Last day of freedom for a bit. Back to school tomorrow. I haven't got as much done as I had hoped but I do feel that I achieved a fair bit and had a rest too. The allotment is coming along . This year we are really hoping to achieve a bigger harvest. We usually manage to have a reasonable crop but this year I want more - in terms of fresh fruit and veg, fewer food miles AND less money spent.

I've also been watching Edible Garden on Wednesdays on BBC2 - courtesy of iplayer. Alys Fowler from BBC Gardeners World is trying to grow as much of her household's fruit and veg as possible for a the year and the series of 6x30 minute programmes charts her progress. She also has two hens to provide some fresh eggs. She needs three or what is she going to do if she loses one? You can't add in a new hen or two to the old one in her sort of garden situation. Anyway, one of the things she has done so far is to grow pea shoots for salad. She used a packet of marrowfat peas so I've bought myself some to have a go. Last summer I bought a couple of (reduced) bags of salad which had pea shoots in them and loved them. The packet of marrowfat peas cost 24p in Tesco and should give us a crop at about 4p per meal of 2 portions... Add a bit of other lettuce to have a mixed salad - yum. I'm going to plant some mixed salad leaves in a tub by the back door which is the only bit of the garden which ever gets any sun and that only for an hour in the afternoon.