Lovely Butterfly and Some Huge Gooseberries

Whilst harvesting on Thursday evening, I had the lovely and unexpected pleasure of a Red Admiral butterfly landing on my hand! It was even kind enough to stay put long enough for me to get my camera phone out, open it up and take a snap :)




And here's a couple of snaps of the gooseberries, looking suspiciously like entries for the Grapevine Virtual Show... :D You never know, we might actually get a Show to enter them in sometime soon *rollseyes*

Aside from the gooseberries (of which I got 3lbs from 2 bushes!), I also harvested half a dozen sticks of rhubarb, over a 1lb of blackcurrants, just under a lb of raspberries, another lb of strawberries, a lettuce, a cucumber, a turnip, a bag of peas, and the last of the broad beans (the rest will be left for next year's seed).

Things Growing Apace!

Everything is growing like mad now, with the downpours we've had recently helping along the veg, AND the weeds! We were already eating the over-wintered onions, now we can add garlic, lettuce, cucumber, new potatoes, peas, broadbeans, strawberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries too :)


Carrot and parsnip bed, in need of weeding, with the newly dug over and planted up onion bed behind - it's now planted up with cos & red oakleaf lettuce, mixed salad leaves, dahlias, nasturtiums, marigolds, and 10 swedes. And all the lovely onions hanging over the fence, drying out.

The peas - Pilot (from HazelAtTheHill) and Gladstone (HSL) are starting to crop heavily now, some being munched immediately and some made it into the freezer. The broad beans (Crimson Flowered) are almost over, just a few pods left on for next year's seed.

Another shot of the newly planted bed - I was so chuffed at doing the weeding and replanting all myself that I've included it twice :) I didn't half pay for it later though, dodgy ankle is still objecting a few days later!

Man-next-door-plot is doing really well too, considering the soil is a bit malnourished... (We think his main fertilizing routine involved Growmore at regular intervals... heigh ho, he was 81 after all).

The potato bed (on the left) had muck added to it before the broken ankle, so they're doing well. The onion bed (middle bed) had some used compost added to it over winter, and has had a liberal dose of chicken pellets. The pumpkins/butternuts/courgettes (right hand bed) were planted into compost filled mounds, and the celery next to it has had chicken pellets. The big bean bed (far end) had some spent mushroom compost, some muck, and some used compost and they seem to be doing fine.

A nice crop of strawberries and blackcurrants drying out on a tray - they were picked in the rain.

A Very Productive Day

We managed to spend almost all day at the plots on Monday, and got loads done!




Jez planted lots of celery plants in Next-Door-Plot, plus 2 Butternut Squash (Waltham) a Pumpkin plant (Jack of all Trades) and Courgette (Tristan). The butternuts and pumpkin are under fleece until they get established.



The red and blackcurrants are starting to ripen, but are desperate for some weeding around them... As soon as I can kneel... :D




Brassicas are settling in nicely under the Enviromesh - Calabrese Marathon, Dwarf Green Curly Kale and cabbage Minicole




But this was my "Achievement of the Day" - I finally managed to sow some carrots! Yay! Already in this bed were 3 rows of parsnips in desperate need of weeding. So I sat down and did that first, slightly disappointed to find that out of 3 rows there was only 6 parsnips altogether :(
Never mind, 6 is better than none! After that I dug out 4 trenches, filled them with a mixture of used and fresh MP compost plus some sieved soil, and sowed my carrots! Instead of doing rows, I did mixtures of seed and broadcast sowed them, mainly because I couldn't reach to do nice neat rows. So we'll see what comes up out of; Red Elephant (HSL), John's Purple (HSL), Ingot, Red Samurai, Yellowstone, Healthmaster & Honeysnack

Over-wintered onions which we're using now. Can't remember what variety the whites are but the reds are Red Cross and I'm really pleased with them - they're getting to good sizes and only had one bolter so far. Flavour is good too! (They came from Marshalls who I had to start using when I got an Electron debit card which T&M don't accept. Grrrrrr...) But I'll be getting these sets again for next year I think :)

Potatoes coming along well, they're flowering already :) Just need the blight to stay away for a bit longer...

Here's the Amish Paste plants doing their usual impression of a sickly plant... They'll crop like mad eventually whilst still looking like they've been mistreated and malnourished!

Strawberries are coming! Just need to get to them before the slugs do...

The whole plot from the greenhouse door :)

Overwintered onions and garlic, Desiree

Overwintered onions and garlic, Desiree potatoes and a packed greenhouse.

Crimson Flowered Broad Beans and heritag

Crimson Flowered Broad Beans and heritage peas Pilot & Gladstone, brassicas under netting and honeysuckle in the background.

Next door plot, onions, potatoes and bea

Next door plot, onions, potatoes and beans all doing well

Plot 2, Mostly cleared and ready to go

Jez planting onions.

Milly digging up leeks.

A nicely prepared bed, ready for onions.

Potato bed still covered in muck and straw.

The plot at the beginning of the season.

The plot at the beginning of the season.