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!

Busy weekend of (over-due!) sunshine

Wow! What a lovely week-end we've had! It's been such a long time since the sun shone for more than a few minutes...

I decided to take the fleece covers off the raised beds yesterday, hoping that the veg wouldn't get eaten. I was initially a bit dismayed to see a load of birds arrive. On closer inspection, they were house sparrows and goldfinches and seemed to be eating between the greenery, so I left them to it. When I went out later, I couldn't see any obvious damage, so I think they may have been eating the ants. House sparrows are supposed to be in decline (have a read here), but they seem to be thriving around here, and we even have a nest in the eaves!

Jobs I've done this weekend include:

• thinned out the red onions
• earthed up the potatoes again
• weeded
• potted on the sweetcorn and courgettes
• planted out the brussel sprouts
• lawn mowing
• clearing a very overgrown flower bed

Well I did say it was a busy weekend!

Pests!

Arrgh! I lifted the fleece on my carrots, parsnips and beetroot to discover hundreds of ants have set up home. I remember hearing that ants like warm, humid conditions so putting the fleece on must have seemed like heaven to them. Do they actually do any harm? I'm not sure, but don't want to risk my precious seedlings. Maybe the birds will eat them?...


Having left the bed uncovered, I retreated to a safe distance to watch the flocks of birds appear, only to see the sparrows descend on the next bed over and start eating the cabbages!


The solution? I don't want to use chemicals, especially as I'm not sure the ants will actually do any harm, so for now the cabbages are going to be covered up and the root veg will stay uncovered. Watch this space...