A little shot of produce the other day, we eventually had a salad of lettuce, peas, green beans, spinach beet leaves, new potatoes and mackerel fillets, along with fresh bread.
The climbing beans starting to ascend the poles, potatoes and peas in the back ground, and dwarf beans next the climbers. And weeds, lots of weeds!
The weeded end of the plot! Parsnips, swedes properly spaced this year, turnips which have been disappointing as they mostly have bolted and failed to grow.
Next are the beetroots, and two rows of resown carrots which have come up well thankfully.
My MIL doing some weeding. Much appreciated too.The center part is getting smaller and will soon be able to be uncovered, although its slow progress as the couch grass and bindweed roots are getting thicker towards the middle. On the right are the newly planted butternut squash.
Jacks pumpkin, with a very small yellow fruit forming near the centre.
As i remove the new potatoes the crown prince pumpkins with some manure are going in.
The sunflowers which i had to secure to the railings as the recent winds had almost knocked them over. In front are the sweetcorn and more dwarf french beans in between.
Just a quick post - sweetcorn now in, and another courgette plant at the plot, and one in a pot at home but that has been mostly destroyed by slugs so i'm not sure if it will survive.
I picked the first french dwarf beans today, and noted that the peas have also started putting pods on. I now have more dwarf beans to put in, and all the squashes are looking promising and will follow on over the next few weeks.
The weather has been terrible for the last 2 days, but good for the garden as they say, although my almost empty water buts will need alot more before they refill. One thing i need to sort out before this winter is water storage so i have a better supply throughout next year.
but i have been busy at the plot and in the garden. At the plot i have again earthed up the potatoes, thinned again the parsnips, swede and turnips, and sowed 2 rows of leeks, a little late but hopefully they'll come through. The second sowings of beetroot and carrots have come on well too, need thinning soon, and i continue to weed everywhere. I have also put in 2 small rows of spinach beet, and the 3 chard plants have also taken well.
Below is my daughter with the sunflower in the garden, she is looking for ants!
In the greenhouse, sweetcorn ready to go out, in the red posts are more dwarf french beans, and also in the tray are the 4 butternut squash, 2 courgettes, and in the next tray 6 crown prince pumpkins.
In the next trays are the next sowing of mixed lettuce, a pot of herbs, the lower green tray has basil and the two at the bottom are yellow sun courgettes.
The cherry tomato plant is doing really well setting flowers already, and the pepper plant a little slower but making progress.
This is a pumpkin, variety unknown, that i was given by Jack my nephew , to see who could grow the largest pumpkin from it. I have now planted it at the plot, photo next time.
Over the last few days i've done a few more jobs, weeded and potted on a few things.
On the plot i planted some broccoli plants i bought a week ago, and was given 2 brussel sprouts by my neighbour which i swapped for one of my Indian chilli plants. i then planted 2 small rows of spinach beet as the spinach i have sowed is trying to seed already before its in the ground! I also put in the climbing french beans and planted one bean alongside each plant just in case they fail. Plus a little weeding at every opportunity.
In the garden i spent a nice hour this evening having a beer, putting Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin on the stereo, and potting on and planting more seed. The chilli's, 2 Betty's indian (as i've named it, after my colleague) and 2 jalapeno were potted on. Sowed were 8 more dwarf french beans for a later crop, 2 courgette 'zucchini F1' , and 6 crown prince pumpkins seeds from last years crop. I then added another 4 squash in the shape of butternut again from previous years seed.
Next up must be to remove the 4 cabbage plants and sow 2 rows of leeks at the plot, and to thin out the turnips, swede and parsnips again to final positions.
a comment on my last posting asked where the little helpers were. well here you go!!!!!
Had a day off today to spend at the plot and got a lot done. i put up the pea netting and cloched the second sowing, and sowed a third one. The bean trench was filled in and poles put up, and planted the dwarf french beans. The climbing beans are ready to put in but i didn't get round to that today. I also planted the 6 strawberry plants i bought at the weekend, i've never had much success with strawberries so fingers crossed this time. Potatoes were earth up, and weeding ++++.
At the bottom of the plot the parsnips look like they have germinated which is great, and i thinned the swede and turnips. At the end of the swede row i planted the 3 chard plants i had in pots, and also weeded the beetroot row and filled in the gaps with some tray sown seedlings and sowed some more seed in the remaining row spaces. In the carrot row barely 5% had germinated so i weeded that and resowed with a new variety 'Amsterdam 2 sweetheart'. I then repeated this with the row that originally had 'autumn king' in which again had poorly germinated.
I removed the purple and white sprouting broccolis which had gone over, and was given some seedlings by another plot holder of cabbage 'greyhound' which was put in last night. I then weeded around the remaining cabbages and onions. 
The remaining weeding to be down is under the tarpaulin which is shrinking slowly but has alot of roots and taking a long time. This is where the summer crops will go, pumpkins, squashes, sweetcorn, and i also want to sow some more carrots, spinach, chard.
In the green house i have planted into growbags one tomato, 2 cucumbers, and 1 sweet pepper, and have to go in a few more tomatoes and all the chilli plants. I was given some chilli seeds by an indian colleague who is not sure what variety they are, i was unsure also whether the would germinate but they have so i will grow on 2 plants, and also 2 jalapeño plants. I have also bought another tomato plant which should just be for eating for me, whilst the others will be predominantly for sauces. The courgette sowed has surprisingly failed to germinate so i bought a plant last weekend which i potted on and seems to be doing well.
Phew, busy day!!!!
In the greenhouse are these few pots, at the back in the yellow is Dill, and in the front is the pre-germinated parsnips apart from the front left which is a chard tube.
This is the first planted growbag of the year, some little gem lettuce which look like the first leaves are ready for cutting. The trough of mixed green leaves i planted, not pictured, is coming on strong also and should provide leaves ina week or so.
I started to do dig over the central part of the plot, covered with tarpaulin currently, and will do a part little by little over the next month. This area will be for the summer crops such as the squashes and sweetcorn among others. Below are an example of some of the weeds i dug out of the part pictured. The length of the roots shows how important it is to carefully remove all traces of the roots of courch grass as it regrows so vigorously. 
This is a great show of my beans coming through, from the first showing through of green tips and lifting of soil, and the actual opening of bean seed itself.
The sweetcorn starting to come through.
The first sowing of peas has now come through and i'm protect them with some squash bottle cloches, and have also sowed the second sowing and these are getting a warming from the glass panes. I will sow a third lot next week and repeat to try and get a good cropping this year.
The next lot of purple sprouting is coming along now and will be ready for central head removal soon to speed up the side shoot production.
In between the onions i have again sowed a row of carrots, this time Autumn King as companion planting seem to work last year to prevent carrot fly.
The last two rows here next to the border now sowed up with (next to border first) parsnips White Gem, and then swede Marian. The turnips are also now starting to show through so i'll start to thin them soon
Ths solitary white sprouting broccoli is starting to form a head!!
Getting lots more seeds sown in the last few days, including a tray of beetroot Bolthardy in case the row i sowed does not come through, a large tray of mixed herbs just to see what comes up and separate pots of orgeano too.
I have also finally sown my tomatoes, which is a variety called Pomodoro San Marzano 2 which is a plum ideal for sauces which plenty of flesh and few seeds. The cucumber variety Telegraph improved also was started in the propagator.
In the greenhouse i transplanted some lettuce seedlings into a trough to grow on and seem to have taken, and also a few little gem lettuce which i put straight into a grow bag and look like the first few leaves will be ready for picking in a week i think. I also planted a single courgette Gold Rush which will be hopefully an early greenhouse provider before the outdoor ones get in season, and a few pots of spinach as the transplanted ones are looking a little weak and i'm not sure if they will survive.
The pots of chard have just come through, as have some of the leeks and broccoli. Still awaiting germination of the sweetcorn, climbing french beans and dill at the moment. The sunflowers and dwarf french beans all look very healthy and look like they want planting out very soon but i'm concerned its to early still with the frisks of frosts.
At the plot i sowed at the bottom end a row of swede Marian and put in a thickly sowed row of parsnips Hollow Crown in a trench of purchased soil which should avoid the problem of my stoney soil causing forking. I also put bottle cloches over the peas that have emerged and sowed a second crop and using some recently acquired window panes erected a glass cloche over that area of soil to warm it up and speed up germination hopefully.
has been the order of the day recently which has been nice, an hour here and there and i've alot done.
I had to move the compost bin so i dug a bean trench and placed half the good compost in it, and dug another one for the remaining potatoes Desiree which i put in yesterday morning. The dwarf fench beans i planted with my daughter a few weeks back are growing nicely and are in the greenhouse now , and i today sowed 20 climbing french beans 'blue lake' all for the trench next month hopefully.
This is the path edging i have done this week, not the straightest but it does the job, and the compost bin in its new home. i still need to do some parts of the top of the path which have now also started to give way.
I have also sowed this week a tray of broccoli autumn spear, pots of chard, dill and potted on some spinach sown indoors. I was given by an colleague from india some chilli seeds of a hot chilli pepper variety unknown and i sowed 3 pots up today which went into the propagator this evening. Next up is to sow tomatoes, and swede, turnip and parsnips directly in the plot.
The climbing beans starting to ascend the poles, potatoes and peas in the back ground, and dwarf beans next the climbers. And weeds, lots of weeds!
The weeded end of the plot! Parsnips, swedes properly spaced this year, turnips which have been disappointing as they mostly have bolted and failed to grow. Next are the beetroots, and two rows of resown carrots which have come up well thankfully.
My MIL doing some weeding. Much appreciated too.The center part is getting smaller and will soon be able to be uncovered, although its slow progress as the couch grass and bindweed roots are getting thicker towards the middle. On the right are the newly planted butternut squash.
Jacks pumpkin, with a very small yellow fruit forming near the centre.
As i remove the new potatoes the crown prince pumpkins with some manure are going in.
The sunflowers which i had to secure to the railings as the recent winds had almost knocked them over. In front are the sweetcorn and more dwarf french beans in between.
