It's a strange time of year. After all the rush and panic of sowing seeds and planting out ther eisn't that much to do except harvest and keep tidy. There will always be jobs to do but not the pressing urgency from before. There is also a sence of impatience waiting for everything to finish so the beds can be cleared and palns made for next year, it's difficult to visualise and plot what needs to go where this year and for next year. I'm not sure where to put these asparagus plants. As you can see they are just starting to produce one globe each, but next year the plants will be much bigger and i have another eight plants grown from seed this year.

These are the first of the onions to be pulled up. They are spanish white and very nice in salads, much milder than normal ones

The leeks and southport red onions are doing well. First time growing them from seed and quite pleased with the results. The proof obviously is in the eating.

Next are the runner beans. I prefare the texture of these over green beans when cooked. The plants and flowers are lovely sight with the bonus of some nice beans to eat



These are some geranium, sweet williams and alpine strawberries in front of the shed to brighten up the place.


And lastly the herb bed. Not to sure what to do next year as they take up a full bed but i havent used any of them this year. There are some mints. oregano, tarragon, sage, thyme, garlic chives and lemon balm with some pot marigolds thrown in. Most of them used to be in pots but tey either outgrew them or kept drying out in warmer weather. They do look really well withn the flowers on so i may pot up the useful one for home and put the rest of them in the borders

Flaming June Turns into Roasting July

This week has continued to be warm and humid with temperatures slowly creeping up as the week progresses 23-25 degrees most days. One or two thunderstaorms with the worst rain of Tuesday but this had little impact on dry land! Most plants doing ok but a rush to get organised for convention and holidays. Not much in pots now so they will go into any available space. Need to sort out strawberry runners and pin them into pots. No more sowing now until after holidays unless its a couple of rows of radish or similar outside.

This set of photos taken on Thursday morning hopefully showing where everything is and how its growing. This will give a good indicator for next year

Staring at the west facing border I have Broadbean 'bunyards exhibition' (sown 27/2, planted ?)very nice stir fried young whole pods. Next are peas 'oregon sugar pod', kelvendon wonder', 'meteor' (6/4) kelvendon wonder' (4/5)



In the border you can just make out more broad beans (sown 4/5), in the raised bed from left to right runner beans 'cobra' (sown 4/5) peas 'kelvendon' and 'meteor' (sown 7/6) dwarf bean 'valour' (sown 7/6) fennel (sown 8/4 & 11/5) peas 'meteor' and 'sugar pod' (sown 4/5)



Just between the two lots of peas are a row of dwarf beans 'tendergreen' (sown 4/5) next a row of peas 'celebration' (sown 14/4) spinach beet 'perpetual spinach' and swiss chard 'bright lights' (sown 6/4)

Just behind these raised bed some sweet peas in the border, slow to get going but worth the wait. Nice sweet fragrance and hopfully attracting useful insects plus adds a splash of colour to all the green!

Looking further along the nursury bed lots of cuttings and seedling waiting to be planted out in autumn. To the right are some sprouting broccoli 'early purple', 'late purple' & 'italian'waiting to be planted out but they are sprouting now so i am cutting off and eating the heads as they are ready. Not sure if this is supposed to happen but why waste them. Under the netting are 'green calabrese', dwarf kale and calevo nero (all brassicas sown 25/3) The netting has protected them well with no catapillar damage. The dwarf kale has been especially nice to eat just picking a few leaves per plant and cooked with a little oil and garlic.

Courgettes in tyres! The tyres have protected the plants from the worst of the weather and will keep the courgettes of the floor and protect them. Staarting at the top left and going clockwise are 'kojac', '?', 'dundoo', 'defender', 'zucchini', 'golden zucchini', 'bianca de trieste', 'kojac' with 'butternut squash' in the middle. As you can see the two zucchinis and butternut are not doing as well as the others (all sown 15/3, planted out 13/5)

Here is my attempt at the three sisters growing of sweetcorn (sown 12/3), baby sweeycorn (sown 14/4) bean (sown 4/5?)and squash (sown 25/3)together. As you can see all three are doing well although the beans have grown far quicker than i thought so they will need some cane to support them.


These are the leeks and onions. Not sure whether to grow or not next year, wait and see. I am Tempted to grow overwintering onions to fill the gap next year. Most sets were planted end of March/early April

In these shots its the fruit border. The beans have finally recovered from being put out too early when the weather turned much cooler. Other beans that were planted narly two monthe later are not much further behind. Lesson here i think. Dont sow too early! Not sure of the varieties.

The kid's raised beds are doing well with peas, lettuce and carrots as are the beetroot and chinese cabbages in the next bed

The herb bed is growing well. I think it is more for decorative than useable herbs. There is some lemon balm, thyme, garlic chives, oregan, tarragon and sage which can be used in the kitchen but the others are mints which may need digging out and putting in a border instead!

These strawberries are well protected from the blackbirds and are just starting to ripen

The potatoes in tyres are also doing well, not sure weather to do the same again next year or maybe put strawberries instead.

Friday and Saturday was rain so very little done. On Sunday I divided up some primroses, potted up a couple of cayenne and peppadew chillies and a bit of weeding. Weather gone sunny again. Too tired to do too much, sal and kids went to the farm to go horse riding and i read up on taking cuttings and had a nap in the pen house. I took some photo's to show the progress so far and dug up some 'Dunluce' first early potatoes. As you can see from the pic's, not very big plants but some nice big spuds. They were a little floury and broke up when boiled but still very tasty.

Next are some pictures of broad bean 'bunyard exhibition' and 'pea meteor'. The three sisters bed with sweetcorn, bean and pumpkin (and courgette) Chillies , tomatoes and basil in the greenhouse. THe kids raised beds and finally the herb bed

Hot June

Another hot weekend which looks like holding out for a while This is good for growing and some of the plants put out too early are starting to recover. It does mean more watering, especially newly planted crops and those in containers. The salad crops under the cloche are doing really well and unless the weather turns bad it can come off completly until autumn to extend the season. The largder plants are turnip 'oasis' which were sown in modules to grow as a cluster. These are now about the size of a golf ball, very tasty raw but not too sure about cooked! Other crops are spring onion, chinese cabbage, beetroot, cutting celery, radish and carrot. The first sowing of radish have been pulled and a new row sown.

A second row of peas have been sown here with dwarf beans in between. At the front are some fennel which were sown early. I have another batch to go in shortly. Just out of camera is a ring of runner beans to be supported by a wigwam of canes. The rest of the pictures show how the crops and plants are coming on despite the dry weather.

Starting to warm up with the weekend promising to be a hot one. Still picking plenty of salad leaves. Pulled a row of radish and re sowed with the same, a few chinese cabbages and pak choi for stir fry. Planted some runner and french beans to replace lost ones.

First of May

So far May has begun with a mix of weather. Sunny but cool, persistant rain and high winds! The dryer days meant i could paint the fencing and tidy up the borders ready for planting first sowing of peas and beans. Unfortunatly the bad weather didn't help them get settled in but hopefully they will pick up. More time can be spent in the greenhouse sowing the next succession of crops mostly salads, beans and carrots. So far the salads have done well and i am now able to pick quite a bit for lunches. In the raised bed i planted out the turnips, spring onions and beetroot in modules as well as sowing a row of radishes and carrots.

The asparagus are doing well that were plante dout last month. Of 20 crowns planted so far 13 spears have grown. It is tempting to try one but they need at lease 2/3 years before they can be cropped so that the plants establish themselves. Picked the first stalks of rhubarb today so it should be something nice for pudding tonight.

Hopefully with most of the 'building' work nearly done i can concentrate on the plants etc.

Broad beans and peas
French and runner beans

Courgettes, sweetcorn and asparagus hardening off