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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!

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Here you can see the result of my Mid-May hammering. The bike alleyway on the side of the house had a fence that wobbled in the wind and needed to be connected to the roof - which was still sturdy in framework if chipped in one corner. Liz suggested I ram a piece of wood in to stop it bending in and out and I located a bar of wood to begin with, expecting to have to saw it into two pieces to fill the gap.

I could not remove the nail/screws, though - so aimed to bang the wood up into them, then slot in a seconds horizontal bit below to wedge the gap. This proved too difficult - BUT - during trying to do so, I discovered that the wood lodged behind 2 screws would bend the fence into correct posture were I to bend the wood back vertically. I therefore secured the wood trapped at the top between two screws - and bunged a couple more new ones in in case they bent - and nailed it into place. It's fixed!

Above is Liz's working solution to cats on poly tunnel rooves who dig claw marks into the poly - netting pinched back home from the plot. here is the result of some of my crops - the lettuce from the poly tunnel, chives from Liz's garden, and nasturtium from the plot!

The crops just keep coming now May has turned to June - this was one day's strawberry pickings for example. the following shows the gooseberry haul from the same day.

& again - another sampling of crops. Liz mentioned lambs wool slug repellent pellets - and I investigated. I had a £10 online voucher, so bought two packs to 'try'. My verdict is that the product works very well - 2 chilies and 2 lemongrass plants have not been touched by a slug when using the first pack - the downfall being the cost - to cover the allotment would cost around £75....per annum!

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Once the tools were safely installed in the tools alcove, I put up the shower curtain - to hide them out of sight. you will have to forgive the electric drill in a Sainsburys bag sticking out - the carpet was rolled up and has yet to lay flat - so I put it on the corner.

Here are my takings from a trip to Chichester Liz and I went on recently - I have just this weekend made my first batch of vegan feta - photos of the result follow!

This is the dry and marinaded feta in storage for up to 2 weeks - though I munched my way thru 200g in the first 2 days and gave Liz a few cubes to sample. Here is one way to use it - with home grown lettuce and nasturtium as salad!

Plenty of color in the lower hallway from my two geraniums - rescued from dad's throwaways, they grew into bigger and better plants than the ones that he potted. Guess who has been lava-lamping their washing up liquids again, ho hum...

Finally for today, my latest lava lamp washing up liquids.