I have been quite diligent on the plot this year.

I started on New Year’s Day. Tom came to dismantle and dig over the weedy and unused squash bed and over the course of some months, behold the ‘mini orchard’

I left the arches in place and at the base of each is a plant. Honeyberry, kiwi and tayberry. I did the usual weed, cardboard and wood chip and I know I’m going to be spending a lot of time fighting the grass and bindweed. This side of the plot is bindweed central and I’ve allowed to get overwhelmed with grass in the last couple of years.

The other area that’s had a tidy and revamp is next to the rosemary. I’ve planted a lot of irises in here in the hope that next year I’ll have an iris cutting garden. I live in hope but I’m also going to be fighting the weeds here too.

There has been more permanent planting of beds, mostly fruit, lingonberries in one bed, two permanent strawberry beds and two permanent gooseberry and strawberry beds.

I’m also trying to do a bit more perennial veg, I sowed perennial leeks last year and they have come back but they haven’t filled the bed. I put some onions in there and some sweet peas last week. My eventual plant is to put the perennial kale I’ve ordered in that bed when the onions are done.

I also have a 9 star broccoli in a bed further up, and will add another, but mean while that’s also going to be home to beans and maybe beetroot or chard.

I decided this year that I would only have 12 tomato plants. I’m coming in at around 20! I decided instead of finding two beds, they are all going to go in the big bed that I usually use for squash. I’ve not had much recent luck with squash and sometimes a change is as good as a rest!

I replaced the polytunnel cover and those beds are half planted up. I have a pepper bed at the back, some melons and cucumbers in there. There are five more pepper plants to go in and three cape gooseberries, that I’m attempting to perennialise in the polytunnel!

I completely overbought dahlia this year. So I have last year’s bed, they got a little bit frosted in the recent cold but seem to be doing all right. I also planted a bed of ranunculus and nothing came up. This is my second fail with them so my new dahlias can go in that bed.

The bad news is that the place I order compost from have gone bust so I’m back to Wickes. I ordered 18 bags in April but have gone through that already and have just ordered another 15 and three bags of manure. I shouldn’t need to use it all but I have a couple of areas that are going to need a lot of work!

My plan for this week is to plant up the tomato bed, set up and sow the beans, plant some chard and sow some carrots (yes as usual I’m behind). I also have some winter beds to clear ready for new compost and plants

Then I really need to spend some time weeding at the front of the plot, the flower bed needs a thorough weed and mulch, as do the rhubarb and old gooseberries.

I also need to net the blueberries to protect them from the birds and the lingonberries to protect them from the fox.

My long term projects are the rose garden and pond area, the rose/boysenberry area next to the polytunnel, the area behind the polytunnel and the compost bins. I don’t expect to really finish that until next winter but I’m going to do what I can.

I’m really pleased that I’ve managed, more or less to keep on top of it. Back in October, I gave myself this year to commit and get it under control or think about going down to half. I’ve had the front for 10 years and the whole plot for 5 and a half so I really don’t want to lose either half. So I have 5 more months to knock it into shape and prove to myself that I can make it work.