The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

this is the time i love best i think. when most things are in, and you think - oh i should have done x or y, but a bit late so never mind. i am still in control of the weeds, rather than the other way round, and the harvests are beginning.

we are now harvesting strawbs, broad beans and peas. the potatoes are in flower, so soon i shall peep beneath! and we have a courgette getting bigger and bigger. the fruit trees and bushes all have fruitlets, and the things in the veg patch looking v healthy.

i loved seeing my older girl climb under the environmesh to pod peas. this is why i do it

yes, this is our major harvest/glut. we are freezing some so that at some point i can pull out and make jam or smoothies! yes - the 4 of us can’t keep up. the peas are plumping up, by the end of next week we will be harvesting those! i spy baby courgettes as well.

i think this is the most organised this garden has been since we moved here. i must add some piccies into this blog. certainly the investment in mulch and clearing has worked, and i am trying to regularly hoe. i have also been pruning the bay and yews - well, starting anyway.

it is clear that we need to put bed structure in though, so that we don’t compact growing areas.

sadly, a plum minarette appears to be dying. it is dying back from the top and growing brown. no idea why?

DH made the framework to properly support netting for the strawbs this year, and my 2 gannety girls made sure that they ate as many ripe ones as possible! Actually, that isn’t quite fair, as they did share them with us adults - woohoo! lovely warm strawbs fresh from the plant!

i weeded the beans and the brocolli areas - which desp needed them, and planted out some more squashes. now just got a few left to get out. It is quite clear that those cucurbits potted on into big pots are far bigger and healthier than those in smaller pots - must remember this for next year!

a bit of watering and roostering!

urgent jobs: final pot toms and peppers, sow final beans and peas , trim yews

other jobs: sow salads, summer prune minarettes

oh yes, we have been away for a holiday, but things are moving on!

planted out: runner beans; french beans; courgettes; squash; sweetcorn. actually the beans were planted out by M-I-L, who seems to have planted the squash up the poles too. oh well, i am sure i can transplant!

harvesting: strawberries [yummy]

Need to do: sow some more beans, weed [actually this might be a crisis!], final pot up toms [another crisis!] and sow some salady bits.