Heatwave

Yesterday was warmish but with wall to wall rain. Today the temperature has rocketed and caught us by surprise. Everything in the greenhouse and the broccoli out in the garden were wilting by lunch time. Tomorrow is expected to be hotter!

picked this week

Busy, busy week of picking soft fruit, more peas, the first broad beans and courgettes (one sensibly shaped, the other not) - at times the more persistent rain showers are getting in the way of picking! Raspberries and redcurrants are going into the freezer for now as the quickest and easiest way of dealing with them - will make jam later. I'm pulling cabbage from the allotment before it's really 'hearted up' because I feel too much may come ready all at the same time. Lifted another batch of garlic - the first hadn't ripened and didn't keep, hopefully having grown longer this week's will.

Midsummer garden - flowers

picked this week

Busy busy days with a mix of sunshine and rain. Picking soft fruit every day - mainly redcurrants but strawberries and raspberries have started ripening in the last few days
































reaching the end of the first allotment lettuce and the earliest pea row. second pea row cropping well,as are the mangetout/sugarsnap peas - though they rarely make it as far as the kitchen. still picking spinach though it's starting to run to seed. masses of rocket - some self-set - in the garden.
Hoping for broad beans this week

Soft Fruit and Pests

We've been having more problems than normal this year with blackbirds helping themselves to the redcurrants. Time for some homemade bird deterrents. No unwanted cds around at the moment but lots of foil and milk bottle tops waiting to be taken for recycling. So I've made two mobiles - one to hang on the bean poles, and the other a sort of washing line effect thing in the corner above the redcurrant. The reflecting lights and noise from these are supposed to keep birds away - hopefully the birds will find something else to eat.

Meanwhile, I have plenty of redcurrants...

and some strawberries and raspberries starting to ripen

picked this week

really getting into the swing of eating home grown produce now

lettuce and peas from the allotment






a spring cabbage,
salad leaves, the first few mangetout and radishes from home

Dodgy Veg

I've been very disappointed with this Spring's broccoli. Not because it didn't grow or was eaten off by pigeons but because what grew WASN'T broccoli!

The packet clearly shows a picture of green 'heading' broccoli........













but the plants are something completely different - nearer to field rape. One at the front of this photo looks like broccoli, most are strange yellow flowered things and two seem to be cabbages.
I don't know where the seed came from - it was part of a bundle of packets found in the polytunnel of our allotment when we took it over - but it's clearly some discount store. 4 packets of seed for 99p may seem like a bargain - but not if it doesn't do what it says on the pack!

Ginger

I grew some ginger from sprouting roots a couple of years ago and thought I'd have another try, especially as I now have more greenhouse space. I've seen packs of roots on sale in garden centres but I've picked mine up, as before, from the supermarket.
Look carefully and you can just see it starting to grow.
Potted a couple of pieces up in normal compost and put them out in the greenhouse where it should be warm and humid.