Plants, plants everywhere 

Today I spent most of the day toiling under a strange meteorological phenomenon – sunshine. It was baking hot and after 4 hours, I beat a hasty retreat back home to sit in front of the fan.

Chickens and quail fed and watered first and I spent some time watching Doris. She is able to close her beak and seems to be picking at some food which is an improvement. However she isn’t back to her usual self so Cliff is going to keep an eye on her too. The rest of them were enjoying the heat and sunbathing! 

In order to ease the space issue in the greenhouse, I planted several rows of plants. This took a while as each row had to be dug then watered before putting in the plants. The soil is baked so hard, it’s a real struggle to break up the solid clumps. Eventually, two rows French beans, a row of spinach, a row of lettuce and the rediscovery of two rows of onions means our plot is starting look a bit better. 

Later, I started to clear the weeds on the failed potato rows, only to find that the first row, nearest the shed, had some plants coming through!  Tomorrow I will finish clearing the other two rows and see if anymore have survived!

The growth of the plants in the greenhouse has been so prolific that I managed to trade excess French beans for some Broc-Ali from Dave the Plod. This is a hybrid of Broccoli and cauliflower and apparently you can eat the leaves and the stems as the grow. It’s worth a try!