Getting on with lots of jobs

This time of year, there is so much to get done, and fortunately everyone is still very keen, so we've all been working hard, and we might even be making some progress!

One job is to earth up the potatoes. Last year, we'd pretty much finished doing this at this point in the season, but this year, everything is coming up more slowly so we're still at it. Fortunately Ellis is a dab-hand at this, and got through the job pretty quickly. He then joined Dan in putting his hoe to good use, taking out weeds from the area next to the polytunnel. If only everything here grew where we wanted it to!

We also got on with more planting in the sensory garden. Helen added some more plants and shrubs to add to the lovely bee and butterfly friendly plantings. Mark also helped out, braving the attentions of ants to seek out the sneaky docks, thistles and brambles that keep trying to muscle in on the main flowering bed.

Tracey gave some of the newly planted pumpkins and squashes a treat and watered them with liquid seaweed solution. She reckons it's good stuff - full of trace elements and hormones which help the plants to get over the shock of being planted, grow more strongly and fend off pest attack. Hopefully the pumpkins and courgettes agree.

Is seaweed the solution?

We had a treat, when Sally arrived with some mega-rhubarb from her established patch. We only planted ours this year, and we won't be able to harvest until next year, so she took pity on us. We're not sure what she's feeding her rhubarb, but it's massive, so we'll have to work out her secret for next year.