ICEBERG

Not lettuce this time but a lovely climbing rose which clambers in between the honeysuckle that currently perfumes the air.
Apart from being my own greengrocer this year, I also would like to grow enough flowers to bring natural scents into the house. Its a work in progress.....

Also installed now are 2 waterbutts to collect rainwater which will help us water the plants if we ever get a drought order and are unable to use the water from the water company. This is the beginning of water saving measures. There is another water butt to be installed near the patio, to enable us to water the tubs there. Phase one of water conservation. The next one is more complicated and requires some different equipment.
If you saw the programme about the Strawbridge family you might have seen that they managed to do a lot because they were able to invest a huge amount of capital into their venture. Here we only put in what we are saving in other ways, so its likely to be an organic process.
I managed to barter some more plants and have been given a small contract to grow seedlings for other people next year. Its a start.

Its important at this time to walk around the garden and look out for pests such as white cabbage fly, you will see small white dots on the bottom leaves, smallinsh larvae which if you ared not careful will end up being lovely caterpillars. They eat and strip your crop bear. Organic remedy for me is to pick the lower leaves and give them to the chickens. Then water and spray the plant and wants in between them. Its looking good.