Year: 2022

Greetings from a scorching London! Today I’m sharing a few more ideas on reducing energy costs……it’s by no means exhaustive but hopefully there may be one or two things here you may not have thought of and can implement. But, first, how do I deal with this heat and no air conditioning?

Time flies! We’re entering the height of summer…….when everything should be growing away but……hahaha…I am still about 6 weeks behind. Never mind……..since the June tour three weeks ago there have been some changes…..and I (stubbornly!) remain optimistic!

Yay! I’m nearly at the end of the garden rescue! Today the mantra is “chuck it all in!”. Yes, it’s getting a bit late but……these plants don’t stand a chance if they’re left in their pots so I may as well chuck ’em all in the soil and give myself half a chance of a garden this year. Today it’s: courgettes, sweet peppers, tomatoes, parsnips, spinach, chard, beetroot and climbing beans. Phew!

It’s a chatty one….grab a cuppa and your crafting project (or laundry to fold!). A bit of a catch up from the last few weeks including the post bag, some fabric, some buttons and a book!

At the very end of June I am still in garden rescue mode. Today it’s all about the tomatoes. I haven’t managed to get the entire garden finished in the last two weeks…..never mind…..I am very, very happy that the toms are finally in! The varieties are: Gardener’s Delight, Guernsey Toms, Amish Paste and Rose de Berne.

Another month has flown by in a whirl of Covid and gardening. It may not have been the best month but there are still valuable lessons to take from it……especially about staying flexible with my plans and expectations.

Today it’s all about the squash. It’s a bit of a long one because I experience a bit of a mental block and struggle to work out how to proceed…..bear with me…I chat through how I get over it and what I do to move forward…….and I do manage to get the planting done. Another step forward in rescuing the garden this year.

It’s day one of the garden rescue! I’m calling it that because I have been so far behind all year, with so many absences from the garden, so many seedlings destroyed by slugs…..so now it’s time to rescue the situation and make whatever garden I can this year. Today I am starting with the beans…..I need to prepare a couple of beds for them, build their climbing frames and plant out whichever plants survived the slugs…..and then a whole lot of reseeding!

A few weeks ago I was asked a couple of questions by our lovely Ant….he asked: “How do you make ends meet?” and “How do you keep your bills so low?”. Great questions which I’ll try to answer today (as a break from digging!)………I go on a bit of a memory trip back to my childhood where it all began.

I’m a couple of weeks late bringing you the June Garden Tour……and, aherm, slightly more than two weeks late with all the jobs! Brace yourselves. I’ve attached the two previous year’s June tours for anyone who is interested in seeing the contrast.