Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

I have been pretty useless updating the blog recently, my apologies for that. I have though been busy on the plot with plenty going on.  What a crazy year so far with the weather. We've had late frosts, baking sunshine and temperatures in the thirties, torrential downpours and near gale force winds at times all in the space of a few days! The mid-month heatwave meant the UK had its fifth warmest July on record but we'd also had the wettest May as I understand it and June was simply all over the show!  It has certainly kept me busy and meant some harvests are going incredibly well whilst others are struggling.  I have a Parsnip that has gone to seed, honestly the first time I have ever seen that in August and the Sonesta Dwarf French Beans (yellow) have been a disappointment thus far with lots of misshapen beans and the slugs have had a real go at some of the plants. There is hope though with some nice looking beans coming through now. The  Amethyst Dwarf French Beans  (purple

Firstly, sorry for the title but I do love a poor pun.  I managed to get a few hours in on the plot Saturday morning in the lovely sunshine which is always a bonus. I was down to my vest and shorts at one point, nice for me, not so nice fof the neighbours!  The Runner Bean seedlings have been planted out into the bed, some were significantly bigger than I had thought, and all look well and healthy as I write on Monday. They were given a real good soaking and I will continue to keep them well watered throughout spring and summer as they are thirsty plants.  The  Sonesta Dwarf French Bean  (yellow) seedlings have moved from the conservatory to the greenhouse as part of their hardening off programme and all seems well with them. The  Amethyst Dwarf French Beans  (purple) sowed direct into the bed have clearly failed - it was pretty ambitious on my part sowing them in March - and I have sowed a number into pots now which have taken the place of the Sonesta seedlings in the conservatory.  O

I mentioned in a post last week that I planned to get in the Greenhouse this weekend and get to work preparing it for the season ahead and I am happy to report I was able to on Sunday afternoon - in fact I managed to get three-and-a-half hours out in the garden on a lovely if slightly chilly afternoon.  The beds in the Greenhouse have been weeded, as I mentioned before it beggars belief where and how weed seeds get to but bugger me they get everywhere. The soil was then lightly turned over before a decent helping of blood, fish and bone, chicken manure pellets and some new fresh compost was scattered over them in turn; each scattering receiving a light turning over to mix in nicely with the soil. Finally the beds were given a thorough soaking to help get all the nutrients breaking down and getting to work.  Having completed the main job of the day the six Geranium cuttings (Pelargonium if you're posh) that I have been looking after through the winter having taken them from plants

It was a quiet weekend for me with the weather still too cold to really get going on the veg patch. The temptation was to direct sow some seeds into the plot on Sunday, the sunny days of early March can trick you if you aren't careful, but it can still drop to freezing or less overnight and has done a couple of times here recently. Many gardeners refer to it as 'fools spring' a few sunny afternoons lulling you into the belief the spring has sprung only for old Jack Frost to show up and burn your fingers, and any seedlings, in the blink of  eye.  The Tomatoes that were sown in pots are coming along nicely in the conservatory and the Runner Beans sowed just over a week ago are just beginning to poke their heads above the compost. They are currently situated on the conservatory table with the Tomatoes on the tumble dryer - I doubt I am alone in running out of space indoors for seedlings.  In the Greenhouse the Sweet Peas sown last autumn are growing strongly and I have nipped

 As mentioned in the post regard the Runner Beans I do like to try and get a jump on old Mother Nature and get things started a little earlier perhaps than many people would. The tomato seedlings are coming along very nicely in the conservatory I am happy to report and all being well there will be plenty to enjoy throughout the summer.  This year I am growing two new varieties to me Santanio that should yield red, cherry sized plum like fruits and Limoncito which will hopefully supply trusses of yellow mini sized plum tomatoes. I also have a stalwart for me Gardeners Delight , I cannot be without them, and the massive (hopefully) Gigantomo that I grew for the first time last year. They are real showstoppers growing to ridiculous sizes. Last summer I used them for BBQ's with a single slice of the fruit plenty for a burger; an individual tomato can get to 10 inches wide and 3lb in weight!! The only difficulty in growing them is the arrangement required to hold the fruit on the pla