Wild, neglected and beautiful

No not me!
A friend's neighbour's house has been getting work done and not long ago the garden was a building site, but for some weeks it's lain neglected and this is the result. How beautiful is that!

Gardening without digging?

Surely not! Well that was my reaction, but a friend from the village recently went on a visit and saw this in action and came back marvelling at how well it works, so I had to look for the website didn't I? Here it is: Charles Dowding's No Dig website

Newbie Gardener: Radishes - something new!

Newbie Gardener: Radishes - something new!

Now this has got to be worth emulating! I can't wait to taste some radish seed pods now.

Friends for Lunch Preparation

Salad, beetroot, tomato on the menu

Friends for Lunch

Not quite how it reads, we won't be eating the friends for lunch.

New Potatoes and more

I had already previously harvested a couple of potatoes, just by digging my hand under a plant. Today it was the turn of the fork, and up came two plants of Charlotte, some of which made a delicious potato salad for lunch.

Mrs Soggy, meanwhile, gathered some peas, beans, courgettes and strawberries, the cucumber (mentioned below) had been brought in earlier.

As you can see, everything is wet, as were we, it decided to pour down before we finished, mind you, I did still get 2 courgette plants out of their pots and into the bed-space the potatoes had relinquished.

Cucumbers

If you have been following the blog for a while, you will have seen the list of seeds I have for this year. One of the varieties is a cucumber: Melen F1 (Mini). I sowed it, under heat, on 16th February. All four seeds germinated and I now have 2 plants in an unheated greenhouse and 2 outside (which have survived some recent cold nights).

The variety has been a good choice, the mini size is just right for 2 of us and they have been good croppers now for quite a few weeks. Definitely a good find and worth passing on. More information on them here.

Weather!

How long have I been wanting rain? What's happening today, not just here but all over the country - The Big Lunch, so which day is it raining - yes - you guessed, today!

We needed it though and picnics and games can be fun in the rain, I am telling myself that, really I am.

Frost - ColdSnap app

I made a useful discovery on the Allotment Vegetable Growing website (visit here) of an App for Android phones, which will give you a frost warning for your chosen location, by monitoring weather forecasts for you. (I would also have to say that the author is most patient and helpful, as I made a silly error in setting it up, which he quickly resolved).

You can find it through the Android Market on your phone or here ColdSnap!

You'd think in June I wouldn't be worried about this in southern England but the air temperature here last night was down to 4.5C - nearly cold enough to get me rushing out to cover my potatoes.