Finally managed to have some time in the garden today. I planted out some yellow chard and red kale in the back Kitchen Garden beds. These will be handy for salads early in the winter when the leaves are young, and later in the winter for cooked vegetables.

This afternoon I went to the plot for just an hour and a half. I had to trim the hedge as Martin on the next plot asked me very nicely (I was calling him Brian, but it's Martin!). This took all the time I had available.

I checked the cabbage plants put in before we went on holiday.....these are really sad looking. I think they have hated being put into a bed which had had the green manure dug in only a day before. I think I am going to follow what Charles Dowding (Organic Gardening The Natural No-Dig Way.....a really good book for those who like the no-dig bed method which I am converting to at the plot now that I have the weeds under control) said about green manure and not bother in future. He suggests just mustard, which gives up the fight at the first hint of frost and just crumbles away, or field beans which can be just pulled out, or cut off leaving the roots in the soil. I had used Phacelia which required digging in. I think it must be giving off a gas which the cabbages don't like.

Yesterday I spent all afternoon clearing out the shed. I was delighted to find my favourite gardening gloves (see here http://www.lfsinc.com/atlasgloves/BreathablePalmFitAtlasGardenGloves.htm the ones at the bottom of the page) which I got at Chelsea. I had thought I'd lost them. They are almost as sensitive as the thin plastic examination gloves which I wear all the time whilst gardening because I hate mud behind my nails....but much stronger. The shed is easier to navigate now. It had got to the state where the floor was completely covered. Not now! I can get to everything I need at short notice.

This evening I am going to hole up by the fire. I have a sore throat and don't wish to go anywhere. I think I got it from Mum on Monday. She has just had her flu and pneumonia jabs....and as all who have them seem to....has got a sore throat and cold. I think one day these jabs will be discontinued because they seem to cause illnesses. Perhaps they ward off greater problems, but one wonders why they have such a reaction in the recipients. It can't be a good thing....!