Wow, what a weather day. I was hoping for a little gentle summer rain as the garden is either like dust, or in other parts, concrete. The summer sun is gorgeous, and I’m certainly not complaining, but such extreme heat sucks all the moisture out of the soil, and very quickly at that.

I pulled out the broad beans and harvested all the beans as the plants had got a bad case of rust and I couldn’t see them developing any more. A pretty decent crop too. We had broad bean and runner bean risotto last night, with a dish of halved cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse on the side. Yum

I have three pumpkin plants to put in the emptied bed. So I dug over the soil to pull out all the weeds and refresh it. But my goodness, there was no moisture in it at all. I had to get the hose out and give the things that needed it a good water. I didn’t water everything, most things are coping pretty well in fact. Even the lettuce looks very happy. The pumpkins went in and had a jolly good water in, and I’m hoping for a few vat fruits in a couple of months.

First thing this morning, 7am, I went for a walk around local roads to get my step rate up. 10,000 target hit today – yay! By the time I was almost home again at 8:30ish, the storm clouds were brooding and the wind was getting up. Here comes the rain I thought and sped up. By the time I got home, it was thundering and lowering, the temperature dropped several degrees and the wind was fast and blustery, bending the shrubs in the garden and the tops of the trees.

Did we get any rain. No. Not a drop. And it wasn’t until I watched the news at 6 o’clock that I realised that other people had had humongous amounts. Hove is not THAT far away from us.
Oh, actually, now at just before 9pm, it has started to rain substantial amounts. Just the gentle summer rain I was hoping for. Excellent, that will do the garden a power of good.

I am picking up my 6 year old grand daughter tomorrow morning for three days of fun. I shall be exhausted by the time I take her back I expect. They are doing castles at school when they go back, so the first thing we will be doing is visiting Pevensey castle.

When I baked the last loaf, I made sure to keep a good chunk back for the next batch, which I started off straight away and popped back in the fridge. So another thing I will be doing with DGD is getting her to roll out and cook a wrap for her lunch. She loves bread anyway, so it should be something she’ll enjoy.

The other thing I have planned is a visit to a nearby woodland facility, Wilderness Wood.

I just need the weather to be warm and sunny now. Consistent aren’t I 😉