16th - 18th June

16^th June

At lunchtime I potted on some sprouts plants into plastic cups as I will definitely be needing replacements at the allotment. I must grow them big and strong before I put them out. I planted out the last few ageratums in the evening and potted up some cinerarias for the window box in the playhouse. I gave the garden a really good drenching tonight. Today has been a really hot day and I fear for the smaller plants that have not yet established as well as all the container ones.

Great news! The first sweet pea has flowered. Both the white and the magenta one which has one dark petal and one light petal – very pretty, and very pleasing. There are more of both varieties budding up but not yet from the blue and reds (the ones I sowed myself).

17^th June

Do I have some capacity for tempting the weather, particularly the rain? A lady at work now warns me not to have a barbeque when she wants to be outside of a weekend and today I was just mowing the lawn when the rain started – after the great watering I gave the garden last night! Mind you, although I had just started mowing I had also just stopped, or rather the mower had just stopped after making an unhealthy sound, and a fight for life followed by a steady stream of cloudy smoke which continued long after turning off. For an electric mower, I don’t think this is good news.

Before all the rain (and we had a good downpour followed by extended lighter rain – just what we needed) I had been to the allotment to cover the carrots with fleece, trim some of the long grass round the edges, refill the slug traps (yes they had worked) and sprinkle more pellets about the place. I had also gone to Hilliers this morning and bought 5 courgette plants – 2 green and 3 yellows all for £2.98.

Thursday 18^th June

At lunchtime I forked over section 2 which went very well as the soil is light and untrodden, and covered it in membrane. This is the section for the leeks but then later I read in a magazine of one gardener talking about their produce and saying their leeks were hit by slugs. Last year I assumed the rabbits ate my leeks (they do!) and thought that, like onions, slugs are not interested in leeks. What with the under the membrane slug problem in other sections, should I fear a slug attack on the leeks?

Next post: 24th June