Six hours on the plot doesn’t get a lot of work done.

So what did I do?

I weeded the front bed of the plot and planted the erigeron, the primrose and a sweet aztec plant in that bed. Planting in this bed is tricky, I want that bed to be full so I don’t see the soil because that’s better for it but I do have plants in there that will spread and I need some space to weed the grass which is not in anyway diminished because the plants are in that space. It’s just a space that needs regular attention to get rid of the grass and I’m confident that it will look amazing at some point in the future.

I’ve also made a bit more progress with the grass under the plum tree, but that really is a work in progress. I’m thinking that I’ll just mow it and mulch, do some digging in autumn and sow some yellow rattle to out compete the grass. I was told that it’s best to mulch fruit trees – which I know and I did and that’s why the grass is having a wild time in the improved soil!

I planted up some of the tomatoes. This was a task, I put the tomatoes in. Watered, then I put chopped comfrey around them and added more compost to cover that, added basil and chives to the bed and watered again. At some point I’ll have some marigolds and I’ll add those too. The basil and chives came from the supermarket herb section and were left on the plant table for a week so are fine with the outdoors, I do grow herbs from seed but if you can’t or haven’t, these pots work really well, just divide them and plant.

I looked at the polytunnel planting. I planted up the watermelons, melons and aubergines. And watered and mulched, the strulch is great and while it is expensive, so far it seems to be working well.

That done I picked strawberries and the weeds out of the strawberry towers. Don’t let anyone tell you that strawberry towers result in less weeding, it’s all lies. I ordered six strawberries back in January and they arrived over the weekend so I planted them up into the gaps in one of the towers and the remaining two into the strawberry bed.

That was the planting part of the work done, so then I watered everything. Which took forever and finally, I netted the biggest of the blackcurrant bushes.

There is a lot more to do. I still have 12 tomatoes, the sweetcorn and some courgettes to get planted and the new herb bed to fix fill and plant up. There are beds that need clearing and the paths all need weeding again. I need to net the blueberries too and sow things.

At home I have to plant up the little basil, coriander and parsley, the kale and broccoli and summer squash need potting on too. There is a lot to do.