End of year roundup

 So once again another year has passed. Oh boy did it pass. This year has been unprecedented in so many ways. The Pandemic has meant that the allotment is the only place I can escape to.

As I mentioned in last year's roundup, I have some serious health issues, and the Covid virus would really see me undergoing some serious issues if I caught it. So I have been on lockdown since the start of March. The only places I can go is Home and the Allotment. I can't go shopping. I can't go see friends. I am essentially trapped. So the only way I can escape is by going to the allotment.

January - This was the last time I met anybody on the allotments officially. Yes I had a few distanced chats - shouting across the plots etc. - but this was the last time I met anybody indoors. It was also when I started thinking about turning the plot into a weather station and remote monitoring/wildlife camera station. An idea which still hasn't fully come to fruition, but I have made some significant steps towards achieving it.

February - As is typical for us, Feb is when we really start work on the plot. The Winter is just really too damp and wet to be doing much down there otherwise. So we started getting the beds ready for the year's planting.

March - This marked the start of my first and only holiday for the year. I had two that I had to use up before the end of the financial year. And even with that I was still carrying over 5 days to the next year. And this was also the time when Lockdown started. I was kicked out of the office at the start of the month, well before the lockdown was ordered. Given that I was a high-risk person, my Boss ordered me to go home. So when my "holidays" started I had pretty much planned to be at the allotment anyway. So the end of March saw the daily trips to the plot to get things up and running. This was also the time we started planting our seeds.

April - Still more bed preparations as my "holidays" continued. A couple of days were lost to weather and dodgy knees, but we managed to get the plot back into shape ready for the rest of the year. The way things were looking, we would need the food. It's not often you get pictures of the insides of supermarkets that have totally empty shelves. Towards the end of April we started planting out some of the seedlings that we had germinated in the greenhouse and we had our first major setback of the year if the form of a hungry mouse.

May - This was our second major setback. Although no frost had been forecast, there was a cold wind blowing from the South and it killed our Crown Prince squashes and Courgettes that we had planted out. Steve sent me some replacement Crown Prince seeds which were gratefully received. However after this the weather got warmer. A lot warmer. We had a small heat wave that sent a lot of our stuff straight into bolting to seed.

June - The rains came. And so did the weeds. Whilst we could now enjoy our strawberries of the Strawberry Empire, it was offset be just trying to keep the weeds under control. The earlier heatwave from the driest spring on record had put paid to any New Zealand Spinach. We had completely lost the whole crop. Either it didn't germinate properly or the heat killed it, but we ended up ripping out the bed and eventually planted replacement tomatoes in there.

July - Yet more weeds. It seems that the weeds have embedded themselves quite a bit due to the previous year's lack of attention. We really have to be more ruthless in the future.

August - The courgette harvest was well under way and this tine I tried my hand at pickling them. I'm not sure how well the pickles turned out as we only ever seem to eat pickles with Fish'n'Chips and we haven't been anywhere near a chippy for the whole year. So I guess they'll have to keep a while longer. Meanwhile our potato crop was started to be uncovered and we found that although we had a pretty reasonable count, all of the tubers were on the small size. Not sure why they turned out that way, but even so, they were quite delicious.

September - we were still collecting huge amounts of courgettes and tomatoes. Indeed they formed a huge part of our meals this month. Throw in some pasta and you pretty much have a ready made dinner. And the biggest surprise to the show was the Crown Prince squash. Were were delicious. This is the first year we've tried growing them, and I can say for a fact that they will now become a staple part of our regular growing season.

October - We were still dealing with the weed issues. When we inherited the plot our three main problems were brambles, bind weed and couch grass. The brambles we managed to deal with within our first couple of years, the bind weed has become less of a problem as the years progressed, but the couch grass is still as persistent as ever. This was the month when we got the final crop of our chillies. We've had quite a decent result this year. Not as much as in previous years because we didn't get the planted into large enough pots. Those that we did made a good show, but the others were only so-so. The main idea here is to plant them in tall/deep pots at least 25/30cms (10-12 inches in old money) and keep the bottom parts of the pots moist/wet. People say keep your chillies dry, but I've found that if you keep the bottom of the pots wet and only ever water from the bottom upwards then the plants will take as much as they need and produce a decent number of flowers and fruit.

November/December - we had planned on growing over the winter time. Field beans have been recommended and I was all for it, but the shear amount of work I have on my plate due to the Pandemic has meant that I have not had chance to do much in the way of outside interests, so sadly the plot is getting neglected over the winter time and we'll see how things progress next year.

The Pros:

• Crown Prince - These will now become a staple of the allotment. Tasty and they keep for ages.
• Tomatoes - Next year we are going to be growing a larger number of Toms. Normally we go for the cherry toms, but I am going to be growing some of the larger varieties so we can start making some passata.
• Chillies - Once again a good crop from our Apache chillies. We've kept a whole load of the seeds so same again next year we hope.
• Sweetcorn - We actually got proper sweet corn this year. Not the pop-corn style we've had before. So, we'll be going for those again next year.
• Strawberries - The Strawberry Empire keeps going from strength to strength. Although the beds are getting a little weed infested, so next year we might have to do some serious digging and re-planting.

The Cons:

• Our New Zealand Spinach failed to materialise. Not sure why, but it just didn't happen.
• Also the loss of seeds from the mouse put back our cucumber harvest.

Objectives for next year.

• Bigger Tomato harvest. Mainly for canning purposes.
• Bigger Crown Prince harvest. Because they are so damn tasty.
• Less Courgettes - because there is only so much that you can eat and/or give away.
• Try and turn the back of the plot into a seating/cooking area rather than the wilderness that it is at the moment. Of course that means that I have to be able to go shopping to get materials for seats... which is dependent on how well we can control the Pandemic. At the moment infections are rising because people just don't seem to be taking it seriously despite "Tier 4" lockdowns.

Stay safe people. See you all next year.

It's looking a little un-loved

 Well we've been having miserable weather. And what with the new lockdown, it's all looking a little forlorn, forgotten and unloved at the moment.

Indeed, about 2 minutes after I took this photo the skies opened and it absolutely threw it down. But by that time I was just getting to the allotment gate. I dashed out of the car to close it, getting a bit of a soaking in the short duration, then cranked up the heating in the car to dry off.

W're not growing anything over the winter. Whilst I did briefly entertain the idea of growing Field Beans and/or garlic over winter, this year has been a bit of a washout. So we decided that we're going to give the plot a bit of a break and concentrate on fixing up the house a bit. We'll start again in January.

Or February.

Dealing with Couch Grass

It goes by various names... Couch Grass. Quick Grass. Quack Grass. Scutch Crass. Twitch Grass. Witch Grass. I just have my own name for it... BLOODY ANNOYING. S'cuse my French.

It has long creeping rhizomes roots which means it gets literally everywhere and is really hard to get rid of. To coin a phrase, I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

I put down a load of newspapers earlier in the year and they did a reasonable job in keeping it somewhat under control. Except at the edges. The roots travel a few inches under the ground until they hit something hard, in this case the wooden beds, and then start creeping along that bed sending up tufts of grasses.

Today I spent a good few hours digging in the woodchips to find those roots and pull them out.

The woodchips are a bit compacted, but very easy to dig though, so once they're loosened up a bit it's relatively easy to pull out the rhizomes. It's just back-breaking work. And it's never ending either. So I am determined to dig over as much of the plot as possible to try and disrupt the damn plant, before once again mulching with woodchips and newspapers.

It's not going to be easy. But then we didn't get allotments thinking it was.

It must be Autumn

 Autumn is mushroom season. And we have a load of woodchips paths all over the plot, which fungi really love so when autumn rolls round they start sprouting.

Although we're coming to the end of our time on the plot for this year, there are still a few last things to harvest. There are a few Chilli that have ripened.

Not sure how many more we'll get. Although there are a few still on the plants, they may not turn even though they're so close.

As for the rest of the plot, that it. We're not planning on growing anything over winter. Here's hoping that next year we can go shopping to buy so many things we need. New wheelbarrow. Marine plywood for building the seating area. So much to do, but we can't go anywhere because if this damn virus.

Dash to the plot

 A seriously quick dash to the plot today. Because of rain.

I could only grab a couple of courgettes (probably the last) and a few tomatoes before dashing into the greenhouse for shelter. But whilst I was in there I wanted to water the chillies just to see if they could produce a few more fruit. So I grabbed the watering can and quickly popped outside to the rain water butt to fill it... only to find it empty.

It looks like the last tine it was used, the tap was left open. So all that lovely rain we've been having just went straight through. Anyway I closed the tap and filled up from the water tank at the front of the plot. I still reckon that it'll fill up soon anyway as this rain doesn't show any signs of letting up at present. 

We're not quite into flood territory at the moment, but the pathways are looking very sodden. Still, it is the season for flooding. Well, between now and April.

End of the Season?

 It was rather cold and blowy down the allotment today. I guess Autumn has finally turned up to say "Game over peeps". Certainly the courgettes are now just a pile of dusty and dead leaves.

But hidden in amongst them are the odd one or two. Plus there are a few tomatoes hanging around slowly ripening, and in the greenhouse the chillies are still turning out the odd one or two spicy delight.

But as for the beans, well they never really amounted to much this year. I guess the cold weather when they were just sprouting kind of stunted their growth, but we got a few. The rest we've left to turn into bean seeds, hopefully for a better crop next year.

Either that or I'll just throw them in a stew and be done with them. It's not like they're magic beans.

On the subject of Beans... I guess we should consider the year effectively over. I probably won't grow anything over winter but I am tempted by Steve's suggestion of Field Beans. Of course I have to be careful which bed I put them in because the lower beds of ours have a tendency to get flooded in the winter months. But we do still go to the plot at least once a week (mostly to off-load our compostable waste) so having a ready source of greenery to eat might be a good idea.

(Incidentally... 400th Blog Post!!)

Breaking the 4th wall

In the Film or Theatre industry, breaking the fourth wall occurs when the actor turns to the camera/audience to say something directly.

Down the allotment, the fourth wall has been broken by a delivery of manure.

Whilst it's nice to get a manure delivery, I think they've gone a bit overboard in off loading it. The fence posts have been pushed over and many of the slats making the bays have been broken with the sheer amount of straw and other "stuff" that's been deposited.

Well I can certainly use a lot of it to re-fill the courgette beds over winter. I just need to wear wellies, climb up that mountain and start shovelling. If I make sure the beds are covered overwinter, I should be ready to go in next year for more Crown Prince.

We've decided that we really, really like the CPs so we're going to make sure that we plant more of them, and less of the normal courgettes. We will plant some of course. But this year we've had way more than we really need. Even so, today we're still getting a load of them... and a big "George".

I fear though, that we are at the end of the Tomato run. We might get the odd one or two over the next few days, but we're pretty much done with them now. We've started getting rid of some of them to that we don't have an issue with blight in the not too distant future.

But tonight, it's going to be a salad for dinner. And tomorrow... back to courgettes.

Traffic lights in the Kale

We have a rogue load of tomatoes growing in the kale bed. Now the kale is looking a little the worse for wear as most of the leaves have been duly lunched upon by various critters, and it also seems to have a bad case of white fly at present. But the toms are doing OK. In fact they are producing some decent vines of fruit. The colour cascade looks like loads of little traffic lights.

Meanwhile, it looks like the poor old courgettes are on their last legs. The leaves are starting to look a little tired and have a covering of mildew.

But they're still churning them out. We're still collecting loads of them for dinners. Soups, stews, grated, baked, or fried. And we expect a few more yet before they finally give up.

We have harvested the two big "George" marrows. These will become our seeds for next year. One will stay in the shed over the winter, the other will sit on top of the cupboards in the kitchen.

Time to start planning next year's bed rotations and crops.

Coming to the end of the season.

It's coming to the end of the summer season on the allotment. That doesn't mean that we're out of produce as the plot is still pretty plentiful.

Firstly we have the classic courgettes which are still putting out a load of fruits. I've totally lost track of just how many we've had, there have been so many. We also grabbed a few beetroots. The big beetroot at the front was a rogue one which must have self-seeded from last year.

Loads of tomatoes too. The yellow ones are Ildi which have also self-seeded from last year. A few chillies which are ripe enough to pick (still more to come) and a Crown Prince which we are going to try out. We have a few CPs which managed to survive the cold snap earlier in the year, so hopefully they will last us a little while.

We're not really planning on growing anything over the winter. But we might plant a few turnips just to see if they come to anything. We planted a whole load back in April, but the incredibly hot spring forced them all to bolt to seed so we didn't get anything. Hopefully slow growing over winter may produce results.

Another bucket'o'weeds

The recent rain has done two things. Spurred the weeds into growth, and softened up the ground so that it's easier to pull them out.

So, like recently, it's all hands to the weeds.

My tool of choice for digging them out is a three pronged thin fork with downward facing tines. It's easy to loosened up the soil around the weed in question and then grab it and pull it out. So I've been gradually working my way around the wood chip paths and goat paths between the beds digging out the errant growths. Mostly they're weeds, but on occasion I have found strawberry runners leaving their confines and trying to escape to adjacent beds. The definition of a weed is any plant that is growing in the wrong place. So out they come.

I've lost count of how many buckets were emptied. but there always seems to be more to do.

We're still getting courgettes. And Tomatoes. And we've now started to harvest the apples form the tree before they all fall on the floor. Of course we have to eat the apples by using a knife to cut them as they all have a maggot inside. There is only one thing worse than biting into an apple and finding a maggot inside.

And that's biting into an apple and finding half a maggot inside.

Sweet Sweetcorn

Looks like once again we were slightly late picking the corn.

We've trying a different variety this year, as in previous years, although they have done really well, the corn is not really suitable for eating directly. But they did produce excellent pop corn. They still do, as we have loads of the popcorn left.

But this year it's a little more organic and it did really well. We've already had some of the corn and it is really tender and sweet. But today when we went to the plot we noticed that the stalks were dying off so it's time to fully harvest them. However a lot of them appear to have rot or insect damage.

The ones on the right seem pretty good. Maybe just a little damage. The ones on the left have significant issues. So these ones we will dry and try to use for next year.

We also are still getting loads of courgettes (of course) and we also grabbed some of the runner beans and Tomatoes. The red toms are from our mass of Tumbling Toms, but the yellows are rogue plants which appear to have sprouted from last years attempt at growing Ildi. And to top it off we harvested our first three chilli fruits grown this year (still more to come) and some less maggoty apples.

Now, does anybody have a good corn chowder recipe?

In a bit of a pickle

A while back I started counting the number of courgettes that came from the plot. The old "Courgette Tally". Well I'm not sure how many that I've collected this year, since I neglected to start counting right at the beginning, but I am drowning in them. We've had them fried, souped, grated, baked, and now I've tried pickling them.

And we still have loads left. I tried de-hydrating some a couple of years ago, that didn't go so well. Well, that's to say the drying went OK. It was the re-hydrating and cooking that failed. I just ended up with a slimy mess that tasted foul. So it would seem that the best way is to keep them is by turning them into another product... hence pickles.

But we still have loads to give away...

Our potatoes kind of finished early this year. Maybe it was the heat? But I pulled the main stalks off a couple of weeks ago, and today I finally up-ended the bag to see what was inside. Plenty there, but they were kind of small.

Still better than nothing. But we still need to keep on top of the weed situation. Turn your back for two minutes and there are a thousand more weeds to pull.

Guess that this winter I'll have to get most of the beds covered... I just need to get enough weed membrane from somewhere. Somewhere that I can go shopping that is, because as it stands at present, I can still only go home and the allotment. Not allowed to go anywhere else until I'm vaccinated.

2020 has been an "interesting" year so far.

Bucket'o'weeds

The plot is doing well. Of course most notably the weeds are doing better if the number of them is any indication. So we went to the plot early today (to avoid the heat) and started pulling.

We have a wild area at the back of the plot, which was supposed to have been turned into a seating and picnicking area this year, but a certain pandemic meant I couldn't get the materials that I wanted. So once again it's been left to go wild. Perfect place for throwing all of the resulting weeds, after all no green thing should leave the plot. It'll all compost down.

So we emptied loads of buckets into the back. I lost count, I think I did about 4, and The Wife did about 5 or 6. Anyway, it seems like we've hardly made a dent in the totals in the beds. But things do look a little tidier.

And we have yet more courgettes. Can't give them away fast enough.

...and sweetcorns, and beetroots, and tomatoes, and potatoes....

Soon we'll get round to apples. The tree is creaking under the weight of them, but they're still rather small, and also, sadly, rather moth eaten.

And somewhere hidden in the Crown Prince patch are a few CPs growing there. Considering that we almost lost them all due to a late frost then I think this is rather remarkable.

Anyway, time to avoid the heat and head for the hills. Also known as home.

(Incidentally, have you noticed how bad the new UI for Blogger has become. It's now "optimised for mobiles" and because of this they have completely forgotten the usability of the system. Where before it was easy to select the tags for your posts, now you have to scroll down a huge list to select them. You can't type them in or pick from a condensed list any more. 

They have also blocked you from uploading images in the old interface. So you're now forced to use the new system it you want to include images in your posts. And any images you do upload no longer auto-scale. So now you have to upload images fro the New Interface, switch back to the old one to add them with the scaling, select them by choosing the option "from this blog" and scroll down to the very bottom - that view should really be reverse date ordered - to add them with the scaling.

This is very badly thought out. As somebody who works in the tech industry I find it appalling.)

Fighting back against Covid

I have just received my testing kit from Imperial College. They are currently doing testing research to help try and track how many people have been infected and how far the disease has spread. They sent me a letter a while back asking if I would be happy to take part. I replied yes because this problem affects us all and anything I can do in my own small way, I am happy to do.

Anyway, they sent through a home test kit which was really easy to use. I'm not adverse to using things like this. I've had blood tests many times in the past on my trips to hospitals and whatnot. But this is the first self-administered one I've used.

I expected a Negative result. This is what I got...

Yes, it's a negative.

Hardly surprising really as the only places I have been are home and the allotment. The only people I speak to these days are outside my window at home (shouting through the window panes) or via Skype, Webex, Microsoft Teams, Slack or Discord (depending on who I'm talking to).

Guess I'll be back down the plot at the weekend. In the meantime, stay safe.

Harvesting in the rain

So there was only a light cloud covering when we left for the allotment. The weather forecast said there was only a 10%-20% chance of rain. And the day started out quite well.

We fired up the Ghillie Kettle to have our usual cup of coffee and started pottering about watering in the green house, pulling weeds etc. But then a few spits started. Not so bad, we thought. The cloud cover was still light, but it did look darker on the horizon so we carried on. It was only a couple of minutes later that we realised that it was getting darker so we did a mad dash to collect all the currently available courgettes (and a beetroot) before it got really bad.

By the time we grabbed these and dashed back inside the greenhouse (to finish our coffees) it really starting coming down. So we decided that we didn't need to water outside, and we made a beeline for the car and home.

Even so, we were a little bit wet but nothing a warm shower, dry clothes and a nice courgette soup made from one of the above (I think it was the one on the far left) couldn't fix.

Dealing with weeds

There are three main ways to dealing with weeds.

1. Mulch to stop them growing.
2. Diligently keep pulling them out.
3. Burn them out.

The mulching is really the better choice. Whether you use a weed membrane or a spent mushroom compost, it covers the seeds and stops them germinating. Thats all well and good it you have the spare finances and time to deal with it. But we don't spend a great deal on the allotment. It more for a little bit of veg here and there and a way to escape the house for a short period of time. Something which is well and truly appreciated in these current times.

Pulling them is seriously time consuming and you need to do it regularly. Well we only go to the plot a couple of times a week. It's quite a hike from where we live and a busy schedule doesn't really allow us to spend a lot of time during the weekdays done there.

So I opted for the burning. I have a weed gun which deals quite easily with seeds on the ground.

Last year the plot was seriously neglected due to ill health and the weeds well and truly took over. So now we're kind of fighting back. A lot of our beds have been infested, and although we tried to keep on top of it there was just too much. Our crop of New Zealand Spinach either didn't germinate, or failed to compete with the weeds in the soil, so we pulled it a few weeks back. And the bed has been lying dormant ever since. So it's time to kill the seeds and get something else in there.

So what started as this...

Ended up as this...

These are side-shoots from the many rogue tomatoes that we've had poking their heads up throughout the plot. Technically they're weeds too. "A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place." But they're useful weeds.

The trough you can see there is actually part of the framework built over the Kale bed and holds up the netting. London pigeons are the worst and they have decimated our attempts to grow Kale in the past. This year we're keeping them at bay and having a massive crop of Kale as a result... when the butterfly caterpillars aren't munching them that is.

Elsewhere we're gathering in Courgettes in huge numbers (again).

And we pulled the last of the peas. We've had a good crop this year, enough for several meals. But now the plants are dying so it's time to clear the bed. I'll let it sit for a while before hitting it with the weed gun and getting something else in there. You can see the old pea bed at the back of this shot.

As this is where I've started digging out some of the potatoes from earlier in the year. It was an unexpected find we thought we wouldn't be able to do anything with them, but I stopped digging when we had enough for a meal. The rest are (hopefully) still in there.

The next major crop we're expecting though will have to be the Apples.

The tree is bending under the weight of them. But sadly a lot of them appear to have been hit with the moth again despite putting up a trap. There is only one thing worse than biting into an apple and discovering a maggot...

Flower power

The veggies are prolific at the moment. But that's not all.

The Wife is really happy that all her flowers are blooming. Her flower bed of mixed blooms are showing a variety of flowers. I couldn't even name one of them.

At the front of the plot, the petunias in the trough are in full flower.

And the Sunflower is attracting it's fair share of bees.

A while back, we discovered an albino spider. I expressed a hope that it would survive. I am happy to report that we have found another one. Now either it's the same spid, or one of it's offspring, or a totally new totally new one with the same genetic shortcoming.

Anyway, I am happy to see a unique spid living large down the plot.

Elsewhere we're looking forward to a few beetroot...

... and a really bumper crop of grapes this year.

A wet Wednesday harvest

Well June is the exact opposite of March, April and May. It's been throwing it down. But things are still managing to churn out some goodies.

The last of the strawberries, some peas, a handful of blueberries, a courgette and an odd little turnip that was accidentally pulled out whilst pulling out the weeds that are sprouting like crazy after all this rain.

Potting on and harvests

Quite a few of the plants are starting to get a little pot bound. So it's time to move them to larger pots.

The Chillies are definitely first on the list. As you can see they're still in their small pots and are in need of a little more wiggle room. The pots they're going to will probably be their last move. I have two sets of chillies, and although they were planted at the same time, one set was kept in the large green tray (above) with a permanent half inch of water, and some were left in trays which did dry up occasionally. The ones that were kept in the water were twice the size of the others. Which is odd, because I've always been told that Chillies don't like to get their feet wet.

Meanwhile outside, The Wife has been weeding. The New Zealand Spinach bed has been sitting for a while, and to be honest, I'm not sure that it actually sprouted properly, because I have never seen any sign of it. Which is somewhat disappointing really. But we decided that it was best to cut our losses and plan to put something else in there. We're not sure what. But The Wife really went to town and pulled it all... except for some poppies.

She also found a few rogue Tomato plants which she had me pot up as well. Ah well, free tomatoes are always welcome.

Elsewhere on the plot, the Kale is starting to pick up. We're still keeping it under netting, because there are a large number of pigeons flying around (it is London after all) and those "Rats with Wings" love nothing better than to help themselves to tasty Kale.

All of this work was supervised by our resident vulpine, Fiona, who stopped by to check up on us and make sure we were up to scratch.

So, now we're harvesting. First off we have a load of Rhubarb. This is going to be used in a new batch of Rhubarb and Ginger Jam.

Next the Strawberries are still on a major roll. We have loads of them. And we are also harvesting some Micro Greens (Sweetcorn) for dinner tonight.

After the rain comes the weeds

So, we actually had some reasonable rain. It has been one of the driest springs on record. So when the rain gets into the ground, all of those dormant weeds start trying to take over. Which is where the woodchips come into play.

Those of you who remember that earlier in the year I started putting down newspaper with a large helping of woodchips. Those of you with a logical mind, may have thought I was stupid to do so. After all the newspaper will rot and let the weeds grow through. And you'd be correct. But that's the whole point. The newpaper will blanket out some of the weeds meaning that they won't be able to germinate and will die. Those that do manage to grow through have a strong root system. Which means once they poke their heads through I can get a good grip on them and pull them out, root and all.

Take a look at the difference between where I ran out of woodchips...

And where I originally started...

Yes, there is a whole load of grass growing in the paths, but it's easy to just loosen up the paths, get a good grip and pull. Sometimes a piece of root gets left behind, but that can wait until another day.

Then again, if the paths get left too long there are other issues. Way back when... I put down some weed membrane followed by woodchips. But it has been left so long now, that the woodchip has broken down to soil, and the grass has grown though it. As such it is now incredibly difficult to pull the old membrane out without serious issues.

But at the front of the plot, we have our petunias on display again. Hopefully they will distract from the fact that there is a very large compost bin right behind them.

And yes, now I'm home, I can tell you one of the biggest issues that all that weeding and pulling has done. I've put my back out. Bending is now seriously painful. Breakout the icepacks.