Picked this week 30th June 2013

 Lots of the same old salad leaves again this week - though something a little different is this self-set spinach (left) found on the allotment

 and some enormous radishes, the size of golf balls, to go with them!

more of the 'clearing out' onions

but some extra goodies this week - kale and the first of this year's broad beans












the first cucumbers - an unusual crystal lemon and a 'normal' telepathy type.







 some tiny carrots, part of an experiment to grow an early crop in the greenhouse - it didn't really work.

The first of the soft fruit - strawberries!! Not a lot but enough to add to breakfast cereal.

and a few redcurrants

and vine leaves - not normally a crop but as I was pruning the vine, I thought I'd collect the leaves and cook them stuffed with mince. It didn't actually work out as I forgot to check the recipe in advance and then discovered they would take far too long to cook.

Just after Midsummer

 I usually try to post photos of the garden at Midsummer but I got distracted last week so took them yesterday 26th. The flowers seem to have taken over the old vegetable patch completely but hiding among them I still have quite a few veg growing.

 The blue-flowered and podded peas, blauwschokker

...the white Delikett mangetout peas  - their wigwam of sticks can just be seen to the left of the path in the photo above

and - can you spot the difference? - actual sweet peas. These are the first of this year's flowers on plants from homegrown seed and I'm hoping that not all the flowers will be white!

strawberries line the paths - I'm just waiting for them to ripen as they're a little behind the allotment berries which I'm already picking.

There'll be a longer wait for the apples but it looks like there could be a massive crop.







The irises I was given by a neighbour are doing well in their new spot

the oriental poppies were looking good till today's rain..

I have some new flowers in the garden. Grown from seed last year this is the first time they've flowered - Sweet Williams, above, and rock roses in a variety of pink and white shades

Picked this week - 23rd june 2013

 It's been another week of onions.....

..and lettuce...

..and lettuce and onions...

and more onions...















...and more...

...and some herbs for salad dressing to pour over them.

Picked this week 16th June 2013

Rather oddly I've forgotten to take photos of this week's little harvest but it was mainly the same old lettuce and leaves, radishes and rhubarb so you could imagine it well enough.
The delikett mangetout peas now have their first flowers so I'm hoping for peas to add to my home-grown diet soon.

Picked this week 9th June 2013

 It's been a week of salad leaves, lettuce and radishes...









 ...with some 'spring' onions for variety

 The onions came from the newest bit of allotment and were last year's crop still growing there when we took it over in Spring. I'd hoped they might make real sized onions but they're now starting to flower so we're pulling them as they are.

 I've pulled a bit more rhubarb - this is from the allotment and not as thick as from the older, more established plants at home.

 And last, and sadly least, a couple of carrots from the poly-greenhouse. 

I'd hoped that starting them early inside would give us some early crops but only a small number germinated and these are now running to seed.

This week's rescue mission

Another weekend trip to the 'reduced' rack! I was specifically looking for pinks - and found one. It was in a very sad state - drooping from lack of water. In fact it was so dry that while we looked at the other 'reduced' plants, I pulled the rootball out of the pot and sat it in a puddle.
The two hanging baskets were dry but not as dreadful. The smaller one is for us to hang by the back door. The larger was actually bought as the cheapest way to buy a new hanging basket chain! Less than £3 for all 3!!

June in the garden - trees

 June is the month when all the flowering trees come into their own - lilac, snowball and laburnum all in blossom at the same time

June in the garden - fruit and veg

This is how my ornamental vegetable beds are shaping up so far - cabbages surrounded by white radishes (and flowers) with rhubarb flopping over at the back

blocks of little gem lettuce and running-to-seed bordeaux spinach with rows of cabbage seedlings in between (not really visible)

some shorter mangetout peas - I think they're 'reuzensuicker' but it was the end of a packet and the slugs ate the label! And a small row of 'forgotten exactly what' winter onions/shallots.

 The currants are starting to set and little apples are forming on the trees. Meanwhile the strawberries are flowering..




..and lining the path to the greenhouse

where inside the grape vine is in bud! We acquired several young vines with our allotment and this is the first one to have signs of flowers - and hopefully grapes.

June in the garden - flowers

london pride

 June has come in with wonderful sunny weather and a garden full of flowers

enormous allium heads

iris

the 'rescued' violas starting to feel at home

welsh poppies

'backdoor' border filling out

drifts of forget-me-nots and aquilegias

oriental poppy

and aquilegias in almost every shade of purple and pink