A day of sunshine and thundery showers

For Sharon.

first real harvest of sorts

I realise I have been spoilt in Portland: everything grows so much faster there. Nevertheless, my first harvest in London today, apart from picking the occasional mange touts and raspberry.


I pulled up some white beetroot which I intend to roast tonight alongside other vegetables and use the leaves as treats for the guinea pigs and as an ingredient for an omelette. Also a handful of mange touts, a little bit of escarole and a few raspberries.



The potatoes I was growing in a pot had all their leaves chewed off so I decided to lift what was there. Delightful little ones (which I expected with "Mimi") which I think will go very nicely roasted with the beets. Looking forward to the ones that grow in the soil and have escaped snail and slug attacks... Also found a few ripe brambles as I was poking around the garden which is an added bonus.

Speaking of snail and slug attacks, the zucchini haven't been doing so great, especially the far one. I was wondering why that should be -- they get enough water, sun, etc. -- when I noticed that the lower part of the stem -- the bit resting on the ground -- was basically missing. London gastropods are bloody vicious.


Other than that the garden is doing quite nicely: it's warm but also rains a lot, evidence of fruit setting, the promise of more to harvest.

PS. Defensive bamboo sticks successful. So successful that I poked myself tending to the cucumbers.

First raspberry

The first raspberry ripened and what a whopper it was! It disappeared into my mouth soon after this picture was taken...delicious!

On other news the tomatoes are growing tall and a bit lanky - probably because I mistakenly planted them in a more shaded spot than I anticipated it being (putting the potatoes in the sunniest spot *sigh*). Oh well, I'll know for next year.


I think the last few warm days, plenty of water and the black plastic covering helped the Patty Pan squash a lot.


Rest of veg doing fine. Beets growing (may harvest one or two soon), cucumbers doing their thing.

I swear you can actually see the beans growing if you stand there long enough.

more news from the front line

Back to the potatoes I see. Need more kebab sticks. Look at that little overgrown bit in the back - doesn't that look nice and private, ideal for a secluded cat toilet?

update from the front line

Yep, cat moved on to a different spot, this time nearly pooing on top of the zucchini starts. A plastic sheet has gone on that bed now too. Wondering where the enemy will strike next.

Mange Tout and Vlad the Impaler

I had my first Mange Tout (aka snow peas) from the garden last night (just in case you think they look anemic, they are a yellow variety). OK, there were only three of them but they were delicious. Can't wait for more.


On other news, I am battling with a neighbourhood cat who insists on pooing in my garden. Not only is it annoying to remove big, foul jobbies at least twice a day (what are they feeding this cat???) but also it's getting close to scratching out my patty pan squash starts. So, last night I finally snapped and decided to cover up the bed with plastic - not only should that stop the fouling but also keep down weeds.


Partial success ensued. No fouling on bed but right next to it (twice!), nearly digging out the beans.


I've upped the ante by putting bamboo kebab sticks into the soil (similar to miniature medieval defences). Hopefully that will stop that in that spot. I fear though that the cat will shift around, finding another place. Maybe I should impale fake cat heads on the sticks. Also considering buying cayenne pepper in bulk. And a good watergun.

cloches

In an effort to keep the neighbourhood cats from scratching out my cucumbers, the snails and slugs from getting to them and also to speed up the germination process (it dropped 10 degrees Celsius over the last few days and it is cool, cold even, at night), I took some take-away containers and bottles and made impromptu cloches out of them. Good results so far - all of the cucumbers and patty pan squashes have now come up.

The zucchini are a bit slow but not far behind. I can see a little bit of green just trying to break through the surface in one place and I am trying the cloche method in another. Rain - finally - last night and a good amount of it. That'll help too.

One of the tomatoes is about to flower. I can see a little mange tout forming (I expected more pea-like flowers so missed it initially). However, my radishes don't appear to want to set a "bulb" and have nearly gone to seed. Probably not enough watering when it was hot. More pretty flowers though until I can harvest something.