Nice surprises

Yesterday I decided to clear out the salad leaves and rocket that had bolted. I had intended to collect the seeds, but realised that I still have thousands of seeds left from this year. The chances of me successfully harvesting the seeds and then storing them, let alone remembering to use them next year seemed pretty slim. So, onto the compost heap it all went!


In the process I accidentally pulled up a spring onion. It's much more bulbous than I was expecting, but tasted lovely.

And I also found some self-sown alpine strawberries in the border. The strawberries I planted are not faring very well in the rain, but these were little(!) beauties.

Courgette flowers

After my early disasters (see here and here) with courgettes, I finally have a healthy plant and some flowers! The only problem is that they all seem to be males, i.e., no fruit bud behind the flower. I've looked this up and apparently it is quite normal. Although it can be caused by stress (inconsistent water or not enough fertiliser) it is normal that the first flush of flowers are all male, to be followed by females later. I'll just have to be patient...