Things are coming along OK - although we need rain. I filled up the big water butt from the mains a couple of weeks ago and now it's empty again.
Had the first picking of French Climbing Beans yesterday. I discovered one of the plants absolutely covered with Black Fly - never had that on this sort of beans before. I filled a spray bottle with water and washing up liquid and tried that - hope it works as I don't want to lose the plants so soon and also don't want to use anything nasty.
Sweetcorn plants - too close ( a common theme) , behind them is the space where I shall put the Kale and Brussels Sprout plants when they arrive. I've got the wire netting frames BiL made for me and enviromesh to put round and over them.
Beetroot - too close with a couple of rows of leeks squashed in behind them and 4 courgette plants - Two too many!
Onions in front - which I won't bother with again ( don't know why I grew them this year as I'd decided not to grow them again a few years ago - cheap to buy and too dry is the reason). There are 3 squash plants - with room to trail - just about! and empty canes for the runner beans on the right some have been sown here and some in a small tray and the French Climbing on the left.
Pointy peppers beginning to get pointy
Some of the aubergines flowers have set but others just fell off. There will be enough to a big batch of make my favourite aubergine/tomato pasta sauce
Nice to get back to growing food again after my enforced year off last year.
That is a wonderful feast!!!
ReplyDeleteLots to look forward to
DeleteWhat a lovely entry - it hasn't taken long to get back in the groove, even in a smaller space, has it. It all looks absolutely amazing and will taste wonderful.
ReplyDeletexx
This is much more manageable on my own
DeleteThat all looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteYes looking good
DeleteWow, loads of produce for one person! You'll have to have a stall in your front garden. We're fast becoming inundated with courgettes, we have 4 plants for the two of us.
ReplyDeleteI've given away 8 cucumbers so far - just stood them in a bucket out the front with a help yourself label!
DeleteWow! My SIL gave me some aubergine plants, but none have flowers yet. Your beetroot is ahead of mine. And I'm in awe of the tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteThe tomatoes look good but fewer flowers than normal and blight might be creeping in!
DeleteWow - it wants to grow in your garden. Wish I could say the same here, although I have been successful with my Broccoli and only wish I'd grown more. Runner beans and peas looking ok but I am having to pollinate the tomatoes myself and the cucumbers in the polytunnel really don't want to grow.
ReplyDeleteDesperately need rain to fill the water butts - won't be good when I've got a water meter
DeleteIt all looks wonderful....
ReplyDeleteHopefully lots to eat
DeleteWow, wow and double wow! Your produce looks fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere that aubergine flowers drop off if the air is too dry and that misting with a water spray to increase humidity can help. I could also be completely wrong 😄.
Could well be right and I should be misting the cucumber too
DeleteCommon mistake to 'over sow' - I suffer that too! then when they are seedlings and I keep them all - coz I find it too 'cruel' to pull out the weak ones then suddenly I am overwhelmed in the greenhouse! every year I tell myself - not doing that again ...... but I do 😁
ReplyDeleteNext year I really will be stricter with my seedlings and not have so many tomato plants AND must thin out the beetroot
DeleteWow!!! It's all looking fantastic already! Lots and lots of yummy produce to eat and preserve xxx
ReplyDeleteThere are some good size plum tomatoes coming which I want for my red hot relish - most important preserve!
DeleteGood to see you full of beans. Mine are way behind but I was a little late this year planting them out. A nicely ordered greenhouse is after my own heart.
ReplyDeletebut black fly on the French Beans - that's really odd. I think my garden being enclosed so much it doesn't have a good air flow
DeleteThat all looks wonderfully abundant!
ReplyDeleteHopefully things to eat for several more months
DeleteIt's all looking really good, yes maybe a tad too close but as long as everything is healthy I've never really found that to be a problem, especially with sweetcorn it seems to thrive on being 'too close'. Hence most years I used to do the three sisters method of growing, they are just happier plants when they are not stood alone.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every sweetcorn kernel grew - so of course I planted them all - regardless of space.Hope they produce some cobs
DeleteI watched a video recently re trimming the leaves off courgettes occasionally to keep them in trim and allow the sun through. I am giving it a go this year as well as trimming tomatoes more than usual.
ReplyDeleteI took off lots of tomato leaves this morning - disease creeping in. I shall check the courgettes too
DeleteIt all looks so delicious and will be a joy to harvest and eat. Catriona
ReplyDeleteIt was a treat to have the first beans and I'm eating cucumber and courgettes as quickly as I can!
DeleteIt's so satisfying growing your own isn't it? Even though it all comes at once. We have so many courgettes this year that yesterday I was grating some for the freezer which I'm hoping will prove acceptable in soups and stews!
ReplyDeleteThe thing I never regret growing are tomatoes - so much nicer fresh.
Alison in Wales x
I used to slice and freeze courgette but don't bother now as all they seem to add to anything is water!
ReplyDeleteYou will have lots of produce to share! Your neighbors will be so glad.
ReplyDeleteI am lucky to share my brother's extras as I am not a gardener at all. My sister and I water his plot while he is on vacation as our payment!
Your garden looks amazing. I have found I have to much in the raised bed too, I guess that is a common mistake. My onions look the same as yours, I have never grown them before so wasn't sure how they would look. But everything else is way behind yours. It is fun growing all kinds of things.
ReplyDeleteEverything looks robust and ready to produce lots of vegetables. You are an unsurpassed expert and are succeeding very well! I'm impressed. It must be so satisfying to see all your plants doing well. My relative (Basil) loved his garden in Kent. He also had water butts and found rain not always reliable to fill them. He diverted water from his bathroom showers to fill the water butts. It worked well. (I miss Basil; he passed 8 years ago.)
ReplyDeleteThat's the best filled out garden we've seen in years. F's grandad used to grow trailing pumpkins/squash up a fence and build a little hammock for each pumpkin/squash as it formed. Vertical gardening.
ReplyDeleteA compact little garden. Hope your water barrel is next filled by rain!
ReplyDeleteYou are going to have a wonderful harvest. All those fresh veggies will be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I love seeing a productive garden, and yours is looking fantastic :)
ReplyDeleteWow. “Mouldering in your bungalow” my aunt. That’s amazing!
ReplyDeleteYour produce looks wonderful, you have an amazing variety. We don't have many flowers on our tomatoes this year at all and it looks like they will be very late. A bit of leaf curl too. I hope they don't get blossom end rot 😳
ReplyDeleteSue - would you tell me which aubergine varieties you grow, as I have never been successful
ReplyDeleteThin those beetroot and eat the leaves and baby roots! I allow mine to get to golf ball size but yours are even too close for that I think. I have four cucumber plants in the greenhouse - but we are quite happy to eat two for lunch most days with homemade houmus and flatbread. Picked the first three courgettes yesterday - and I only have one plant. I sowed purple sprouting broccoli and cavolo di Toscana the other day and they will be planted out in September when I have lifted the Pink Fir Apple potatoes. Like you I had 18 years of growing allotment-size quantities to feed a family of four, now I have a 5 x 6 m kitchen garden including fruit cage plus my first ever greenhouse (a Hartley Botanic from the 1970s) I am learning to grow less and give everything the space it needs. Especially important when you grow organically and only use homemade compost and comfrey tea to feed and nourish crops. Only alliums I grow nowadays are chives and garlic (48 heads this year, the space now supporting five squash plants and a dozen Swift sweet corn - all from seed). Most sustainable crops are red-flowered broad beans and purple-podded French beans always grown from saved seed. Crops I would never be without: asparagus (planted here in April 2019), salads, Charlotte potatoes and autumn raspberries. For now white currants, red gooseberries, rhubarb and a few strawberries are satisfying our fruit needs. Have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, courgette (one plant only), chillies, basil (always from a supermarket plant) and Sungold toms in greenhouse and gardener’s delight outside, not to mention bishop’s children dahlias, sweet peas and acidanthera for cutting. Now I must water greenhouse and sweet peas and the salads in the cattle trough and go for my swim! Sarah in Sussex.
ReplyDelete