Peas

I picked my first peas today, along with the mange tout.

I never know when they are ready, and end up picking too early or leaving them too long so that they turn yellow! Today I just selected the ones that looked the fattest... don't think I was far off.

Gooseberries... decisions, decisions

I bought a gooseberry bush last year and I am sure that it was a red variety, but I have since lost the label. I have never had any fruit from it, however I have been closely watching the berries develop and they don't seem to be going very red.

This is what they look like today

I squeezed a couple and they are just starting to give... as I want to turn them into jam I don't want them too ripe. I deliberated, probably for far too long about whether or not to pick them and decided to leave it another week... hopefully I made the right choice.

Tender Crops

I did manage to germinate 3 okra plants and one black beauty aubergine.

The aubergine is growing pretty well... maybe this will be the year that I actually get past the flower stage and get some fruit. Third time lucky perhaps.

The okra on the other hand don't seem to be doing much... they look healthy enough, but they are not getting any bigger. I think they were a bit bit water logged, so I dried them out but that doesn't appear to have made much difference. I guess I will just leave them to it and as long as they stay alive, will continue to water them and see if they do anything.

My Pepper Plan

I have devised a plan with regards to my capsicums. In the sweet variety I have:

• 2 orange bell oregon
• 2 red bell ozarowska
• 2 red romano diablo
• 3 bell boy

some of which have already set fruit, but all purchased from the garden centre as small plants. I am a little bit disappointed that I had to resort to shop bought as I like to grow from seed.

In the chilli variety I have 3 apache, also purchased from the garden centre as small plants; these have also set fruit

and 1 chilli shake, which is the only pepper I successfully germinated this year out of numerous sowings

So, my plan is to hopefully save seed for sowing next year... then I won't feel so bad about having to buy plants in the first place and the amount of seed that came to nothing.

Courgette alors!

I think we'll be enjoying courgettes with every meal for a while... my one goldrush plant is doing exceptionally well.

And the tondo di toscana plants are producing nicely too

I'm not complaining... it's so easy to incorporate them into everything.

Waiting for Potatoes...

The first batch of potatoes went in around 11 weeks ago, so although they are going strong and flowers have started to appear it will be at least another 5 weeks before the charlottes are ready.

What a turnaround 2!!

Tomatoes are going great guns now, they have taken over the greenhouse...

... and the bench in the potting shed

A number of varieties have also set fruit which is about the same time as last year, so the later start doesn't seem to have affected production.

Last year I had so many that I ended up freezing plenty, hopefully it will be the same again this year.

Propagating Strawberries

I had a go at propagating strawberries today. The runners have been, well running across the raised bed and heading for the blackcurrant bush so I thought I would stop them in their tracks.

Assuming I did it correctly, it was very easy... I filled small pots with compost, rested the new plants in the soil where I thought the roots would form and pinned them down using hair grips. So hopefully I have created 7 new plants.

A couple of the runners look like they are about to "sprout" again, if that's possible so I may even get some more.

Harvests

Wow! Can't believe I haven't posted for so long... so much has been going on in the garden. For the past few weeks I have been enjoying the fruits of my labour... hasn't been easy though, the slugs have been relentless this season and I have resorted to slug pellets for the first time ever. I think the breaking point was when they pretty much destroyed a whole bed of lettuce - I was not impressed :-(

Anyway, some of it did survive and I have enjoyed a few salads with reine de glaces, lollo rossa and little gem.

Last week I picked the first turnips, mange tout and a gold rush courgette.

Today, I picked another gold rush, some more mange tout (which is ready on a daily basis now) and the first couple of tondo di toscana courgettes.

I also picked my first strawberry a couple of weeks ago and have had a few more since then, so it is starting to feel more like summer now.