1 July 2026
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I’ve got an early start today. The charity I work for is running a song writing workshop in North Yorkshire this week and I’m going up for the last day and a half to meet some of the people who will be using one of the websites I am working on. Breakfast is at 8am so I need to get on the road!
30 June 2026
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The Sheep Detectives (2026) is a recent murder mystery film where the victim is a shepherd (played by Hugh Jackman) and most of the detective work to find out who killed him gets done by his flock of sheep. In the world of this film, humans still don’t understand sheep but the sheep can pick up every word we say, even though plenty of aspects of human life evade them.
Jackman’s character, George Hardy, is a kindly man who settles down outside his caravan each night and reads to them. Since his favourite type of book is the murder mystery, the sheep (or at least the brighter ones among the flock) are not as woolly in their thinking as you might expect. It is a pleasant film and fits well into the cosy mystery genre that Jane and both enjoy.
The film only came out in the cinema at the start of May but we spotted it was available for free on Amazon Prime and Jane was able to sign up for a free 30 day trial. That means we might get to watch it again and, if not, it will probably go on a Christmas or birthday list.
29 June 2026
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What a relief to have a normal British summer’s day – often overcast and with temperatures in the lower 20’s (Celsius). We might even be lucky and get some actual rain at some point this week…
28 June 2026
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Jane and I finished the full set of open gardens this afternoon, including #14 (which didn’t get into the programme) and revisiting a few that I got a preview of on Friday evening.
There was a wide variety on offer, from small to large and with all sorts of personal styles on display. Some were densely planted without any space wasted on a lawn while others were more traditional with lawns and narrow borders with specimen plants. One was a tiny oasis, where we found the owner sitting on a bench almost hidden by a beautiful jasmine in flower. Another had almost everything labelled in botanical Latin (certainly more comprehensive labelling than most public gardens manage).
If we lived in Hathern, I’d definitely sign our back garden up for the trail and, as it is, I look forward to seeing which places are open for visiting next year.
27 June 2026
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Various types of community events were going on in Hathern today. One was the first day of this weekend’s “open gardens” events. Jane and I were helping at Hathern Baptist but also managed to tour a good number of gardens in the area with a few left to finish off tomorrow.
The other, less scheduled was some kind of police chase of a stolen car, a crash on the A6 and an extended hunt for the perpetrator who fled on foot. We heard the chase and crash while visiting a garden in Anchor Close (the A6 runs past the Anchor Inn, on the other side of their back fence) and, for the next few gardens, we had the sound of a police helicopter circling overhead. One of the places we visited even said that the suspect had temporarily entered their garden. He couldn’t stay of course because he hadn’t bought his Open Gardens brochure!
I think the Police got their person and it seemed calmer later. I’m hoping it continues that way tomorrow afternoon when we come back to polish off the last few gardens we didn’t get to.
26 June 2026
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This evening I need to get over to Hathern to represent the baptist church at a meeting about tomorrow’s Open Gardens event. We’ll be opening not as a garden (we’ve got a beautiful yew tree and quite a few plants in pots but it really is just a car park at the back) but as a place for people to get some refreshments and use the loo as they visit other gardens in the village. Jane is out with the car and it is hot weather for a long walk but I figured a slow bike ride would be okay.
The problem is that the brake pads on my bike got rather worn down when I was using it regularly last year so this morning I swapped them out. Being out of practise on bike maintenance, it took quite a while but I think I’ve done a decent job in the end. The old ones were certainly past it – one side had the detailed grip pattern worn off and the other side were even further gone than that, so a job well overdue.
I probably should be making a start on the journey soon – I’ve got almost an hour to do what Google says is a 13 minute cycle… but I’m going to need a good amount of time to cool down once I get to the other end!
25 June 2026
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Looking back on the blog, I see I was planting out Komatsuna in early April. I’d bought it on spec and had never tried it before. My notes so far are that it has done well in the polytunnel and remains in a good state for harvesting even though it started to put up flower stalks several weeks ago. However the batch I planted directly at the allotment hasn’t fared so well. There’s some sort of pest up there (flea beetle?) that has made the leaves look less appetising and it is much smaller. Even the surplus plants I transplanted from the polytunnel have taken on the same characteristics.
My conclusion so far is that it is definitely worth cultivating in the polytunnel and I’ll probably look at starting a fresh batch in the autumn as the tomatoes and peppers start to fade but, certainly for the conditions at my allotment, it isn’t worth growing there.
24 June 2026
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I was down at the allotment early this morning to do some watering and decided to harvest the two or three ripe raspberries I could see. As I leaned into that I discovered quite a few more that were ready and ended up with a decent handful. There will be a lot more to come but this is where it starts for 2026.
23 June 2026
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We’ve had the first of what is expected to be a run of extremely hot days. Day time wasn’t too bad although it does help that my job doesn’t get much more physical than tapping away on a computer keyboard. This evening felt hot though and, as bedtime draws near, it feels sweltering. The Met Office website tells me that it should be around 25-27°C but the hygrometer in my room tells me that it is about 30°C at the moment, down from a high of 32.1°C.
Hopefully I’ll get some sleep tonight as we’re not yet at the peak expected for the week. To borrow an album name from Stevie Wonder, it sure feels hotter than July!
22 June 2026
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I popped up to the allotment early this morning to do some watering and thought I’d have a look at how my mooli were doing. Mooli, also known as daikon, is a long oriental radish that doesn’t have a lot of flavour but works well for bulking out dishes. I was somewhat surprised to find that the plants ready to harvest weren’t those white roots but instead black radishes!
I’ve heard them called “black Spanish radishes” as well but further research shows they are sometimes know as black mooli. I think when I was given the tray of seedlings it must have been a mix of both types.
Whether the white mooli will come to anything worthwhile remains to be seen. At the moment they are still pretty undeveloped. However the black mooli have been worthwhile – we had some of them sliced up and roasted in a miso and garlic mix as a side for dinner tonight (recipe here) so, although a surprise, it wasn’t an unpleasant or wasted one.