A big thanks go out to our old friend Chris D (who we went to see The Clash in Bury St Edmunds with many moons ago here) who now resides in Adelaide, Australia for getting in touch. He’s got a new house and has been busy transforming the solid clay and weeds that were there beforehand into a smart looking garden (above and below).
It’s still only early days yet and things will progress but it’s looking brilliant. The two pics below were at post weed eradication stage. What started as rock-hard clay in summer and sticky, mud that sticks to your boots in the winter is now turning into something special. We know what you mean about that clay soil Chris!
He did a lot of the work himself but got a bit of help in where he needed things building, pavements laying and gravel being put down. We love the idea of the raised beds (with decent compost in it) which’ll give the plants a fighting chance in the tough conditions out there what with the snakes (!) and rabbits combined with the searing sun.
He’s already watched blackbirds helping themselves to his strawberries he told us. It’s annoying but in a way it’s a sign that things are growing. We reckon it’s out with the old strawberry nets or put those old CDs on string which’ll move in the breeze that’ll hopefully deter them.
Alongside strawberries, he’s managed to get a great range of things growing already: herbs, carrots, beetroot, strawberries, raspberries, capsicum, beans, peas, cucumber, chilli, spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuce, tangelos, kaffir limes, Tahitian limes, mandarin, nectarines, pear, apricot, and even honeydew melons. Wow, that’s a load of stuff.
We’d love to see how the garden progresses so do keep us updated Chris and send us some pictures of how things get on. That hard work has really paid off we reckon and there’s some nice ideas in the garden as well. We love that container below by the way. Cheers again Chris and good luck with everything.
He sent us a couple of tune recommendations. First The Wiggles covering Tame Impala.
And a bit of a classic from the production talents of Mikey Dread with Parrot Jungle.
And Fat Freddy’s Drop with Blackbird.
We’ve got some time off work for a week now and typically there’s a good bit of rain on the way. It’s good for the garden (as it’s parched), the pond (water levels are low) but not for us (lounging around in the sun doing nothing is fun, can’t lounge around in the rain!)
The garden is going to go wild with all this rain and of course mixed with a bit of sun that may come out from behind the clouds this week. Above is a reminder of what plants in the sunshine look like just in case you have forgotten. This is the salvia we got from B&Q a few weeks ago and it’s loving where it is.
Here’s an excellent radio programme featuring those Maunsell delights Shivering Sands. It’s a 24 minute great listen so tune in 
A big thanks to Debby H for sending us some pictures of her garden that’s come on a bit since she went away for few weeks. The above is of the first cosmos flowers.
Above is the radio related Marconi red pepper which is doing very well and her second pepper plant (below) is looking good too.
It’s great to hear that Gerry Hectic is taking on a new seed saving project after tasting a strawberry that was so nice he got given one that he is now saving seed from and trying to grow a plant from it. He is now trying the same method on the above!
Weeds up to me knees 