a thunder storm is a wonderful thing - even though I didn't get to see this week's big 'un; it was described to me whilst I was driving home, and even though it raises anxiety about the amount of water that will come through the cracks in the roof; these are all minor compared to the benefit of having the water butt filled in one one go. Lovely.

The warmth & the wet have kickstarted production at the plot. Everything seems to have taken on a steroidal-type boost in size. The pumpkins, for example, were no bigger than a foot across last week, now they're threatening to burst onto the path. I've realised that I'm running out of space for a while, but now that all the plants are bulking up, I'm feeling a bit squashed (ha ha, good pun! squash...pumpkins....never mind)

There have been a lot of firsts as well over the last week as well, the first tomato, jalapeno, & sunflower have all popped up. These red ones are Earthwalker and are gorgeous & firey in the sunlight......

Spoiler alert.... There is quite a gross pic at the end of this post, so if you're of a queezy (sp.?) disposition, don't say you haven't been warned........

Monty Don was extolling the virtues of comfrey on Friday's Gardener's World. I got my comfrey from ebay (variety Bocking 14 as recommended by Alys) when I started the plot & have reaped good harvests from it. He was recommending that the leaves be soaked in a bucket to make a tea to water & feed with, but this is far too smelly for me & I prefer to use the the way that Toby Buckland demonstrated a couple of years ago - a pipe on the side of the shed into which I shove the leaves, weighed down with a can & I collect the lovely black stinky stuff in a pot at the bottom. This is less obnoxious, attracts less flies & is a much more 'shed-bloke' method. 

hmmm.... 'shed bloke' - is this a new demograph? If  I was a superhero, this would be my name. "Is it a geek? No! Is it an old Fart? No! It's Shed Bloke!"

Anyway, Comfrey......

A couple more firsts....

My first dahlia....

the first (of many)  courgettes.....

L. has promised me courgette & brie soup, which sounds good.

It occurred to me last night that you get used to sounds that are all of a sudden taken away, the swallows, for example are the constant chattering soundtrack to the plot, (along with the church bells, and the Typhoon thundering overhead), but when they go it will be very quiet. I had a flock of about 20 overhead yesterday, chasing each other....

As a contrast in the way crops grow, I like this....some beds stay tidy, neat & regimented.....

(note the organic mouse control - ie a rubber snake)

And some beds descend into chaos.......

there's some spinach under there somewhere. 

I need to listen to myself at the beginning of each year when I say " don't plant the rows too close this year".

It's time to start harvesting the blackcurrants, the bush is getting decidedly lower with the weight of the fruit. I pruned too hard the year before last & didn't get a single berry last season. Haven't got that problem this year though.

Ok, get ready for the gross picture. I want to share this because it nearly knocked me off my seat. I was calmly going through the pictures in Photoshop of happy things like swallows & sunflowers that I had just downloaded, when out of the blue, this photo of H.'s stage make up came on screen. To say I wasn't expecting it is an understatement. But once you're past the initial shock, you realise how good the make up actually is - talented kids hey? the best I can remember is a lick-on tattoo from a pack of Bazooka Joe.

D.