I'm trying something new with my diary. Rather than just publish it on this website, I'm also going to record a new weekly video, called "The gardening week'. This diary, will be the show notes for the video. I'm also publishing the audio from the video as a podcast, again with this page as the show notes for the podcast.
For the podcast version of this video go here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1868030/9582621-the-gardening-week-having-fun-and-getting-ahead-of-plan
I had to skip my normal healthy morning due to a migraine, by the time I'd recovered there was only time for a relaxing stint at Caffe Nero. I then recovered on the allotment.
It was a lovely sunny day, so motivation levels were high enough to tackle one of the most annoying jobs, clearing up the huge piles of leaves that accumulate at this time of year. I don't have space for leaf composting right now, so I bagged them up and they will be used as browns in my compost mix in about 6 months time.
The paths and beds are now leaf free. keeping the beds clear is key to keeping the slug population down and the leafy greens healthy. Keeping the paths clear stops the leaves blowing onto the beds, helps with slugs too, but also makes it easier to put down new wood chips.
After an early swim I walked with a friend to Lytham along the beach, which rapidly transitions to salt marsh.
I don't often walk to Lytham, even though it's only 3 miles away along the beach, but it's a great place to go for breakfast and it has one of the rare areas of woodland along our coast, which is always a treat to walk through.
It also has an extremely iconic windmill
Last week I mentioned that I suffer from seasonal effectiveness disorder and a few people recommended specialist 10,000 LUX lights. I'd been under the impression that I was getting lots of good light exposure by sitting in my sunny conservatory and from my seedling grow lights etc. I tested this with the light meter on my phone and found that at best I was getting 500 LUX and often a lot less. So I invested (only £30) in a 10k LUX light, which in real world conditions is more like 2-3,000 LUX and I noticed an improvement fairly quickly.
I've also made an extra effort to watch the sunrise most days as the frequencies associated with sunrise are especially valuable.