1st - 5th June

It is supposedly summer now, but the weather begs to differ. This afternoon I planted out the rest of the petunias – 40 in all, including 2 into vacant spaces in the second hanging basket, and some more Nicotianas – 3 of which went into a hanging basket. I also planted out the 2 sunflowers that did germinate and had a good watering session followed later by a slug pellet session.

 

2^nd June
All I did in terms of gardening today was a very quick visit to the allotment on the way back from work to see if the salad leaves would be ready to pick. I think they are as they seem the right size; it’s just that they are not too dense as plants – a few seeds did not germinate or I sowed too sparingly in a petty attempt to save money – so they look small on the whole. One type of plant had bolted and was ready to set seed so I snapped off the tops and 2 of them came up in my hand. I took them home to test the leaves and was not impressed, there was nothing spicy or oriental about them although there was a similar taste to sorrel but not as bitter. I did the safe wine taste trick of tasting and spitting as the plant looked a bit like a weed.

 

I saw my doctor about my back. He too can feel a sort of lump, so I wasn’t imagining it. He says I have stressed and inflamed the vertical ligament that connects a part of one vertebra to another, and has prescribed some anti-inflammatory gel, so it should all work out well. He didn’t say not to dig or garden and I didn’t ask.

 

 

3^rd June
I was woken in the night by very heavy rain which continued in a lighter vain through the day. I did pop in to the allotment after work again to harvest the oriental spicy salad leaves. I got a good bowlful, but they were filthy by mud having been splashed up on them by the rain. I had to step onto the soil to cut the leaves and I squashed it down by a good 2 inches which shows how generally not walking on it keeps it fairly light and soft. The ground would have been impossible to work on. Even taking a few steps on the soil gave me messy shoes that needed wiping clean on the long wet grass of the verge. I got home, washed the leaves and later drizzled them with a mix of olive oil, white wine vinegar and crushed black pepper and we had them as a side salad with our evening meal. There is enough for tomorrow as well. This is a landmark of home grown produce for the year as this is our first consumption of it in 2008.

 

5^th June
After the downpours we had over the weekend and in the early part of the week, the weather has changed to the opposite. It has been so hot and so dry that the ground at the allotment has cracked. I went there after work to plant out the courgettes into section 4. There was still a small pile of horse manure going spare so I used that up by putting it into the ground in holes, watering in well, filling back some earth, watering, then planting out the courgettes, with a plastic bottle attached – upside down, pointing to the roots, with the bottom cut off to make a funnel for watering later on. My wife brought our 4 year old out to meet me and together we planted his 2 cucumber plants in a similar way. It was hot work and I was glad that she brought my floppy sun hat with her. The hardest part at times is the short but much repeated walk to and from the water trough. I did take the pumpkins and crown prince squashes but I did not have the time to plant them. I ended up just planting the 2 cucumbers and 4 yellow and 5 green courgettes. There is one more yellow courgette at home still in its infant stage, and I may sow another as I have space for one more.

 

As we pick our produce I am keeping a score of how much it would cost to buy it in the supermarkets to have a comparison of what we are saving now with what we paid out at the start of the season. My wife went shopping yesterday and told me that there were bags of mixed salad leaves on sale for £1.49 each. Our bag of oriental was easily if not more than a bag full, so that is good money saved. The batch of rhubarb I picked was the equivalent of 4 thick stems on sale for £2.99. The rhubarb comes under last years costs though.

Next: 6th June