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Here we can see that I entered the village flower and produce show for the second year in a row. On the first occasion, I entered rhubarb and longest rhubarb, as I also did this year, but last year I didn't get a placing whereas this year both rhubarb classes gave me a third place certificate! I also came second with my blackcurrants which I showed for the first time. I have also shared the comments I received. Finally, here are the items shown - being prepared to eat.

Here are the crops I brought home from the allotment one day in the middle of July. These include the first cropping of chickpeas from my first time growing them. I was not certain when to pick them - or if one dried them on the plant or on the sill...so just grabbed a bunch of stalks with the pods on to investigate. This is what the pods and seeds look like...

...one is supposed to eat the 'crunchy green' chickpeas in salads raw, and dry the brown ones for storage...

Finally for today - the latest selection of crops to come inside from the plot and poly tunnel.

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Here are the before, during, and after on our toilet - which needed replacing due to a chunk chipped off when my son dropped the lid/seat down too heavily. We have a much better cistern, a brand new loo and a softer seat, thanks to our regular plumber and his 6 hours of work. (Thanks also to my best friend Liz, who let me use her toilet while ours was out of action due to the plumber fixing it!)

However, a repaint is now required, as this new loo is not the same size/shape as the former loo. We will also have to relay lino, as the toilet base is also a different shape/size, and the joint behind the loo is visible/a dust trap now the pipe is smaller.

These are both jobs I plan to DIY - unlike our bathroom renovations, which are now at the stage of getting a quote.

Finally for today, I have started to paint the toilet - again.

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This is my butternut pumpkin plant. It was in the poly tunnel until the day I took it out and found it too long to get to the plot. Liz thought the flowers were dropping either from excess heat or lack of fertilization and it needed to be outside - but the garden path has to be its outdoor home as its too traily to get to the allotment and pop in down there.

The potatoes needed to come outdoors too, Liz said - so I brought out 2 of the 3 bucket-grown potato plants, leaving just one inside the poly tunnel. This is also a good shot of my side border now its topped with mushroom compost.

One of my four cucumbers had already escaped the 40-50 degree heat into the patio greenhouse, two more having been popped into a raised bed at the allotment. Talking of which, I took a few photos down the plot early July. The first shows the fruit patch leading towards the behind-shed onion patch.

The other side shows cabbages, tomato/chilies/lemongrass, corn, raised bed of strawbs and nasturtiums, with the chickpeas over to the left in front the bean patch. The following photo is much the same, but seen from the other end.

And here we are - the cucumbers in situ in their new home, a closer shot of the chickpeas, Brussels sprouts, and bean patch, plenty of spuds - and some weeds....ho hum. I spend most of June-July watering as it didn't rain, and cropping fruits..... :)

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Above is a reminder of what our bathroom currently looks like, though by the close of 2018, we are hoping it will be fancy and brand new. The first step is to peruse samples in a brochure of wall panelling.

One then orders the samples one thinks one might want and can match them up or discard them. I came up with three 2-color combos. I then pondered and perused...discarding two colors for sure. I came up with two options in the end. Option one the white and marble and option two the white and frost.

On consultation, my son just said white shows up the dirt best and he didn't care what color the bathroom was if it was clean. I consulted Liz, who although she doesn't live here and isn't likely to use the bathroom, has a good sense of style. Liz also prefers the white/marble option, so now I just need to consult with the bathroom fitter company as to how much of each to put in.

A brief interlude to show my shallots are easier to braid than garlic and are now hanging nicely on the kitchen wall over the work table. Next item on the bathroom saga is to go back to the shop and talk about my options/budget and ask them to come to measure up/suggest ideas/plan and give me a set quote.

In the meantime, I made some raspberry stuff - syrup, sauce, pie fill or jam? I don't yet know...

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I dug up the last of the shallots on the final day of June - and laid them out to dry before storing. This crop was good - I started with only 8 shallot sets and cropped about 3 dozen large shallots. A quick look at the back door after the final coat of paint...

July's first major task was done by someone else - the plumber! The toilet that my adult son broke was replaced - totally. As we argued about whether or not he was responsible for paying for it, he agreed to pay half of the cost - but also half the cost of the bathroom renovations. This has allowed me to start making plans and inquiries into replacing the bath with a shower and a few other odds and ends.

I had originally planned to call in at 4-5 bathroom stores for rough estimates, but after the first visit I decided to go with the company that my best friend Liz used for her bathroom renovations and various other household upgrades. I had thought they might be a bit too expensive, as had she, but on finding that replacing the bath with a shower would cost under 5 grand, I decided to stick with a company we know offers quality installation and service - and I came home with a brochure of backing panels options to drool over.

Here is my first self-grown lemongrass stem! Now we get back to that bathroom renovation project. Here are three photos depicting are as-is bathroom and I am certain you will see that although it is functional, it is a terrible sight. When I have tried to spring clean it, I give up after 5-10 minutes, as scrubbing doesn't budge the stains. We are finally about to launch a multi-grand bathroom renovation. HERE is what we currently have: EWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

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The next task outdoors was relining one of the three raised beds. The couch grass was growing rapidly and hiding the strawberries as well as stealing their nutrients and water. The first task was to remove the strawberries to somewhere safe, as shown in the following photo. Above, you can see me measuring the weed-out and cutting it to size, with 1/3 the soil in the bed dug over and de-weeded.

Here is a wider angle shot of the plot, showing where other matters stood. Potatoes and leeks in the front of the shed - with 2 cabbage to the side of my weed bin. Behind right, chickpeas, beans and shed; behind left, the raised bed in question and one of strawberries and nasturtiums. Beyond right, the third raised bed of strawberries, my weed pile now growing a spud, and raspberries in rear. Beyond left, corn, toms, cabbage, raspberries...

I have now completed the raised bed, having dug thru all the soil, removed 1/3 at a time into a barrow and layed triplicate lining (poly, black trash bags, weed-out) and refilled with horse muck and weeded soil. It now remains for me to replace some of the strawberries and gather some runners.

This may appear to be a short blog today - but it does end with THIS VIDEO showing the contents of my poly tunnel on the final day of June 2018. Regular readers may recall me sharing a video of the tunnel a while back showing the smaller plants....it's now quite a jungle in there, with large tomato plants fruiting/flowering, a flowering butternut, 3 potato buckets, multiple spring onions, chilies, lemongrasses, parsley, chives...

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Here you can see my work late June, with a painted back door drying in the warm air and the foot pouffe positioned in the coffee lounge as the only seating til such time as I select purchase and install a 2 seater lounge and coffee table.

Next up, my son dropped the toilet seat/lid too heavily and a chunk of the rim fell into the loo. The plumber has been notified that we will need a new toilet bowl installed...sigh.

In more happy news, I mixed and baked a wholemeal spelt dinner bap and filled it with homemade vegan mozzarella and homegrown lettuce one lunchtime - YUM - definitely not fast food! Meanwhile - the crops keep pouring in. As June ended and July began, strawberries petered out to 2-3 a day, while raspberries stole the limelight with a medium freezer bag full being cropped daily and gooseberries came in third.

As you can see, the large pineapple-flavor ones are gigantic this year - I added some regular purple ones to show comparison! Some of these monsters are bigger than brussels sprouts! I also dug up the shallots on the final day of June.

I was cropping so many raspberries, and unlike the strawberries I cannot eat 2-3 dozen a day and freeze the rest - just a handful every 2-3 days. The freezer was therefore not going to take them all and despite giving a bag to Liz and a bag to the lady who likes raspberries I often stop to chat to on my way to/from the plot, I decided to throw a couple kilo in a pot and make raspberry syrup - to float rhubarb and gooseberries in for making pies and crumbles. More crops to pick....sigh. It means spending a half hour a day watering and at least a half hour a day cropping in June/July, unless it rains...but its worth it for the delicious real foods!