A random browse on Freegle and I noticed someone down the road from us was giving away a load of top soil which was all bagged and ready to go. I had been thinking of a (cheap) way to fill the new bed that me and Tom had built and this seemed to be the answer. Not compost or manure in any way, although I was told the soil had been removed from an old chicken run so maybe it might have some bits of goodness in. The main purpose of filling gaps could still be achieved. We had to give the bags back so we spent a late evening at the plot emptying soil in various places.

We had a bit too much than we needed and so I emptied the remaining bags into piles which will wait until the plot clears out a bit and we use it to bulk up the heavy clay soil near the edge.

It has been a hot week which meant I started the Saturday with a quick ‘late September’ watering. The only plan I had was to take out the old cucumber plants if they were no longer doing anything and prepare the ground for onion sets next month. The cucumber plants had indeed finished, so I cut them off at the base. I used the opportunity to dig out bindweed roots and then covered in mushroom compost.

The rest was just hoeing and removing of dead leaves off of brassicas and swedes.

I did manage to come home with:

• white cabbage
• carrots
• loads of tomatoes
• beetroot
• chard
• courgette

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