Mini Tour

We haven't had a gate on our plot all the time we've had it. I will be the first to admit that making one is beyond either of our DIY capabilities. eBay to the rescue. I won one ages ago for 99p which we collected. It has been leant against the house until last week when I had got a gate post and some postcrete and sufficiently nagged the husband enough to fit it. Easy peasy it turned out using the hinges that were already attached to the gate. Not really knowing how it would fit I didn't buy any catches/bolt thingies so we agreed to finish it the following day. 

Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and it has taken until today to get up there and get it sorted. 

While he was doing his bit with the drill and screwdriver I had some bare root rosa canina to fill in some gaps along the boundary. 10 for £2.50 from Wilko so worth a try. Got them on Thursday afternoon and they've been soaking in water. The intention was to plant them on Friday but again the weather intervened so today it was. 

As I was doing it I noticed just how bad the boundary is getting.  My snowberry bushes are growing madly which made me happy but the other side is wild as you can see by this picture. Definitely going to have to get a petrol strimmer to do the bit next to the fence. Our battery one only lasts a few minutes and we are struggling to make a dent in the plot nevermind the bit that isn't ours. 

Once I had planted the roses I had a wander round taking a few pictures. 

Chuffed to see nasturtiums from last year have seeded. I love them

and the sunflowers I planted have started to come up

Last year red amaranth made a spectacular display. It came from a pound shop box of scatter seed. Happily it looks like it has self seeded a lot. Little red seedlings keep popping up all over. I do like it but I don't need hundreds of them so have hoed some off and will move a half dozen or so to an area of our plot they can self seed away from the veg beds. 

Onions are growing well. This is part of one bed. I've got another bed aswell. Also shows how windy the plot is. 

This next photo has been both puzzling and concerning me. In a bid to try and kill off some of the grass I got some bike boxes and put them on top then got lots of multi purpose compost from Asda to put on top. I then sowed some annual flower seeds. My plan is to kill off the grass underneath, grow something on top so it isn't unsightly all summer and then dig it over in the autumn if the cardboard has decomposed enough. I did this last year over a weed patch and it worked so I had every faith. 

This is the bit where I'm both puzzled and concerned. Fungi has started growing instead of the flower seeds. I'm puzzled as to why - is it the compost or the conditions? If it's the compost then it's a bit naughty of Asda to be selling mushroom compost disguised multi purpose. My plot neighbour thinks that is the case. Personally I think it's probably the damp but humid conditions. I am concerned that it might spread to my veg beds. I'm not so bothered that it is growing in what is intended as flower beds but it's making my stomach lurch thinking of it growing near edible produce. Naive? Inexperienced? Neurotic? Or right to be concerned? I really don't know.