible to children.  Definitely a back saver!

When I got home I sorted them out into some for Beth, some for Chris, some (any slightly damaged ones) sliced and frozen for strawberry gin or vodka, some whole for the freezer and the rest for scoffing in the next few days.  There were loads and loads still to ripen so I may go back again next week for more - they taste divine.
I forgot to take photos.  Maybe next time.

Later on, I drove round to Beth's to drop off the berries and then to the allotment.  No need to water but I got all the old broad bean plants out and on the compost heap and gave that patch a proper weeding and forking over so it's ready for when the new seeds come.  I came home with the very last of the broad beans (hardly any), the first of the baby corn and a nice bunch of sweet peas.  Once picked, they don't last all that long but they don't have to because a couple of days later there are loads more to cut.

Today starts with Slimming World and continues with my lash half hour of personal training.  Lindsey has been so very good about splitting my session into two half hours while I've been injured, but it's time to get back to normal again.

After that, I need to tidy things away a bit ready for the cleaners and while they are here I will scoot down to guess where to dig a few potatoes for Beth and Alex and do some more endless weeding.  If the seeds have arrived, I might do some sowing too, we will see.  The grass needs another haircut so I've put that on tomorrow's list of Things To Do.

It's very nice that things have normalised again and the routine re-established.  I like regularity and it helps.
Hoping you have a lovely day with not too much rain or wind.  xx