Halfway Harvest

If you pull off the outermost leaf you can take the dirt right off the bulb all in one go.

Good job not dying.

There are still tulips appearing…I like the small tagalong.

A rose cutting has started growing again. From a dumped bouquet.

Nice if I knew the name, but they’re great regardless.

Yo, Dear Reader, I checked the garlic I planted as Spring/Young garlic, basically you harvest it just as the bulbs begin to swell, but before they start to divide and long before the leaves die back, and it’s ready. These cloves were far too small to be useful as full fledged bulbs, remember that the cloves are stored energy, the smaller the clove the less energy to grow, but perfect for this. If you’ve never grown garlic the paper exterior is actually the leaves that died back and dried to form that protective layer, before it splits into cloves it starts as a single rounded bulb, different from solo garlic which is grown from bulbils, immature garlic seeds that grow on the flowers that are usually cut, garlic is complicated, Dear Reader, but edible at all stages, the flavour differs depending on the stage. I even saw uncured garlic in the shops today which is strange as the flavour intensifies as the skin dries, these had the stems off too so they don’t die and feed the bulb, but maybe it has something to it. I’ve eaten it, but I prefer cured of young, young is more akin to a scallion, a milder garlicy hit, fresher and refreshing. I had to squeeze every mango to get one that wasn’t rotten or under ripe and I thought pesto would make good use as well as you get a lot out of a little harvest. It’s mostly oil anyway. I used already salted and roasted pistachios, yes I’m being lazy, Dear Reader. This is the Pesto and the other is the Mango Wild Garlic Sauce slightly modified. On the whole it’s an handy alternative to the fiddly basil, weather kills a lot here, Dear Reader and even in the greenhouse basil can struggle and wastes less as those cloves would’ve been discarded anyway. You can see how the leaves aren’t as big and strong as the other garlic. I guess I’ve learned a lot over the years, Dear Reader.

I wish mangoes came that colour consistently.

Such a vivid green and the only green is the garlic.

Flowering which means it’ll die back and hopefully regrow in random patches.

Where did that come from?

Lots to do yet, Dear Reader, I have Young Onions, leftover onion sets planted close together, you can sense a theme here. The weather is still screwy, but I’ve bought more squash seeds and will hope they start and that we get a long Summer, I’ve bought carrots for throwing over the garlic bed when I harvest that. One year I threw beetroot seeds over the top and left it and had the finest harvest of beet root I’ve never seen the likes of since. I’ve put down tray of peas and turnips so if the squash fails I’ll have a use for the pots at least. I won’t give in, Dear Reader, but you have to accept that the year might not be suitable and just kickback like a petulant child at every stage. I’ve also bough sprouting broccoli as I keep meaning to try over-wintering that and might as well this year. Nature and I have stubborn pigheadedness in common, we both persist regardless of how things are currently going. Nature has the upp3erhand, but it better not underestimate me. Yes, Dear Reader, I’m at the stage where I’m trying to one up nature. Keeps me busy I guess. I’ll be back again later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Yes, I’m a slob, but I have pesto. Silicone whiskey ice cube trays are great for freezing.

Yet another bouquet rose, this was bought and damaged before I ever saw it, but it’s starting!

Is that frost damage or the colour is a new game I play.

That Mixed salad Bowl lettuce is always such a great grower.

I have peas left over, I always do, but they look good so far.

I just shoved it in there, but it seems happily suituated.

Little spots of new growth, it was just a mat of half dead saxifrage, but I have hope.

More yet to come too and a lily?

No Purchase Primrose

The saved seeds have germinated, but are still just pinpricks.

I dug a small hole, it’s a mess of soil and branches in there and just tossed the heather in and it fell perfectly. A quick feed and water and good luck, kid.

Yo, Dear Reader, bad news on the squash front, this year is causing strange issues with some plants, the squash will need to be reseeded and likely might not do well, I have something big I can’t talk about yet, it’s good, but it’ll keep me away and it’s not a given yet, but I have to act as if it is. Oddly the tall weed, the Himalayan Balsam also was killed by the weather. A weed, I mean that’s weird, right, Dear Reader? I like that side effect, but it also affected the nasturtiums. Seems to be something about the soft hollow green plants. I can’t do anything, but wait it out and work with what I have.

It’ll fill a bare patch under that rose that doesn’t seem to be a climber like it was supposed to be.

Getting the basil down as the greenhouse is hot at least.

More primroses have been salvaged, Dear Reader, they don’t look like much, but they could re-flower this year yet and next year they’ll be great. Someone yanked up a bunch of lilies and broken the stems and only a few bulbs were left, I’ve potted them and I’ll repot them next year and hope they grow. I hate to see plants treated like this, there are bigger issues out there, but the waste and the pointlessness of buying something and then destroying it because you’re bored of it annoys me. That and them not being taken up properly. I’ll see what I can do with what I have. Not going to be a great year, but things may turn around, just a quick post, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again later until then stay safe and take care.

A little more basil and that’ll be that.

Lovely lilies just thrown and broken. Let’s hope these live. I’ll repot them next year.

They get better year after year, but they’re cheap and to some that means disposable.

Jack and The Beanshtick

Bonsai are just small trees is a constant revelation with me. They’re also slow.

First year that Astilbe grow for me and I have two. Pure chance, but it’s been three years of cheap roots.

These are really nice and for such a small flower they really stand out.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’ve had an early blow as some of the transplanted squash are wilting thanks to a cold night. The weather has been all over the place, but the cold nights are causing issues all across the board. Naturally I’m annoyed, I understand this happens, I’ve been here a lot, but I have something that might be taking me from the garden for a while and I needed these down sooner than I’d have liked. So, I went out in the evening and checked and some are wrecked, but the ones upright and wilting, bar one freak of nature which is fine, they have growth at the centre that looks okay. In my experience once the centre can grow plants can regrow and as it’s early yet, I have pots filled for back up of back ups, they can establish fast and grow faster, they aren’t a mature plant trying to sustain itself with roots alone, obvious it isn’t ideal this way either, but they can recover faster. I’ve given them a little, like a tablespoon’s worth of the comfrey/dandelion tea. The spares are half and half, about four look okay and might be viable, about the same in the pots seem beyond hope. I’ll try to salvage this, I’ve been here before, this isn’t a squash friendly country and these aren’t my varieties, but I have more seeds ordered, I’m banking on the weather bringing a later Summer, so I’m far from quitting and further from failing. The reason I share is because it’s far too easy to present an impossibly successful front online when you aren’t even doing so intentionally. Things fail, things succeed and the success is sweeter when tempered with failures we learn from because it pushes us to succeed further and further.

It was plant them in there or give them away and no one wanted them. Strawberries are great, but no one wants to grow them around here.

Can anyone identify the tall plant that hopefully isn’t a weed?

Almost everything else is fine, but squash have been my project over all others, I might need to rearrange things so they aren’t as much of a focal point, not reducing, just moving around to muddle the pots, onions and squash all mixed rather than segregated. I always say, Dear Reader, that I worry shows how much I care and how much the garden means to me, I don’t let it weigh me down or prevent me from trying. I was angry, why wouldn’t I be? Something is forcing me to rush and it might not happen, but I’ll talk about that again. So, I did the sensible thing and walked up to the store that’s recently reopened and bought a rose. No better way to deal with an anger issues than by buying your rage in the soil and letting the flower bloom as it fades away. Why do you think I planted so much over the years, Dear Reader? Gardening is as individual as the gardener, we all have our reasons and it’s all too easy to fall into assumptions about the why without considering the person. I’ll do what I can, Dear Reader, I have a lot this year I’ve never had, the runner beans seem to be starting too, I threw the remaining the the entrance to the Secret Garden and knowing my luck they’ll grow and I’ll be inundated with beans no one here eats. It’s the broad beans all over again, Dear Reader! (I refuse to learn, this is always funny) Plenty yet to come, Dear Reader, I’ll do my best. Until later, stay safe and take care.

Lilies are too pretty a plant to grow so easily and consistently.

Seems to be a good year for fruiting bushes. Which should include squash I guess…

Sugar Water Days

These are really a lovely rose. I’d love them in a full bush rose.

Not spares, extras.

Not sure which is which, one is seed one is a bareroot crown, but they’ve exploded suddenly.

That’s a piece sawn off my Grandmother’s rose that has been tossed all over the garden.

From a seed packet of wildflowers from a year or so ago.

The last of the tulips.

It hasn’t really started yet.

That’s been there for years and is just now growing?!

Yo, Dear Reader, at this stage I’ve completely given up on the forecasts and am just chancing day by day, today there was hardly even a breeze and the soil was pleasantly warm so I set to transplanting and I tell you it never gets easier, I’m used to it, but squatting down, digging a hole, getting the cabbage seedling out of the pot and then putting the collar on, filling in the dirt and realising I have so many more to do. Still, they look healthy and despite seeming far too small they won’t be long filling up the space. The weather changed and I’d decided to leave the squash until tomorrow, then it changed back and off I went. The feed I ordered arrived today as well so everything came together to get all of this ready to grow throughout the Summer. I also remembered the sugar water to help with transplant shock. Next up I put down basil and hope it actually grows, the weather here is a basil killer at even the best of times, but hope springs eternal, Dear Reader, as does stupidity.

We’re entering the next stage.

Those hoops really came in handy.

I had no plan, but on the whole I’m happy with the Secret Garden.

The rose is now taking multiple photos to show all of it.

My old friend Honeysuckle.

So, so very large.

Still waiting on the everlasting sweet peas. I’ll jam them in somewhere.

The squash is a mix of four different types, one is Baked Potato and seems to be a similar type to the harlequin, but only time will tell how close it’ll come, the harlequin grew despite bad weather every year, but others have varied wildly. I had to buy what was available and thanks to the heated propagator I managed to get enough growing to have a few extras, no, Dear Reader, not spares, that implies failure and we can’t have that, we will, but for this moment we pretend otherwise. I’m mostly prepped for the Summer, I’ll likely get a few odds and ends as they come available, but the only seeds will be basil in the greenhouse and salads as I need them, this is the biggest part. Even the peas are popping up. It seems to be a good year on the whole, it hasn’t been the best weather, that one frost did a lot of damage, but on the whole it’s ben mild enough or warm enough to help things grow steadily. There was a lot of rain after a dry spell so everything will suddenly seem to explode with growth and that always does a body good, Dear Reader.

First established rose of the year.

The Rambler refuses to be outdone.

The Wisteria coming on fine.

Sorry I shoved you in there, but I’m glad you’re alive.

Next up is probably using the dandelion and comfrey fertilizer, which will smell revolting, but will fade after a day, unless I spill it on myself again…I’ll try not to of course!…not that it’ll matter. With that I can load up a sprayer or just wildly flail a watering can, it won’t damage the leaves rather it’ll feed them via foliar feeding. I added a few nettles, but meant to gather more, there’s a whole Summer yet to do that so I’m not in a rush. The garlic will soon start forming bulbs so it’ll likely get one last feeding, I forget if I bought soft or hard neck varieties and I can’t recall what the saved ones are so I may or may not have scapes to harvest. They were so delicious roasted last year, Dear Reader. The young/Spring garlic and onions won’t be long either. I’ll likely chop and freeze most, but might make a dip or pesto, something freezable and quick to use. A lot to come yet, Dear Reader, but hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do. I’ll be back again later, until then stay safe and take care.

Little cabbages.

For one Euro fifty that rose has done great there.

London Pride flowering.

Red and Green this year.

Even the struggling clematis is finding its way this year.

The roses have merged.

Still no aphids, but I’m watching.

Fight Me, Not The Cabbage

I kept that wire for a reason and I guess this was it.

They grow over five feet usually so I’d like then to stay upright for one year.

A lot of Autumnal colours around for some reason.

Yo, Dear Reader, as per tradition the minute I took the squash from the cold-frame to get them ready for transplanting hailstones came. Every single year this happens exactly when the squash are near or have been planted. The wind came for the cabbages too, but I haven’t planted those yet. I’d like to punch the wind in the teeth so I can get these down, but despite there being biting wind I can’t get any satisfaction with dental focused violence. Instead I’ve been planting the last of the year’s, well ignoring Autumn right now, bulbs. A mistake in my order left me without a mixed packet, but the one I received wasn’t good so it was fortunate. I decided to use the Californian Poppies in the bed at the back, let them naturalise and self-seed and potted up my bulbs with some of Naru’s flowers. I wanted to fill pots for a friend and had her bulbs thankfully. These are all low so the wind won’t affect them much.

Squash are being sheltered from the wind for a while.

The poppies aren’t much yet, but give ’em time.

The last leg of this part of the journey.

It’s hard to gauge when to plant and you have to start when you have the weather, I started the cabbage in March and they’ll need to be planted soon, I know they’ll be sheltered, but I’d hate to have to replace any if I can help it, Dear Reader. The squash will be divided this year, I had issues getting them to start so I ended up with two a pot and I’m not wasting what grew. I’ve had a bad run with squash, last year was very bad weather all round and this year I couldn’t get varieties I’d like to grow. As with all transplants I’ll give them a dose of sugar water for root shock. I bought geraniums and one wilted after planting, I gave that a dose of sugar water and not fifteen minutes later it was back. The squash will need to be buried a little deep, the cabbages a little too if they’re leggy. They always are in pots, just the way they grow, they’re always fine though, I had one just grow atop a straight stem one year, raised above all the other cabbages. The cauliflower and wild flower sets are in next and that’s the last of the hardening off for now. I just hope for better weather, we got our rain and the yearly curse so let’s hope we see some sun soon. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Shut Up, Ducks

I was going to take another cutting, but it’s so tangled and thick and I’m just going to let it grow.

That’s been there a while, but now it’s suddenly growing.

The red is the abandoned stem, the newer darker red is RTC just growing unceasingly.

Yo, Dear Reader, the rain finally came to wash down the dust and reinvigorate the soil, it seems as if it’ll leave too instead of hanging around endlessly, which is rare here. Naturally I couldn’t do much today, but I still needed to open the cold-frame to prepare the squash, the cabbages should be planted soon, there was a risk of frost that never happened and I was hoping for a rain to wet the turned soil, things worked out so I’ll be able to plant everything in one go. Pray for my knees, Dear Reader. One thing was that through my checking and rechecking there was a constant quacking, just a continuous, maniac hollering. The ducks that react to motion, even flies somehow, decided to rebel and were apparently quacking all night, quietly enough to still be funny, neighbours have dogs barking all night so I’m not pushed, but I did turn them off. That’s the problem with gardening, Dear Reader, it’s the unexpected things that trip you up…I didn’t think rebellious ducks were a part of that, but here we are.

Still enjoyable watching new leaves form, this is the spotted orchid.

I’ll regret this because they grow sprawling and fast…but I had to!

I have far too many tradescantia, but I had to!

Indoors will need as refresh soon, a little feed and water, I’ve been busy outside and filling my depleted freezer, but I always say it’s better to err on the side of too dry when indoor plants are being considered, wasn’t always the case, Dear Reader, a lot of plants suffered from my tender, but ill-informed care, naturally we live and learn, well I do, some of the plant didn’t. The mango known as Heartbreak is still just stalling and refusing to grow, it’s healthy, a lush, shiny green, but that’s all. I expected death and go a different type of heartbreak. Eh, time will tell what it’ll do, warmer days and nights might wake it up. RTC is, well, RTC, it abandoned the shoots that it tried to grow in a very cold Winter and is opting to grow yet another another set because why not? I’d do my best to tend to it, I even withheld water and feed to let it rest and it just kept growing, but what it needs isn’t clear at all, but it’s alive and happy I think. I suppose if plants were easy to figure out I’d have gotten bored long ago. Not much else to report today, Dear Reader, I’ll hope for the return of sunny days and I’ll be back again later, until then stay safe and take care.

The denowhatever is putting out a new stalk.

Grow or something!

Before trimming.

They’re really healthy leaves.

Even the ends of Biollante are thickening up and twining.

It’s been growing since February, I think.

Goldilocks’ Gardening

The Aubretia is thickening up and you can just about distinguish the old Bell Flower I found years ago and just stuffed in there.

Glad I grabbed these as they sold out fast.

I know this is a clump forming bulb, but which bulb is hard to say.

I think it’s growing out from the edges too. Neat.

I realised I’ve never harvested tayberries, well this year hopefully I will.

The leaves will change colour and shape as they grow in newer conditions, but they usually do well.

A mixed batch of lilies.

When they stop being pampered they get rougher looking but more vigorous.

Yo, Dear Reader, the dreaded mystery weather hasn’t arrived yet, they’ve been threatening it a while now, I just keep trying to do what I can do on any given day, but forward planning is a pain with this great big threat of “change”. At this point I’d say they’re doing it to mess with us because the frost that came out of nowhere wasn’t even vaguely predicted. I’ve been adding a few flowers here and there where older ones have finished. Begonia bulbs do badly here, but the trays of begonia do great, only as an annual mind. I decided to replant the tri-planter, I filled the pots, potted the new geraniums, fed and water them and popped the first in the top slot. You can see the issue here, Dear Reader, originally I had flexible pots and this time I didn’t, I had pots much wider than the gaps and I refused to take out the plants and soil and somehow squeezed them in without making a mess. This part of the garden was too small, Dear Reader, as for the too big…

The rescued azalea is flowering.

Trying out a animal safe dye to keep the water cleaner.

Naru’s Royal Mallow is looking good.

I had to look inside the hollyhock because I have no idea what the stems look like. Might spray it with the citronella oil too, worked for the rhubarb.

Dug, hoed, raked and barked. Also covered in the organic fertilizer that you are blessed you can’t smell.

Won’t be here much longer, but they did great this year.

The gloxinia I mistook for an outdoor plant.

They get eaten a little like the rhubarb, but I’d like to stop that if I could.

Can’t even remember what lilies these are.

Genius that I am I decided to use the older soil to fill in the edging, what a stroke of brilliance I hear you say, Dear Reader, and it wasn’t a bad idea, the new edging around the entrance to the secret garden as I’m calling it these days was a little further out, just a smidge, so when I poured the soil it it was a lot bigger, like a foot of extra bed…HOW? It just seemed a little and instead I have a big gap to fill…and to plant in, I’m not complaining, but even so it’s odd to see so much more space. As I was filling I found a huge gap that thankfully I blocked with a block, that’d have been awkward when the rain came. So the Too Big area will get some bee and butterfly friendly bulbs and hopefully the garden will remain the same size for a while, Dear Reader. I’ll be back later, I may end up breaking through into another garden by mistake, that garden might be just right, until then stay safe and take care.

This was part of a wild seed packet that grew in a clump.

Honeysuckle wastes no time breaking free.

I almost mistook it for the newly hated weed.

The frost did some damage, but they’re still going.

I had them filled then realised they couldn’t fit, but I jammed them in there.

Reach For The Stars, No, Weeds, Reach For The Weeds

The peony are really large this year. Also there are now three?

From junk to an eye catching plant.

The first planting did badly so I’ll let these mature a bit before harvesting. I’ve added more.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’ve been in a mood to get everything done, even making work for myself to get done, there were weeds growing at the very back wall, at least eight feet away from where I can stand, I had to grab a hoe and stretch as far as I could, but thankfully these weeds can be bashed and then won’t seed. They’ve been taunting me, Dear Reader, really they have, might be the way things are in the world or it might be my usual pigheaded stubbornness. I nearly fell into the rose trying to swing at them. Which is getting really thick and full, it feels slow, but it’s just the usual slowing of growth and things get ready for the Summer months. It’s still hard to imagine that the back of the garden was a literal junk heap just a few months ago. There’s still so much work to do, but I also need remind myself so many flowers still yet to appear and enjoy.

Since thinned, why I wanted so many is still unsure.

Turns out that’s a H and that’s Sea Holly.

These Mixed Seeds are doing well this year.

I’ve had to fork the vegetable bed, annoying ruining the marked out grid, easily remedied, it served a purpose in helping me count out the cabbage spacing, and I’ll need to dig and hoe it again as the really dry weather has hardened the top layer. Won’t take much work as it’s really good soil. The weeds are a good indicator that the soil is warming and will be fine for planting once the weather is more certain. After this weekend I should be good to get the cabbages in, we might have any combination of weather, according to the forecast that has rarely been right, but I’m working with the assumption that changeable weather might be coming and being patient. As patient as someone walking to the back of the garden in the evening and wildly swinging a hoe can be at least, Dear Reader.

No idea where the squash came from or what variety it is.

Everlasting sweet peas are up.

A friend said that’s a lupin.

I’ve also thinned the cauliflower and tomatoes, why I planted so many tomatoes is a mystery even to myself, Dear Reader, but I might pot them into small pots and let them grow and fruit if they will. I need better weather to start more basil, I have two pots started, but it can be iffy this early, it can be iffy all year round here, Dear Reader, you just have to try. So for now I’ll fill more pots and leave them ready for myself. I don’t have any major plans, I have an idea if I can get more edging that I’d like to build a small long thin raised bed under the rambler, just clear out the stones and fill it in with easy to grow, fast establishing bulbs. It’s be an odd shape as it’s not an ideal place, but if by some miracle there was more edging, even more of a miracle: enough, then I’d make a start on that. It wouldn’t be worth sinking money into a raised bed, it’ll hardly be rectangle, nearer a elongated triangle at best, but if I can get the heavy granite it’d be just right to hold in soil and avoid getting broken if I need to move around the compost bins. I can dream, Dear Reader, not the most exciting, but worthwhile in the long run for all the wildlife around. I’ll be back again later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Won’t be long before we start seeing roses.

Finally realised you might want to see the height of the tree lilies so far and not just the tops.

A real mishmash of plants.

Invasive Weed Meet Implacable Jack

Remember that Shamrock is invasive too. Easier manage though.

From nothing to an ever expanding circle. Sedum are strange.

I though it was an indoor annual at one stage, but nope. Calceolaria.

Newer, smaller honeysuckle.

My smaller sedum, I’ll know the variety when it flowers.

Yo, Dear Reader, I’ve often lamented the fact I’m surrounded by weed ridden gardens, there’s a weed growing in one that comes up in huge stalks with pink flowers that I only just found out is Himalayan Balsam, it’s now growing in the extreme most back end of the garden, it was trying to grow closer, but I attacked it with a slash hook and buried it beneath plastic. I’ve been here with bind weed, I’m still here a little with a weed that spread via runners, but what they don’t know, Dear Reader, is that I will get them under control if it takes a life time. They might’ve evolve to grow this way, but I’ll evolve to destroy everything piece I can. I had to move a pot from beside the pig, it’s been left there, poor brave soul, but if I can get a huge pot in there I will. Like with weed control I’m relentless in making my absurd ideas come to fruition.

Still paranoid about slugs so they stay raised for a while.

The front is coming along nicely.

Who knows when we’ll see apples, hopefully we do seem them.

Squash all snuggled together in the cold frame, waiting to sprawl over everything in time.

Wisteria that’s way too large a variety, but eh, I’ll deal with it in years to come.

I have my cabbages out, the weather might be taking a dip, but they can’t be pampered if they’re to grow outside and cabbages are made to survive cold, these have grown just right, they got enough sunlight so they aren’t leggy and they’re still fairly warm right now. The squash and Californian poppies are out, a few squash are still in, but I think I have enough right now. I want to get things into the ground while things are warmer, get them well established and rooting fast. Last year things were really slow and sluggish just didn’t do so well, you take what you can get, Dear Reader, but you also make the most of it too. Nothing all that exciting to report today, but I just wanted to share a few of the Summer plants popping up and returning to life. I’ll be back again later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Later planted potatoes.

It’s been here years, but whether it was the frost or the last few years of care it’s finally bushing out more from the base.

I planted so, so much hollyhock, Dear Reader.

Nasturtiums are surprisingly tough.

Bellflower just spilling out.

An older London pride.

The sun catching section.

Shut Up, RTC

In a rare situation I’ve been told to buy more of these. I usually get told that’s enough, where will you put them? And I just laugh and laugh.

I bring home a lot of half dead plants, some revive, others make more soil.

I brought a scoop and a bag this time.

Last time’s Azalea is just now flowering. They threw it away before it even flowered!?

Yo, Dear Reader, did something ever pop into your head that had you in giggles, but only you are likely to find it remotely funny? That’s where I am with the title. I decided I’d take it easy today, to recoup and recover while the weather is duller, Then I ended up making two salvage trips and had to haul so much granite and start assembling the wall, no I couldn’t leave it until tomorrow, don’t be silly, Dear Reader, that’d be sensible, which is like a puzzle where nothing quite fits. Then I needed to set up that nice ceramic pot I found, hidden and sadly one of a pair where one was broken, it goes well with the marble slab and the plant was in a much too large pot so it’s better there. So, after doing so much, also potting another big bulb, ahem. I sat here thinking of all the times I’ve told RTC to rest and couldn’t but imagine the reversal. Which has me tickled to the extreme, Dear Reader. Not a bad day’s haul, no plants, but these are the crosses we must bear.

One of the times I really need rain and it won’t rain enough.

White Bluebells still sounds silly.

Are they always this big, I’m new to beans…well, runner beans.

Everything looks weird, but works. Worms are toasty. and dry.

I managed to get my new water butt and by buying local saved a lot. I might get another slim one if they ever return to the store, they’re about half the price that way, but the way things are being snapped up I’d likely be out of luck. It irks me a little because I know that so much is just thrown away when the novelty wears off and likely a lot of people are buying solely because they feel others might want it, there are a lot of genuine people too, I know that, but they too are losing out to greed and boredom. The pandemic is just bring out the worst parts that were already there, but still, here we are, Dear Reader, able to enjoy reusing and remaking with what we have, adding gradually with no clear idea of where we’re going and no outline to follow whatsoever. I seem to be influencing my neighbours, some are cleaning up and others are copying me. Good luck with that because I have no idea what I’ll do next so you’ll lag behind a lot.

That’s water retaining gel, I thought it was sand, it’s useless, but the seeds seem good.

A lot of graves are being done up.

I forget where I bought any of these and whether I even did.

Even managed to find the corner piece.

It fell off, but I put it back for the photo.

Heya, pal.

The smell hit me when I close it and walked away. It’s good, but…urk.

Might be best there was only one. A little damage that’s easily hid.

Wonder how high this’ll end up.

A good year for tulips.

They’re enjoyable to watch when things are slower.

I always say that this is not the place for perfection, Dear Reader, and that remains every true. Once I might have tried to removed the broken parts of the blocks, no idea how, but all I did was to remove the cement, I have a stone chisel set because I have every tool that I might’ve needed once, took a little work, but it makes them level which I do like. Less likely to fall on me or the plants. The edging was scattered about, even two incredibly heavy chunks were hidden beneath a tree. Alongside two really good condition planters. The stones helped cover up matting that was getting bare where foot traffic has moved the stones too much and flattened the ground. I’m pretty happy that the area that was huge a massive dumping ground is now the most densely decorated area. I’ll be back scrounging whenever my friend is back, hard to say what you’ll get but therein lies the fun. The best part is trying to find a use either decorative or practical for everything. I’ll be back later, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.