Garden in May - veg and fruit

The veg patch at home isn't as large as it used to be but there's still plenty growing there -

Chives, which seem to grow back no matter how much I chop them



Spinach - now getting a bit leggy and threatening to run to seed

Some surprise seedlings - home grown seed that I thought were more spinach but they look like beetroot.

The greenhouse is absolutely full with things waiting for warmer weather - tomatoes and, hiding in the corner, a cucumber.

 cabbages, cauliflowers and an odd lupin

 lettuce, peas, onions

leeks, squashes, aubergine and flower seedlings






the vine trying to take over everywhere

and, if you look carefully, flower buds forming












Lots of small salad leaves - american land cress, mustards and spinach here













more of the mustard mix and red oak-leaf lettuce











garlic

fruit-in-waiting - apple blossom

red currants

black currants

 

strawberries lining the path

 

flowering blueberry

and peas starting to climb their poles

these are Delikett, a sugar snap variety

and these the purple podded Blauwschokker

May in the garden - flowers

 At the moment,the garden is divided into two colours - white around the lawn where the whitebells dominate the flower beds  and the blue of forget me nots taking over the vegetable patch - but almost every inch has flower of some sort...

Very pleased to see these two new anemones in flower.

potted rhododendron

Cherry tree in flower

bluebells under the trees

last of the huge red Appeldoorn tulips

kerria japonica

the first couple of aquilegias in flower - soon the garden will be full of them

welsh poppy

pansies

...and at the back of the garden my 'secret' bench seems almost taken over by honesty and clematis

 and very near to flowering ; lilac, peony, lily of the valley and laburnum

To The Rescue!

 pottering round the garden centre last weekend, I came across these rather sad looking plants on the reduced table - a droopy delphinium and several trays of lobelia. Never one to abandon a tired plant (especially when only 20p each) I've now re-housed them, given them some desperately needed water and they're looking much better.

 I'm hoping they'll turn out as lovely as these 'rescued' pansies

and this blueberry which was just a sad twiggy thing this time last year and is now ready to flower and perhaps even fruit :)

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.