Sunday 28-06-26

Morning, all.  And it's a beautiful, fresh, sunny, breezy morning, a perfect summer start to the day.  The oppressive feeling has lifted (for now, anyway) and I have already been out doing a bit of garden work.

I'm glad I checked my phone yesterday morning because Richard had sent out a message saying Community Garden would start at nine thirty to catch the cooler temperature.
I was there first so set to with some weeding and side shooting the tomatoes.

I dug up the row of broad beans which were pretty much over, a row of peas that were ditto and all tangled with the netting and then I tackled one row of potatoes.  I do love forking up potatoes and then getting my hands into the soil to find more.  It wasn't a bad crop for a very short row!
Those three tasks, plus the associated weeding, etc, took all my time.

A few photos from the Community Garden:

The first of the sunflowers - it's lovely.

And Richard gave me some of the potatoes I dug up.  I had some for lunch and they were lovely!

I now know Community Garden has another meaning.  It is not just about the vegetables/food side of things.  The first two weeks I did consisted of me, my friend, J, and Richard but today there were others.  One was a young man with  Down Syndrome and his dad and the other was a young lad, probably around ten or eleven with learning difficulties, possibly with autism.  They were both lovely and were obviously having a great time.   The lad helped me with the potatoes, bless him.

That's community for you, isn't it?

Once home, I had breakfast (I was hungry by then) and then had a nice cool bath (I think I said shower in a comment reply, sorry) and got into one of my lovely, loose kaftans.

It got hot again - not quite as sweltering as the previous three days but not comfortable.  However come the evening, something lifted, a slight breeze got up and it cooled.  No need for a cooling shower last night before bed!

Today I woke feeling cool!  Such bliss!  We haven't had any rain as far as I can tell but at the moment it is lovely, windows opened wide to let the fresh air in.   

It felt so good that after the morning watering I set to and cut more lower leaves off the tomatoes, chopped them all up small as Richard has taught me to do (I've never done that before) before tipping the lot into my compost bin.

Then . . .

in one corner of the garden I had an osmanthus, a shrub with holly-like leaves.  It was actually the first thing I bought when I had the garden totally remodelled in 1998 and got a large (plastic) pot from the garden place in Boundary Mill, up the A1 near Grantham - I remember Mum and Dad came with me.

It did fine for ten years, slow growing but good.  Then came the extension work.  I had to move out of the house over the summer holiday (staying with Mum and Dad) and the garden was thoroughly neglected, I am sorry to say.  And the bush has never been the same since.

I wish I had taken a photo before I started because you would be able to see what a poor thing it was.  

It was pretty hard work, cutting back as many of the branches as my secateurs could cope with, scraping off the looser soil at the top (now in the compost bin) and then turning the pot on its side and over to try to get the roots out.  Phew, they were very tightly impacted but with some bashes on the sides of the pot and some levering, out it came.  

After quite a lot more puffing and grunting, I managed to lift it with a squat lift thing worth of an Olympic weight lifter (and if you believe that . . .) and over into the bin

And my back is fine!  :-)

So is the pot.  It needs a good clean out, of course, and then I will  use it for the olive tree I plan to get using a birthday token from Diane and as a 'memory' of Crete.  Do I need special soil, I wonder.  Must look that up.  I hope not because the compost bin is pretty full and I could use some of that.

And then I took a few more photos because you have to, don't you?

More big cucumber, two of which might be ready to pick today.  They're growing so fast you can almost see it.

You can't see in this photo but there are blueberries to pick for breakfast.  Yay!

The tomato plants don't look so pretty with their bottom leaves gone but the fruit will like the extra sunlight.

And the rhubarb is going from strength to strength.  I am so looking forward to next year's crop.

And now I am enjoying the first coffee I have had in days.  It's just been too hot.

My Oddbox was on the doorstep this morning so I've sorted that out and am looking forward to enjoying the contents.

I will stop waffling now, have my bath, etc., and get some whites into the machine.  I want to change my sheets now it is cooler again.

However, the rest of the day will be a restful one, I think, just pottering in the garden (I need to do some weed scraping, for a start) and generally relaxing.  

I hope the weather is just as pleasant where you are - have a lovely Sunday.  xx