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Barn Transformation Project

I’d kiss a frog even if there was no promise of a Prince Charming popping out of it. I love frogs. Cameron Diaz.



We love frogs too. We think this is probably one of those that grew up in the pond - it's still only about three times the size it was when it first became a fully formed froglet - and was rescued while the grass was being mowed. Phew!


We also seem to have provided a haven for spiders in the polytunnel, which is no bad thing as there are plenty of crawling and flying things which can and have damaged our veg.


Photos by Mark Feenan. Don't you just love the pattern on these spiders!


We had a lot of cucumbers initially but then something strange appeared and the leaves started to change.






So we read up and discovered it's mosaic virus - you can see why. This can be brought in by aphids marching about in fungus and then landing on your veg plants and it can affect a lot of crops. So unfortunatey we had to get rid of the cucumber plants.


Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of our tomatoes ripen soon as it can affect them too.










The team have been so pleased with the tomato crop - much better inside the polytunnel than out - and have you ever seen this many tomatoes on a plant before. And the taste is amazing and so much better than shop bought. So if you have a sunny spot, even if it's outdoors why not give it a go next year.



Also doing well, and so far free of virus are our lemon cucumbers. They're just about ripe so it'll be interesting to see what they're like. Apparently they don't taste of lemon but are different to regular cucumbers - we'll let you know. The earwig wanted a closer look.










And the chillis and peppers, which had a slow start are ripening too. We have lots of these plants we can over-winter in the polytunnel and grow on next year.












So some things did very well and others not so much. We suffered some onion rot outside, which thankfully didn't do for the whole crop and inside the sweetcorn didn't do very well. This was the best we got.


We wondered if it was that very hot spell we had. And while a couple of volunteers bravely came in and watered every day, perhaps that just wasn't enough.


So next year we'll try growing them outside.


And outside, the cosmos are still full of flowers. These are really easy to grow by the way.










We're collecting seeds from these, the marigolds and the sunflowers - although we'll share some of those with the birds - so well be set up flower wise for next year.
















We're starting to feel a slight chill at the barn and see the first signs of autumn.


But we've still plenty to share so stay tuned for more next month.

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