It was still all a bit misty when I arrived early in the morning and a bit cold. I warmed myself up by climbing up the trees and cutting overhanging branches off. It’s easier to do this first thing when there are less people about on the site and out walking their dogs, less questions to answer as you saw off branches high up the tree. The branches are sometimes quite large and I have to make sure I catch it before they all onto the plot, I failed to do that this time and it crashed on top of the leeks and the fruit cage. No damage to the leeks but the netting on the fruit cage now had a big hole in it. I was able to repair it by tying it all back together with garden string. The branch I cut down to size and added to the pile of firewood for later on in the year. I’m trimming the trees over a number of weeks, it has paid off in previous years as I see my neighbour’s plot is now completely overhung by the trees and I can’t see how he can be growing anything on his plot. It actually looks like he is not, it’s got a bit of an abandoned plot feel to it.

When I got down from the tree the weather had woken up and it was going to be hot and sunny (garden temperature reading shows today was hotter than the warmest day in August last month, welcome back summer?). I did hoeing and tidied bits up, it wasn’t long until Rachael joined me armed with coffee and snacks. Good to note that it looks like the nearby cafe opens early, and does bacon rolls. All something I will need to check out next time.

Following on from the netting I made last week to cover the kale, I made another set of netting to cover the purple sprouting. I still don’t know why I haven’t done netting like this before, easy to dismantle when I no longer need it too.

It really was hot by the time we were ready to leave, so cooled down a bit with the idea of watering the plot as it is meant to be hot weather all week.

We came home with:

• raspberries
• cucumbers
• carrots
• apples