Weeds everywhere!

Evening Visits
I've decided that the best time to visit at the moment is in the evenings when the kids are tucked up in bed and their Mum is usually found in the bath. Everyone seems happy with that arrangement - well what the kids don't know about won't hurt them! And to be honest the growth of nettles and brambles makes it a bit hazardous down there for small people at the moment.

Progress
Below shows the plot looking down from just inside the 'gate' (OK where the gate used to be - it having fallen apart a few weeks back).



The next photo shots where most of the mess still remains! I like to think of this as the 'wildlife haven.



Plants and planting
Due to the erratic nature of visits and planting whilst Mrs D was in and out of hospital, not all the planting is going as well as it should be. The Leeks (Bandit and Pandora) I planted in toilet roll tubes were a disaster, they were either eaten by snails or drowned in the heavy rains a few weeks back. The Globe artichokes started off well but again were getting savaged by slugs and snails. These were still salvageable and moved to the allotment where they look a bit sickly but still alive at least. Beans (Canadian Wonder and Cherokee Trail of Tears) have been planted. Those planted in toilet roll tubes at home have been doing well and have managed to survive (to date) attacks from wildlife - famous last words, they''re surviving but something has been eating them. The Brussels (Seven Hills and Groninger) plants survive the attacks at home and again have survived (again famous last words, half of them have been completely eaten), mainly thanks to the mini polytunnel for the and some well placed twigs for the . They now have netting covering them...

The strawberries have also been attacked - grrrr! Something has been pulling off the small green strawberries that have formed to date. These are now largely covered by two of the mini poly tunnels and on the next visit will have netting added as an extra precaution.

And as for the weeds... Spent the best part of an hour and a half there the other night, just pulling out the weeds around the stuff that is growing. Hand weeding is apparently best, which is just as well since I broke the hoe... Well to be fair it used to belong to Mrs D's grandad who died in his mid-90s over 5 years ago now, so it was getting on a bit. Hopefully it's not beyond repair though.

I have various squash (pumpkins, butternut squash and courgettes), broccoli and sweetcorn growing at home, not yet ready to be planted - which is just as well as I don't have the space

So all in all a bit of a frustrating time. More photos of progress below:


Brussels pre-savaging by birds/rabbits/slugs/take your pick really. Now completely covered in netting



View of the fruit/perennial bed. Lavender in the foreground, with comfrey to the left. Small plants behind the lavender are globe artichokes, they were being savaged by slugs at home so figured they'd be better off in the ground. Behind these are the strawberries, followed by rhubarb, then raspberries, and gooseberries. Beyond these to the left of the picture is the Jerusalem Artichokes and garlic behind these.



Broad beans in flower, planted late but seem to be doing OK at the moment - only a matter of time I'm sure.