While I wouldn’t say this is the worse year I’ve ever had, it’s been full on and full of stuff I didn’t count on and I haven’t spent as much time on the plot as I would have liked to and as a consequence it’s not looking as good I would like!

I haven’t taken a photo of the front of the plot for a while because it’s been a weedy, overgrown mess. The weeds and grass come from the paths and it’s just wild. There’s a bed in the front for bulbs and I’ve tried to put other plants in to add interest but the grass just comes through the woodchip and the very nice soil of the bed. There’s a rhubarb right next to the path that had a really bad year and thinking about it had been there about seven years.

The grass is always going to be a problem, so time for a change. My plan was to dig up all the bulbs, extend the bed and plant other plants. Then there were six lavender plants for £4.99 at Lidl and I thought that I could plant a hedge!

I took this week off so I could blitz the plot and started on Monday, I spent a couple of hours tending my tomatoes.

Yesterday, I really started at the front, I trimmed the sage and cola plant bed, removed some borage, and weeded the front four beds and the paths around them. I topped them up with more compost and in one of the beds planted a bunch of wildflower plugs and three thyme plants, (two that have been languishing on the plot and one that Jo bought me for my birthday) and a salad burnet plant (also languishing on the plot and needing a home!).

I moved the rhubarb crown and it split into 6, so I ended up adding another rhubarb row (can never have too much), I also planted one in a bucket either for Sue if she decides to try again in her garden or if not to sell in the plant sale next year.

I tackled the weeding at the front and planted my lavender hedge with six lavender grosso plants from Lidl and one plant that had self seeded in a bed and I relocated. I also trimmed the lavender that marks the divide between the beds and the blueberry plots.

Finally, I got around to watering and feeding the tomatoes, strawberries and the polytunnel, where I found padron peppers! Even when I ignore it, there is something.

On Wednesday, I waited in the morning to get my plants delivered and deal with the itchy bites! On Wednesday afternoon I tackled the grass, on the one hand the soil is really good so it’s easy to pull up the grass roots, on the other, there were so many. I got a lot of bulbs up but have no idea if I got them all and I know there are probably roots I’ve missed but I did my best. I got to a point where I’d done all the weeding I could do, there was more to do but I didn’t have it in me. So I covered the ground with cardboard and compost and then planted all my plants.

In that bed are; the day lily that’s been there forever, lavenders, (two relocated from else where on the plot so probably Hidcote and the six Lidl lavender Grossos), a cola plant (that had rooted itself from the one I have so I thought I’d stick in in), three French tarragon (because I’m an optimist at heart and this is my this third attempt this year – I really want to make bernaise sauce), chamomile lawn and woolly thyme on the borders, a relocated sage, Roman chamomile that was already there, and a grapefruit mint. (Yes I know not to plant mint in the ground but that’s been there three years and hasn’t conquered the world yet).

Finally, I harvested purple sprouting broccoli, tree spinach and mint for Mum!

I still have to tackle the bit under the tree, move the compost bags and tidy and paint the shed but I’m much happier with it overall.

Tomorrow is a day off for Mother related things and then I start again on Friday. With that bit under the tree and/or the bit in middle aka the new asparagus bit, which needs weeding….this needs a list

• Weed/sort under the plum tree by the hedge
• Move compost
• Weed/tidy/mulch the gooseberries, create the path to the sweet potato bed and asparagus bed/’wild area
• Weed the sweet potato bed
• Weed the asparagus bed and the ‘wild area’
• Sort out the strawberries
• Sort out the blueberries
• Weed main paths
• Weed/tidy between the blueberry and blackcurrant beds
• Dig up potatoes, top up bed, plant kales
• Plant chard and spinach beet for autumn/winter
• Trim all the mints
• Trim herbs on plot (lavender, thyme, oregano, winter savory)
• Top up alpine strawberry bed
• Trim the rosemary bush/old herb bed
• Harvest/cut down the tree spinach
• Paint Shed
• Tidy Shed
• Sort out the bed moved to create the asparagus bed
• Sort out the iris bed
• Posts and wires on the raspberry beds
• Sort out the rose garden/pond section
• Weed the unused squash bed (unused because overgrown!)
• Weed back area before boysenberry
• Sort out the rampant boysenberry currently trying to take over the world
• Sort out compost bins, comfrey and roses at the back of plot
• Tidy patio area
• Identify beds for garlic

That’s a brain dump of everything I need to get done for autumn/winter. I hope to get up to ‘Trim the rosemary bush by Sunday but it is a lot, come back next week for the update!