back to the wet and soggy UK

After spending four days relaxing in wall to wall sunshine in Portugal it was disappointing to come home to the rain and thunder again. This morning I woke up to a glorious day and was out in the garden early this morning to tackle the ever growing weeds. I can't believe how much everything has grown in just a few days.

I managed to weed both the raised beds and the fruit border, even though the sun was shining it was bitterly cold, especially after being in a totally different climate for the past four days which makes it feel even colder. I had to come in after an hour as I could no longer feel my fingers! I can't weed with gloves on as I find they get in the way and are too bulky. Hopefully tomorrow will be another dry day so I can weed the veg plot.

I need to get to the garden center as I have run out of soil for the potato bags and they need topping up again. The first earlies have grown quite a bit and a few more weeks and we shall be having fresh potatoes for dinner! I uncovered the second lot of cabbages today as they had also grown quite big and were getting squashed in the plastic bottle cloches. The onions that I planted out in March are almost as big as the ones I planted out last November.

Something has been attacking my peas that I planted out in the veg plot, it is either slugs or snails as you can see the silver trail they leave behind. I got some more hair from the hairdressers so I shall be putting this round the base of the peas as a deterrent from those pests! I have been taking the peas in and out of the greenhouse to harden off, they can be planted out at the end of the week.

I shall be sowing french dwarf beans, White Lady runner beans, pumpkin and squash seeds this week. The pumpkin and squash seeds did not germinate so I shall try again. Another tomato plant has come through so I have enough of those now. The gardeners delight tomatoes germinated the best and are the stronger looking of the three varieties. Only two Roma and one Alicante  germinated. However we should still get a good crop from these, that is as long as the blight does not attack again like last year.

Whilst in Portugal I tasted some pumpkin jam and my it was very tasty. I'm hoping for at least two good sized pumpkins this year so I can have a go at making it. I will have to search for a recipe first. We had the jam served with cheese and also with toast for breakfast.

Whilst we were traveling through Portugal to get to our hotel we passed lots of gardens which had vegetable plots and also allotments. They have already got their runner beans in as all you could really see clearly were the bamboo wigwams and cane supports for the beans. I have got a couple of photos which I shall try and post on here tomorrow as I can't seem to upload them at present. I will also take some photos around the garden tomorrow and post those too so you can see how much everything has grown.

I have been letting the girls out every evening, Matilda was flapping and clucking yesterday as Clyde decided to go and have a sniff and lifted her up with his big nose from behind! She was not impressed one bit and was quite indignant with her flapping and clucking! It was quite funny as Clyde bolted indoors and Matilda was strutting round the patio still grumbling about the intrusion. They have been quite consistent with the egg laying we have almost two dozen to eat, so it is scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast.

I have rather a busy day tomorrow I have several trays of flowers that need pricking out and potting up as well as all the herbs. I will have to get some more seedling compost as I have almost ran out of it. I also want to get the rest of the weeding done and hopefully give the girls coop a good scrub. Fingers crossed for a warm sunny day tomorrow!

And finally.....I hope you have not missed my rambling too much and hope you will continue with me on my gardening journey. May you all have an enjoyable day/evening x