Phew! What a scorcher!

What a perfect week to have booked leave!

It was another sweltering day - we didn't go to the plot until the evening. Walking through town was lovely, felt like being abroad with such warm air. Look at the temperature at 7pm, and look at the record-breaking day! The thermometer is hung in the shade so imagine what it would have been in the sun!!



Jamie dug the area in the potato quarter which is where we're going to put the leeks in - they're getting quite big in their modules now so are ready to go really. Far more sensible digging as the sun went down!

I planted the rhubarb, looks a bit pathetic with just its one leaf, but it has a healthy bud and roots so should be ok. I planted it level with the surface. Most websites say to plant below the surface but Terry, who gave us the plant, assured us this is the correct way to dealing with it - hope he's right!

We stayed for a bit of slug-chucking and bat-hunting then went home. We're expecting another hot day tomorrow - so barbecue on standby!

Another blue sky day!

We did a morning a session of weeding and digging then went home for a few hours. By 10:30 the temperature had already reached 26° in the shade, of which there is very little at Marsh Lane. We went back up in the afternoon and by then the temp was 31° phew!
I found a tiny bit of shade behind the runner beans!

I planted the petit pois plants which Jamie had sown in the root trainers - 8 out of 12 germinated. I also transplanted the fennel directly into the herb garden so hopefully it will grow enough for some soup!

Found this little bug - it must be a shield bug but I don't know what sort yet - but still haven't done my butterfly count. The cabbage whites are desperately trying to get at our cabbages, which the slugs are already loving!!

As we were leaving this lone swallow was singing very happily on the overhead cables - there were lots of them sweeping the air today.

Happy Birthday...to me!

What a fantastic day! Blue sky all day long. We had a very lazy time on the plot - barbecue, sangria and beer - work wouldn't have been possible even if we'd wanted to (far too hot).
We started at about 11am, had a wander and a paddle in the river along from the marsh in the afternoon - sad to say I had to escape from the sun for a bit, just too much with no shade - my silly-looking hat didn't help much!

We went home at about 6pm then back up the plot for dusk and bat-detecting. There weren't many around, which was suprising as there were loads of moths on the air. But when we got our torch out we could see slugs and massive snails everywhere!! There were loads of little slugs inside most of our netted areas :-( That's the trouble with netting up to protect; it doesn't let the predators in to clear up... what we need is a pet hedgehog!

New moon

When we walked back under the railway bridge there were more bats than we saw by the plot - they were swooping under the bridge taking the moths that were hanging round the street light. They are lovely to see, but couldn't get any snaps of them.

Uh-oh! Jamie broke our fork!

Jamie is still digging, but snapped the fork! Plot 8 really is proving to be hard work and there's still more to dig...
I put some asters in where Jamie dug compost in today.

It was a fabulous sunny day so I had no intention of digging, but I did do a lot of weeding.
At least now we can leave the weeds to dry out so they don't just replant themselves!

Our shallots are drying out nicely in the warm temperature and there are lots of bees around - but also quite a few butterflies, so they'll start laying eggs soon I expect.

I'm intending to do the big butterfly count - just 15 minutes. Haven't decided whether to do it from our plot or at the top of the allotments where there is tall grass and lots of butterflies - is that cheating??

I chopped back the chives and thyme which had got a bit huge and planted a Greek Oregano which I bought yesterday at the AONB event. I realise I've erred regarding the fennel - I was thinking that I would just be using the leaves.... not sure I'll get a bit fennel output in a pot... well, I'll have another go next year instead and just use the leaves as a bit of flavouring this year.

We got a nice harvest of broad beans to have for dinner along with the last of the potatoes we pulled last week and some chives to have in the melted butter - yum!

Yay! The jetstream has shifted!

At last the jetstream is where it should have been for the last few weeks so the sun was shining and it was lovely and warm! See http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=jetstream%3Bsess%3D

We helped out at Hungerford Town Hall in the morning for the AONB 40th anniversary where HAHA had a stand and then we went to the plot for a few hours. AONB gave Marsh Lane the grant for digging the borehole - actually had to use it today to water the celeriac, that's the first time for a while!

We pulled the shallots as the tops had mostly died back - as the weather is meant to stay lovely and dry for the next week it should be perfect for drying the shallots out prior to pickling. We laid them out on the old fireguard we have on the plot - look at that lot!

There were lots of slugs and slug eggs in amongst the shallots. We've left the area open so hopefully the frog and weather will deal with clearing up - I managed to get this photo of a mother feeding her chick, unfortunately they definitely prefer worms to slugs though :-(

Slugs and eggs

I sowed a double row of broad beans on plot 8 where we'd dug some manure into the ground a couple of weeks ago. Jamie fed the tomato plants and mowed the grass which is growing like mad and looks good but isn't really the best type of path because of the work it generates - also there's only so much grass that you want in your compost bin.

And...hooray! Our first courgette is showing - shouldn't be long before I'm getting rid of the glut at work :-)