HOT. We are.

11 Jun HOT. We are.

The day promised to be blistering. We had loads of salad leaves to harvest from worringly hot beds. I was on edge from the second my eyes opened.

Charlie set up the chill out room, with an air conditioning unit. We put all the sprinklers on and rotated them all day. The walk-though (where we hang tools) stays mercifully cool, so we brought water there and dived in every couple of hours for a drink.

What a contrast to cracking the ice to wash our pots! I remember pruning apple trees in the snow and waiting for frost to melt to dig. All those coats, the two glove system, the colossal bonfires and complete darkness at 4pm.

How the project has grown since those early days. Charlie has achieved the microherb production target which he set himself. For the first time last week, we provided ALL of the microherbs for Novikov. They didn’t have to order any. That’s a hell of a lot of microherbs, produced through blood, sweat and tears. I’m not joking about the latter – the first aid kit, strong coffee and the emergency hug have been life savers.

I wanted celery planting today and it was Benjy’s mission. By 11am when the temperatures were soaring I went to find him and tell him it was too hot for planting. He was however happily digging his own grave – otherwise known as a celery trench to backfill with compost.

I keep meaning to a ‘headwear special’ blog, but am still collating the images. There’s the three pairs of sunglasses Charlie, the Benjy and Guy matching sunhats, the Polly Dutch shirt special, the laundry basket lid to mention but a few. Here’s a treat from today. Polly’s attempt to keep both herself and the beetroot leaves cool while harvesting. I believe that’s a Novikov display bowl.

 My own headwear has progressed from the meagre sunhat to something else entirely. Last week while in the chemist, I realised that I had become the object of many a sideways glance. The blue scarf worn in a nun’s habit style and regularly misted with the hose was I think, the offending object. Within the walls of BE, we gardeners like the plants, make perfect sense. I’m not sure that the wider community/world is ready.

In other news there have been murmurings about the three Peaks challenge.

‘Which do you think is harder?’ Peter asked this evening as we looked across the garden.

‘This’ I replied.

We’ll see.