The heat has beaten me! I have not been able to get to the plot much for over a week. The heat means that I lay low all day, then work like a navvy in the evening.
On Sunday I went and dug three more rows of the Kestrel....second earlies. The tops were dead so I know they were ready. They are absolutely superbe....and we have far more than we need...so I took two bags full to Kent when I went Monday/Tuesday to see my Mum. One row left then all the main crop to dig next month.

The kitchen garden is also suffering from the heat. I've had to shade the Sq Ft bed as some of the seedlings shriveled and disappeared. I spend hours every evening watering it all with tapwater. The water butts are empty. Hope we get the Saturday rain promised by the Weather man this evening!

DH has the date for his hip operation...the 4th August. This is six weeks earlier than we'd been led to believe. Of course we are glad that it is sooner because he is in a lot of pain....it's just that we are now panicking at all that we have to do between now and then. We are self-employed so it is all down to us in the end. Added to that we have three young lads coming to stay next week for a fishing holiday.....so our time will be at a premium. Hopefully I can get all the garden and plot back into some semblance of order before they come. If it rains!!!!!

I cleared the garlic bed in the Kitchen Garden today. I've laid the bulbs over the cabbage netting to dry off a bit and hope the smell of garlic will put off the butterflies that are constantly "knocking" to get at the cabbages. After we've had some rain I'm going to Sq Ft that bed as well now that it is empty. It is about a month since I set up the other one so the next one in succession will ensure continuity of crops. I'm out of lettuce since the earlier salad stuff in the runner bean bed has bolted. I should have paid attention earlier to successional planting! We haven't done too badly though as we've had continuous salad from tunnel and beds since January.

Tomorrow I'll take another picture of the Sq Ft bed. I'll do it every Friday for comparison.