Sunday 15th July

Well, today is St Swithun's Day, so according to the legend, whatever the weather does today will continue for the next 40. If that's the case, things are finally looking up - we've not had a drop of rain today (the first in far too long!). As a result, I managed to get out in the garden again. Our back garden is completely sodden and incredibly muddy - and that's just the lawn!

The tomatoes are growing nicely, although without a bit of sun they're not going to ripen very well.

I cleared the foliage from the Kestral potatoes in bed 6 today, and dug up most of the spuds. The foliage was beginning to go yellow and I was worried about blight setting in. I need to go through the bed a bit more thoroughly tomorrow in case I left any behind. I did find a couple of rotten ones today, along with alot of red ants - they were soon scurrying around to protect their eggs, and the sparrows had a feast! We had quite a few roasted for lunch (potatoes, not ants!) and the rest are in the salad drawer of the fridge for another day. I've never tried roasting new potatoes before, but I was following a recipe in "River Cottage Veg Everyday" - they were yummy, definitely one to do again.

I also harvested/thinned the spring onions today - we had this lot sliced on pizzas -another success!

Tomatoes

Finally, the sun has returned and looks like it's here for the week! And, it's British Tomato Week, so when better to put in some tomatoes? This year I'm growing Alicante (a medium sized cordon type), Gardener's Delight (another cordon, cherry sized) and Sweet Million (again, a cordon and cherry sized).

Tomatoes are pretty much the only veg I've grown previously with any success. In the past they have been in a grow bag against the house, on the patio. But I've always struggled to keep them sufficiently watered. So, where to put them this year? After much debate, I've decided to stick with the grow bag, but have invested in a pack of 3 tomato grow-pots.

These are supposed to help by encouraging 2 types of root - the deeper, water-seeking roots go down into the bag, while the shallower feeding roots develop in the pot. I've sited the bag against the south facing fence so they should (British summer willing!) get plenty of sun.

Finally, a bit of companion planting - a pot marigold (Calendula). I've also planted some basil seeds today (free with Innocent Smoothies), which will be planted out in front of the tomatoes when they're big enough.

 In the meantime I've put out the pot of basil that has been sitting on the windowsill since I bought it (the best before date is 02 Nov 2011!!).