Calendula is always lovely to photograph and a must in your garden

Saturday was spent removing tired brassica plants, silver beet, parsley and lots of self seeded flowers from one of the raised beds (RB2). I have had my eye on this bed for a few weeks now and given that my beans, beetroot and lettuce all looked a tad uncomfortable in their pots, it was time to get cracking.

So minus the greenery I grabbed a small spade and in places where the soil was compacted I dug it into the bed, lightly lifting the soil. I really dislike doing this as the micro organisms in the soil get turned upside down, not somewhere they want to be.

We then emptied about 6 bags of coffee grounds, wood ash and some composted horse manure (crawling with worms) onto the soil, bulking it up nicely. To finish, we spread a good layer of planting mix on top. I then hosed the bed for a good 20 minutes ensuring that the soil was saturated. To finish the lasagna mix, we topped it off with a thick layer of mulch. Sensational!

At last, the dwarf beans have finally made it into the soil …

Sunday I was out planting my dwarf beans. My timing was particularly poor – let’s face it, midday isn’t the optimal time to plant anything, and beans don’t much like being transplanted at the best of times. So after being unceremoniously dumped onto the ground, then stuffed into the soil, it was time to erect some netting to offer them a ‘wee’ bit of shade. And yes, they got loads of water!

Heirloom cucumber – long white

The salad stuff was also planted, Vivian lettuce and Chioggia beetroot. A couple of marigolds also made it into the dirt with some zinnias planted at the rear for a blaze of summer colour. I also put in a couple of heirloom cucumbers at the end of the bed a Long white and a Tendergreen. These will no doubt end up crawling all over each other and everything else in their way, but I shall pop obstacles in their path to slow them down.

Just because I can, I spent Sunday pm on hands and knees ripping out more wandering jew and digging out blackberries with a spade and secateurs. Oh joy, what fun that is! Wandering jew is an skin irritant to start with and then blackberries are just bloody vicious, so you can imagine what my arms look like. But I did do a sterling job so I can pat myself on the back.

A very happy Turban pumpkin in the secret garden .. self seeded elephant garlic up front!

To finish off my super weekend, I popped a Turban and Crown pumpkin into a raised bed which located in its own little microclimate near the edge of the forest. Not a prime spot for a bed as there is no access to water, but each year the cucurbits end up in this spot (no rotation) and each year they do famously on the proviso of course, that summer isn’t seriously hot and dry as it was last year.

Every orchard needs comfrey .. ours has just started to flower!

Next weekend, I am really going to be busy. Another bed to prep and plant and it will be time to spray that orchard with seaweed. Bring it on!

Alive and very well in the Bonner’s garden – green shield horror

Happy gardening.