Update

4th June 2018

I seem to be having very mixed success this year. The tomato plants I bought have grown well and now have flowers on. However, the onions I planted around them a few weeks ago have not done much at all (although the Autumn planted ones are looking pretty good). I bought a small pot of basil over the weekend, so have popped that in a gap.

Tomatoes, onions and basil

Carrots and garlic chives

The carrots I sowed straight into the ground now have 3 healthy looking shoots (out of a whole row of seeds!). The second sowing I started in cardboard toilet roll tubes have germinated well, so I've planted them out next to the garlic chives (hoping that'll keep the carrot fly away). I know that carrots don't normally like being transplanted, so I've left them in the tubes. I wonder if this will encourage straighter roots too?

Mangetout

I have put in some netting for the mangetout to grow up and it seems to be doing pretty well.

Purple sprouting and mangetout

The purple sprouting broccoli that I bought on a whim is growing really well, however alot of the French beans got eaten over night last week. I have resorted to slug pellets and netting as they could have been attacked by slugs, birds and/or mice.

Poor French bean seedlings

Courgettes and Nasturtiums

The 2 courgette plants and nasturtiums are doing really well, with several courgettes already at finger size.

Sweetcorn, butternut squash and lettuce

The sweetcorn is growing well, but only 1 of the butternut squash seedlings survived. I bought another butternut squash plant because even that 1 was looking pretty delicate, but so far it's hanging in there. The cos (?) lettuces are growing quite nicely, and I've added some more. These were another impulse buy at the garden I visited recently under the NGS scheme. I think they're Romaine.

Harvesting my first spuds!

I'm so excited - I dug up my 1st Kestral potatoes tonight! It was all the more exciting as you have no idea what's hiding below the surface until you start poking around. These were the first few I found, and this should be enough for 1 meal so I stopped there. I can't wait to taste them!

PS They tasted absolutely great! - served with a knob of butter and a sprinkling of freshly picked garlic chives.

More sowing

We had some spectacular weather last week, with lots of hailstones and plenty of thunder rumbling around. Dodging the showers, I managed to get out and plant a few more rows of veggies.

I'm trying a different way of planting the parsnips this time. I've used the dibber to make deep holes, which were then back-filled with potting compost. Into each hole I have put either 1 or 2 seeds and covered them up with more compost. I'm assuming that a few won't germinate, so the doubled up ones can be thinned into the spaces. My Dad tells me that Joe (his father) used to grow his this way and it does make alot of sense. I've also put in another row of carrots along with some garlic chives - supposed to be good to deter carrot fly! Finally a row of rocket and some more lupins (as green manure where the cabbages will go later on in the year).