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In order to push on the tomatoes in the greenhouse a little I rarely leave the door open now. The heat builds up and the automatic window opener allows a bit of ventilation through when it gets too hot. (Remember that one day?) However, only going in once a day means the spiders think they own the place.
Every morning for the past week or so I have thought “WHEN WILL I REMEMBER ABOUT THE COBWEBS?” as I walk in through the door and gather them in my eyelashes and up my nose. . .
As well as the tomatoes there are also cucumbers in there. I have never successfully produced cucumbers before and have high hopes that this year will result in a couple of decent ones. At the moment they are small and prickly!
Overall I am less than impressed with the amount the garden has produced so far. The peas are almost finished – they didn’t last as long as we had hoped, the carrots are small, the brocolli seems to have gone to seed already . . . I am going to have to be a lot better prepared next year.
Iain and I were looking at the slabs we have planned to lift to make way for some new grass this evening. I have decided we will lift them and put them straight in to the chicken run. The shower curtains on the sides has helped with the wetness inside but after thinking it through, the whole run would be better to be paved and – waddya know – we just have 30 slabs going spare.
It suddenly struck me that by lifting a few more of them we can add a 4′ x 8′ strip to The Allotment. It will take a few loads of good top soil to fill this new space and we will have a depth of about about 6 inches of sand to remove. But I stood looking at it and was so happy with the idea there were almost tears in my eyes! It really makes a big difference to what I can produce next year!
It also means that I am starting to take control of the garden a lot more and that pleases me too.
(The photo here is the only one I have of cobwebs! The whirly-gig is right next to the greenhouse – does that still count?)