Not much gardening done today as it rained all morning and this afternoon I was otherwise engaged. This evening though, I watered the tunnel and some of the beds that don't get any wet from the rain because the leaves shed it elsewhere.

When in the tunnel I was intrigued to know where a delightful scent was coming from. It was the lemon tree I bought in May at the Ventnor Botanic Garden. I really hadn't expected that gorgeous scent.

There are seven or eight blossoms, and I hope that means 7 or 8 lemons. There are 5 or 6 tiny lemons on it at the moment, which I hope grow to full size. I need to get some citrus feed for adding when watering.

When I bought the tree it had three beautiful lemons on it. We had them last week. They were thin skinned, very juicy, and really really tasty. I am not expecting it to produce enough for us....we use two a day...but nevertheless there is something wonderful about growing one's own lemons!!!!

What shall I try next?!!!!!

After this season's tomatoes and peppers etc in the tunnel have finished I am going to re-model the inside. I am going to do away with the deep beds and dig the floor up. I see lots of tunnels where they use the soil inside very successfully, and I think it would give me more flexibility. A narrow path down the middle to the back door, and the staging on either side inside the front door will give a huge growing area, 11'x10' with a narrow path through the middle. I have too much path at the moment and wish to use it better. Also, it will be easier to dig the ground and add goodness rather than trying to "stir" it into the deep beds.

I have a scheme for watering it too, using drip hoses attached to a hose from the butts. I might even rig up a diverter on the downpipe which collects the water from the front roof of the house, and bring all that water direct to the tunnel. I can't put a butt on that downpipe because it is in the front garden, but a diverter would be quite unobtrusive. I feel cheated when we have a downpour and all that water goes into the drains.

I am away all day tomorrow at my quilt show, so no gardening or blogging til Sunday.

I have a bit of a nuisance to sort out at the moment in the tunnel. The barley straw that I got from the pet shop (as I couldn't find anything else) to put around the strawberries has obviously dropped seeds and I am getting a crop of "grass" in the beds. It is difficult to weed out so I have a big job on for one day soon.