Listen….can you hear it? That’s me purring contentedly after a week of very welcome rain. If I had the flexibility I would arch my back and rub around your legs, that’s how happy I am. And now we have a week of largely dry warm and bright weather to follow the precipitation, so the garden should explode with activity – particularly weeds, but let’s not spoil the moment, we will luxuriate a little longer in this bubble bath of positivity.

While it was raining last week….well after it had rained for what I considered long enough, I got on with cultivating all of the land that I had previously been unable to because of the concrete hard nature of it, after first flail mowing some of the spent brassica crops that had lasted into the spring. That was very satisfying, and a great relief. The mulched up crop residues were turned into the soil to provide organic matter to it. I then cracked on with planting – more broccoli, kale and winter squash. More rain followed so I didn’t even have to water them in, at which point the purring was at maximum volume. When conditions were too miserable for me to want to be outside working I took the opportunity to get on with the important work of side shooting and tying in tomatoes. The plants in the polytunnel were desperately in need of some TLC, and now they have had it I hope that they will repay my kindness by thriving, though I do still need to do a lot of weeding in there.

It wasn’t all positive last week, the cucumbers that had got off to such a roaring start by cropping at a remarkable rate, slowed down and sulked. Like petulant brats they sat there hunched over, heads bowed, with their arms tightly crossed, exaggerated scowls on their faces, just because they didn’t get their own way. “I want sun, and warmth!” they demanded in their best/worst whiny voices whilst stamping their feet. it’s probably a bit weird to anthropomorphise cucumber plants – welcome to my world. In that world the naughty little tykes were wearing Clarks sandals with the buckle straps, like the ones that you had fitted in the shoe shop before the start of the new primary school year. Anyway, the fruiting really stalled, but I did just about have enough for all of the orders. With the weather returning to how they like it they should respond by forming lots more little cukes, and once they start growing they don’t take long to get to harvesting size, so let’s keep our fingers crossed. The second generation of plants is coming on nicely and will bolster output soon.

The other negative from last week is that the grass decided to shout “whoopee!” and grow like topsy. Having sat out the drought, not needing a trim for several weeks, all of a sudden it is thick and tufty and is in desperate need of topping before it gets completely out of hand. There is quite a lot of it, so it’s not a 5 minute job, but one that I must tackle early in the week, with the mower blade set at the highest level. Grass is an amazing plant, so resilient. Not so resilient at the moment is Box hedging. This year the Box moth has caused havoc, stripping the plants bare of their leaves, it’s a horrid sight. Apparently this moth originated in Asia and was first reported in the south of the UK in 2007, it has rapidly spread across the southern half of the country and looks to be a constant menace if it is not controlled.

The shop is largely unchanged from last week, with one exception….new potatoes! The old ones have just about run their course, but have done well to last into mid-June, but now it’s time for a treat. The variety is Accord and it has proper new potato characteristics, so simply steam or boil, smear with butter, grind on some sea salt and enjoy. I rather like some mint in the water that they are boiled in, but that’s not for everyone I know. The green oakleaf lettuces are very large, so invite friends or neighbours round to share a salad with. There are also the compact Little Gem ones too. The spring greens are in tip-top condition and are bursting with goodness, there is also chard, plus some imported broccoli. My own broccoli plants are developing very nicely and are only a few weeks away from being ready to cut. Oh, honey is back – there was never a shortage, I just hadn’t bought any jars. The price of them is daft now, so please return your empties.

Well I had my eye test last Monday, and received a slap on the wrist as it was the first time since 2019 that I had been for a check up. Generally the health of my eyes is very good, but there has been some deterioration of my long distance vision in my right eye, which the left eye is working very hard at compensating for. Even my ‘bad’ eye is still okay for driving, but I imagine that it’s only going to go one way. I have a new prescription for glasses, but I have not yet done anything with it. I will probably get a pair, even if only for driving for now.

The World Cup has started, and England got off to a good start beating Sri Lanka on Friday. Oh, you thought that I was talking about the footie. Well there’s that as well of course, and whilst I am a football fan I am yet to get very excited about the tournament. Maybe when some of the more significant teams meet each other my enthusiasm will increase. I did stay up last night to watch the first half of Brazil against Morocco, but was too tired to see it through. There will be some bleary eyed Scots today, because their game didn’t start until 2am! I don’t want to sound selfish or brat like, but wouldn’t it be best if the World Cup was always played in Europe?

I meant to tell you last week but forgot. The only Canada Geese that currently reside at Moyns Park is the pair with their six goslings, all of the others disappeared over two weeks ago. One day I thought to myself that something was different, and it was that the big old gaggle had suddenly moved on to pastures new. It is normally much later in the summer that they depart. Meanwhile the goslings are growing fast and are starting to get their grown up plumage. The whole family still comes down from time to time for a feed.

Right, I’m out lunching today so I will get off now. I hope that you have a good week.

Phil