Harvest for dinner

Dinner was a stir-fry and alongside store-bought supplies I also did a quick harvest of veg to go in it - carrots, a patty pan squash, some beans and the tops of the white beetroot (taste like spinach - they were declared "very nice" by a beetroot-hater). Still leaves me with two lemon cucumbers and the beetroot for another day.


Today is drizzly, too wet to stand there and water the garden but yet not enough to quench the thirst of the plants. Hope it'll give it a good drenching overnight.

On another thought, I need to check whether there are any greengages this year (I think the tree is suffering from some kind of insect infestation that makes them drop off before ripening) and figure out what to do with my three (!) gooseberries. I also now have some blackberries coming up. Maybe just a square of puff pastry with an assortment of fruit on it?

Salvage effort

The tomato plant, alas, was beyond help so I cut it down this evening and made some chutney from the green tomatoes (about half of a jam jar). I think I used a bit too much vinegar so the chutney is quite sharp but with a good piece of cheddar it'll be fine.


The leaves of the potatoes fell victim to slugs and snails so I guessed it was time to harvest them. A good handful of 'Anya' which, considering didn't spend a penny on seed potatoes, is not too bad. Haven't tried them yet but I bet they will be delicious.

Disaster!

One of the Red Pear tomato plants got a bit too heavy for its cane. I noticed it leaning a little bit last night and couldn't resist trying to fix it. Instead it flopped over and it seems to have almost snapped off at the base. Curses! I propped it up again but today it's looking all wilted already. Green tomato chutney may come earlier than I thought...

Progress...

The garden is now progressing nicely and plenty of veg are setting fruit.

The squashes are bursting at the seams - the Turks Turban in particular has started to "escape" and is climbing everywhere. I also spotted the first patty pan developing (there had been plenty of male flowers previously). Both are such weird-looking specimens, much more interesting than the uniform things you can buy in the shops.



And finally - a bean! I doubt that this year I end up with a glut, although I may regret saying that.


The tomatoes are doing great - the Red Pear especially has lots of vines. Now hoping for the warm weather to continue so they'll ripen before September.


And soon I should be ready to harvest the first of the Lemon cucumbers. The skin seems a bit hard, so we'll see how they turn out.

A lot of firsts...

So much to tell. The warm weather has really spurred the plants into action. I may have to edit myself down a bit...

The first raspberry - lots more to come but the first one is always the best. It's amazing that I only looked at it yesterday and it wasn't quite ready yet. Today it didn't last that long - it went straight from the cane into my mouth. So sweet and delicious!


The first pumpkin flowers - not sure if they'll do anything since I'm not sure they'll get pollinated. The tendrils are reaching out and are starting to grow up the chainlink fence, underneath the beans which have suddenly decided to climb up the poles.



The patty pan squash plants have filled out and I can see the first flower buds forming. The herb corner is awash with oregano, thyme, fennel, sage and parsley. There is even some mint - where's the Pimm's?!?

The tomatoes are getting stocky, rather than high. Even the ones that didn't start off underneath cloches have kept pace. Not sure that is good or bad but at least they all have lots of flowers.


The cucumbers are refusing to wind themselves around the poles or string but I'll keep at them. They are round cucumbers anyway so it doesn't really matter, except that they will take up less space if they are growing up rather than out.


And I have ended up with a bucketful of mixed leaf salad! Wish me luck, I will be munching my way through this and another row over the next few weeks - every day...

June rains

The warmth and the recent rains have really moved the garden on from its pitiful initial state. Still not great but getting better. The cucumbers especially appear to enjoy this kind of weather and have had a growth spurt.



The rows of carrots, salad leaves and beetroot are also doing well, surviving the onslaught of slugs. I noticed that a cat has started digging around a bit (or is that foxes?), and on the other bed some stray potatoes are coming through. Still, suddenly I can recognise what the seedlings are supposed to be - and tell them apart from the weeds. Note to self: more weeding needed.


The patty pan squashes are filling out and are complemented by two self-sown ones. The "volunteers" may actually turn out to be be courgettes, or they may be patty pan. Time will tell which is kind of exciting. I have been finding lots of self-sown tomatoes, too - surprising, given how cold it was over the winter. There are some beans now, mixed results on those since as soon as they break through the soil they have their buds chewed off by slugs. Not the most promising year for beans, I have to say.


I am the proudest of my tomatoes and my raspberries. Tomatoes are nicely showing flower buds and are growing at an amazing speed. The raspberries have set fruit and I am hoping for at least one cake out of them (and plenty for the freezer).


Other fruits are doing well, too - I have three (!) gooseberries - ok for the first year and considering the plants came from Lidl - and a few greengages - not as much as last year but it goes in swings and roundabouts anyway. I hope the weather stays like this (sorry folks!) for another couple of weeks and then I am ok with it turning drier.

Preliminary experiment results

I removed the cloches from the tomatoes today, mainly because they were rapidly outgrown. It seems that with Tigerella (two on left) it made no vast difference, except that the one that was covered looks a bit slimmer and curled up. With the Marmande (two in the middle), the protected one definitely is a bit taller and stronger.


But what a difference the wall-o-water made to the Red Pear (on right)! Twice as big compared to the other one (see comparison below, left uncovered, right covered). Very pleased with this approach, also required less watering and seemed to keep the snails away. Have to get more wall-o-waters...