Just getting on with it!

It's been a while. I know. I'm sorry.

It's that time of year, not a lot happening in the garden and not alot to blog about.

To be honest, stuff needed to happen in the garden but I just couldn't muster the enthusiasm necessary to do what needed doing.

Yesterday was a lovely day, the kind of day that would be criminal to spend inside.

 So, we came home from church, I changed into my gardening trousers, left instructions with Dave to prep the chicken and spuds for roast dinner for later and rolled my sleeves up ready to get dirty.

This bed needed lots of attention. One of the Romanescu broccoli and the curly kale had really taken a beating from the white fly. I seem to have managed to get rid of the white fly after several doses of soapy water spray, one broccoli looks tatty but I've cut it back a little and will just see if it improves and the kale mostly just looked really ropey and diseased, so three plants got pulled. This was a bit of instinctive gardening on my part, sometimes you just have to do what your gut tells you.

This was the aftermath.

The purple sprouting broccoli at the back are coming on and the cavolo nero are maturing.

Growing broad beans is bit of a journey into the unknown for me.

Will they last the winter? Have I given them enough support? Will the kids eat them? (I know I will, so not a major concern)

Buoyed by the success of the plants in the grow house, I sowed some more. I started some off a few weeks ago in peat pots and now seemed a good time to plant them out under bottle cloches.

These plants are edged by green manure. Broad beans take approximately 5 months to crop so hopefully I'll get some broad beans before I need to dig over the bed ready for Summer planting.

I also sowed some beans in the Ikea bag where I had grown carrots, this I've covered  but it doesn't get much sun  in this part of the garden at this time of the year so this will be a case of wait and see.

Doesn't everything look so much better with the sun shining on it?

The herbs and the other plants are happily protected and coming along. We've only had one frost, last week so they haven't really been tested.

Most days, I try and open up the grow houses, even a little just to let the air circulate a bit.

On days like yesterday, it's a case of flinging open the doors. It is surprising how warm these grow houses can get in full sun.

By the time I had got most of the necessary jobs done, the garden was in full shade, about 3.30. Time to wash up, check up on dinner and take the kids for a short walk to the park.

Such a beautiful day and  much needed to lift the spirit and motivate the body.

A few more like this would be lovely, thank you very much.

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