Picked this week - 27th April 2014

This is the big bag of goodies I brought home from the allotment last week.I'm really pleased the cauliflower made something in the end - I've been waiting for it since Autumn!














The rhubarb is clearly visible sticking out the top of the bag but hidden underneath were





a (late) winter cabbage

over-wintered beetroot - including a strange yellow one.

the normal stash of spinach

and some scruffy radishes

From the garden and greenhouse at home, there's an increasing number of salad leaves - more spinach (!), red and green lettuce, american land cress and rocket.

Summer already?

 It's a miserable wet day today but summer flowers are starting to open.

This stunning oriental poppy

and a humbler calendula.

Could summer really be here already?

Allotment day

 Yesterday was sunny and warm - for the morning at least - so we pulled in a quick trip to the allotment. While hubby carried on building a new lean-to tomato/pepper house, I checked out what had been going on..

The apples are now all in blossom. I'm not sure that we've had them all in flower before. Some are still rather small trees so there probably won't be many apples from them.

The second cherry is in flower - now I have to wait to see if either will fruit...

 First potatoes are through!

and there's masses of rhubarb waiting to be picked

Here's the complete haul - rhubarb, cauliflower, radishes, spinach and beetroot. Not bad for this early in the year.

Picked this week - 21st April 2014

 Thought it was getting time to tidy the allotment up and in the course of weeding discovered some reasonably sized beetroot.










Lots of spinach still cropping though soon it has to be lifted for potatoes to be planted.
also picking more small lettuce and rocket leaves from home for salad variety

and some radishes - some old stood-through-winter one and a couple of this year's crop

Rescued flowers

I often go round the garden centre and 'rescue' plants from the clearance section but today I'm rescuing them from the lawn mower! I couldn't bare to see them just chopped off so I went round and picked daisies, violets and forget me nots before the lawns were cut. The single white bell was accidentally pulled along with weeds - but better for it to grace a vase for a while than go straight in the compost.

Tomatoes,tomatoes everywhere

I spent last weekend moving lots of tomato, aubergine, pepper and such-like seedlings on into bigger pots - and now have the house even fuller of them, if such a thing is possible.

 

 tomatoes filling the porch

kitchen windowsill full of peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes etc etc

some larger tomatoes have even had to go out to the greenhouse.

I'm not sure if it's really warm enough for them so I've made another bubble-wrap greenhouse inside the glass one!

Mini orchard

plum tree

 The allotment fruit trees are flowering really well this year. There's masses of blossom on the pear and plum trees, both cherries are in flower, one of the apples and the rest are in bud.

Unfortunately, the damsons aren't doing so well - only one is definitely alive and although that has leaves there's no sign of blossom.

apple with pear behind it

We're now moving towards giving this whole area over to fruit trees and creating a tiny orchard at the top of the plot

Picked this week - 13th April 2014

First the rhubarb being forced decided to throw off its pot so I picked it





then I picked a little from the allotment

then went back later in the week and picked a lot!
Looks like being a good year for it.

At last I'm giving up on the broccoli - getting really scrappy now so time to lift these plants and get new ones in.

Also clearing out bolting cabbage from the garden veg beds





while down at the allotment, there's nicer solid cabbages to be picked

Lots of spinach for now but the plants will have to be lifted soon to make way for potatoes

a couple more leeks

tiny spring onions

overwintered roots -  beetroot...

.. radishes...

...and swede

Purples and reds - with a little bit of blue

 The daffodils have finished flowering now and, with tulips and honesty in flower, the garden has turned all red and purple with blue splashes from forget-me-nots and pansies

 There's even a solitary snake's head fritillary in flower
















and the first of the pink bells

purple pansies and deep red daisies