Taming the Weeds

How is it that you never notice things growing and altering until you go away and come back, if you know what I mean. I've just shifted a carpet of bind weed out of  the polytunnel, it was itsy bitsy tiny before we left.  All the runner beans have gone to seed and the leaves on the sweetcorn have paled a deathly yellow.

Been really busy yesterday and today. Stripped all the bottom leaves off the tomatoes and removed about seven barrow loads of weeds from between them. They are starting to ripen now and we've had a few for eating already. I find a ripe banana left at the base of the plant helps to kick start them into ripening. Read that tip somewhere and it does seem to work. I've picked all the  tough beans off the runner bean plants and sloshed lots of water down them. There are quite a few flowers on the sticks so hopefully we should have another crop in a week or two.  I put a good scoop of dried chicken poo, (the type you can buy in buckets in the garden centre) into a watering can, filled it up with water - a good stir and then watered in the middle of the rows - seems to  get a second crop quicker. I've given the sweetcorn loads of water. The tops of the cobs are a bit shrivelled. The leaves have all gone yellow, but we've tried one or two cobs and they seem pretty edible. Got a great big heap of overgrown courgettes so don't know what I'm going to do with them yet - probably end up on the compost heap.

The red cabbages have all come at once.

Another weeding job tomorrow amongst the leeks.

And I found a nest of pheasant eggs, nestled in the flower border by the front door.

I want to say a big thank you to my lovely sister-in-law who popped down a few times to keep things ticking over while we were away. We'd have had nothing without her. I loved our trip, but it's nice to be back.