Today I gave away a cucumber and two strawberry plants. The cucumber even has fruit on it.

But it’s ok, I’m getting lavender in return!

You see, there’s a guy contracting for us at work who also grows his own food and enjoys gardening. We’re looked at quite strangely by our colleagues every time we arrive at work with seedlings! It started off quite innocently though, when I offered some calendulas for his winter garden and in return he gave me four gooseberry plants. So now it’s cucumbers, strawberries and lavender. I wonder what the autumn will bring…

Actually, he only asked if I still had some cucumber seeds but, sadly, there were only six in the packet. Strange that, a cucumber usually has more than that. Must have been a small one…

Anyway, so I didn’t have seeds but I did have two that I planted in pots, just in case the ones in the ground didn’t do too well. Well, they did, so surely I could afford to give one pot away? It’s too late in the season to start from seed anyway. And my strawberry has already migrated into two other pots, with the three now firmly connected (I will cut them apart when the new runners have “set”).

I don’t feel sad though, since it’s great to finally have someone to confirm that I’m not completely mad yet. Someone else who gets upset with the heat, rain and humidity, knowing it’ll bring on the horrible powdery mildew and other fungal diseases that can destroy a plant within a week. Speaking of  powdery mildew, the squashes are infested with it. I only saw the extent of the disease this morning and promptly got into my car, went to the nursery and bough stuff. Apparently, everyone is suffering with it.

The bottle does not have the withholding period on it, so while searching for the appropriate time between spraying and harvesting, I found out that bicarbonate of soda and a mild soap mix also works. With puppies etc, I don’t really want to spray chemicals (especially since they’re under my feet, on my lap and into my hair when I’m in the garden), so I’m trying the “organic” non-toxic spray first. I swear the plants look better already! I did, however, have to tell them repeatedly that I’m trying to help. They keep on poking me with those sharp spikes!

Let’s see how it works out, I’m not sure if I got under all the leaves though. I’m going to check…