Saturday 15 June 2013

Mid-way !

Oooo I think it is going to be a very very good year for fruit - look at the apples.  The branches are laden - hope they can support the weight later in the year.  I might have to talk to Vic about a cider press !




















I'm rather surprised that my climbing french beans haven't been nibbled at all ... yet.  They are under the brambly apple tree, so I have my fingers crossed that they can grow big enough before there is too much shade.























Vic has done a magnificent job with the butterfly proof cauliflower netting... so far no sign of caterpillars :)



















It is interesting how the different varieties of cauliflowers are growing at different rates - the green & purple ones are much bigger than the white ones.   I can't wait for the curds to start to develop to see how different they are.

















The autumn planted onions are starting to thicken - but they are still very small.  Hmmm mid-June, guess there is still time if we have some steady sunshine


















After killing 4 cucumbers, I didn't hold out much hope for the remaining two and other than plonking them into the soil, I've kept well away from them.  Imagine my delight today when I saw three baby cucumbers forming - hope I've not jinxed them




















The lettuce is looking good, but some of it has gone to seed already


















 salad
















carrots

















The coriander is growing well - I've got two varieties ... 'normal' and















 'lemon' coriander.






















The beans continue to flower


















but something is helping itself to the beans grrrr ... I think the culprit is probably a slug or snail. The plants look good, other than the beans being stripped :/





















I'm disappointed with the beetroots this year - we don't seem to have very many yet



















Look what OH has managed to grow - a ginormous mushroom!  We bought  a kit a while ago - but this is all that has appeared so far























The turks turbans have got tiny fruits forming - I think I might get a paint brush and help mother nature's germination just in case.  I've had very poor germination this year, I'm not sure why - I've not got any sweetcorn this year as 95, that's right 95 kernels didn't germinate.  I tried three different brands, sown at different times in different conditions - the sweetcorn was my biggest failure


















The first courgettes are appearing !  This is Goldena

















and this is greenbush.  The leaves and plants are still very small, but it looks as though the fruit will be plentiful
























More courgettes ... I've planted 11 plants - eeek !!!





















Here is the 2nd batch of peas - they look awesome.  So far the pigeons haven't found them - mainly due to them being under the magpie's nest perhaps ?  I've found some pea sticks, but the peas are growing so quickly I can barely see the twigs anymore ... might have to think of plan b soon
























The Borlottos are still very small, but at least they appear to be in one piece
















It is so lovely to see bees back - we've counted about 5 varieties so far























We have lots of strawberries appearing - I need to try and get some straw to keep the fruit off the soil - I hope that doesn't encourage slugs & snails - we have more than enough of them :/
























I think these are blackcurrants - I found them buried in the raspberries























The raspberries are forming




















We have lots of alpine strawberry plants - they are so pretty I've started to edge the beds in them ... pretty and productive




















They are dripping in fruit - another week and I think there will be an abundance of delicious fruits


















Here are Vic's gooseberries - bleeeuuuurrrrggghhhh






















think this is the Damson tree - it looks very plentiful compared to last year


















Here are the pears





















I think this is a special variety of bramble - it is very early flowering


















I think this is the plum truee




















Vic's grapes

















more apples























Vic's nectarines continue to look good






















Lavender
























I caught another naughty cat fishing in the pond today - this is cat no. 1.  He hasn't got any teeth, so hopefully the froggies & newts will be safe from him.



2 comments:

  1. Sue Garrett has left a new comment on your post "Grrr slugs & snails !!":

    I don't seem to be able to comment on your latest post - have you disabled comments?

    Just to say if you don't pick mushrooms then all the growing strength does go into producing one giant mushroom. If you pick them as they grow to button mushrooms size more should emerge


    - Thanks Sue ... the changes in Blogger are driving me insane, I don't think it is very compatible with my brower :( I've re-enabled comments

    I didn't know that about the mushrooms - Jez was so excited he wanted to show me it whilst it was growing, but kept forgetting to tell me about it LOL, so now we have this monster haha

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  2. Looking good Michelle - and it's all a bit ahead of us...must be the height difference!
    I've got sweetcorn this year but none of my courgettes or flagelots germinated and I've had to grow the salad in the greenhouse because the bladdy pigeons kept eating it!

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