#Gardening Tales- Prickles, vinegar and missing cucumbers

It was a gardening day today. Well, it was after we'd been out for lunch (all three of us, shock, horror!). All right, not so much gardening as clearing up and moving things around so I can get the next part of the garden under way. That meant being on hands and knees, and gloves on. Yes, gloves on, because cutting back my neighbour's jungle means there are a lot of prickles lying in the piles of debris.
 I shifted most of it, and then moved some of the bigger logs/limbs of the apple tree along the edge of what I laughingly call a lawn, before chucking the rest of the wood onto one big pile- the "to be dealt with" pile, if you like. I dug up all the encroaching vines that I could see, that were trying to tunnel in from next-door's garden, planted a rosemary shrub and replanted a lavender that wasn't doing too well in its current location.
 I've have sprayed the encroaching bind weed with spirit of white vinegar, would you believe, which I read somewhere was an effective and less toxic weed killer. I have to say, the bindweed was looking a little sadder today, so I gave it another spray, just for luck, and I'll tell you how it goes.
  The  kitchen garden is beginning to look the part, with the early planting looking like it's paying off. The potatoes, in particular, are looking impressive. I shall be bitterly disappointed if I don't get some decent spuds from it. My two crows are keeping an eye on them, as you can see.

Beetroot, carrot and parsnip are all up (albeit in the company of an errant potato), the spinach is looking lush, and my last surviving Chinese cabbage is still hanging in there. The onions have sprouted and will be growing until mid-June, when they'll start to fatten up- I hope.

 The pepper, aubergines and tomatoes are happily growing in the greenhouse, as are the squashes and the peas and beans- which are currently germinating in the greenhouse because something kept nicking the seed. That was a problem on the allotment as well- it always took several attempts to get the beans and peas going. There is, I have to tell you, still no sign of the cucumbers. After the glut of last year, it would appear- well nothing. That's the problem; nothing is appearing. It's not my favourite food, so I'm not too bothered about it.

 What we could do with now is a good day of rain- we haven't had any for a while. My dear husband (no, I still haven't found him a little job, or friends that like to go out and do things) advises me Winter is revisiting us for the next few days. I can't see anything to indicate that on the weather forecast (it's a balmy 9 deg C tonight), so I assume he managed to watch the Scottish weather by mistake. Or possibly Norway (snow was mentioned). We'll see, won't we.