We had rain!

And then the sun came out.

Considering I only got my vegetable patch fenced off on March 8th this year and so had no time to prepare the ground properly, just hurriedly digging it between the rain and leaving 7 bags of stable manure and 2 compost bins of compost on the surface for the worms to mix in as the weather was so cold and wet and I only just managed to get the potatoes in by Barley Saturday at the end of April because the heavy clay was so cold and claggy it has not done too badly. In fact I'm quite pleased with how it's done😀. All the first early potatoes have been dug up now and these are the produce of judt half a row.

As they were late going in I was worried I would be too late to plant a follow on crop but have just managed to get in a row of dwarf beans, which haven't come up yet and a row of peas. I did try to start some beans off in seed trays to give them a head start but something kept eating them, should have started them indoors, lesson learnt for next year. The peas were more lucky and they survived to be planted out in the next row. There are still a few to go in. It's the very end of the planting season for them so I don't know if they will produce anything or not but we shall see.

The tomatoes have taken over the mini greenhouse and the cucumber has loads of flowers but no cucumbers as yet, are they all male flowers? Also the peppers have been a bit crowded out, think nect year they can go back to being on the living room windowsill, they seem to like it there.

Tumbling tom tomatoes are the first to bear fruit, but I don't think I should have put 3 in a pot, next year they will have a pot each. Another valuable lesson

The strawberries did really well and so to did the onions.

And the baby beetroot are delicious.

The first beans are ready to pick😊.

Can't wait to try these.

It wasn't such a good idea to put the garlic with them, they were slow growing and the garlic didn't develop properly, although it was quite sweet and garlicky, just didn't produce lots of cloves.

And on the living room windowsill, the chillis are thriving.

Not a bad effort for a first season as a vegetable grower.

Spent a pleasurable hour this afternoon picking gooseberries and blackcurrants.

  The blackcurrant bush is next to the gooseberry bush and the two are intertwined, the blackcurrants hiding amongst the gooseberries and the gooseberries protecting the blackcurrants😂.

There's been a bumper crop on both bushes this year, there's another two tubs of blackcurrants in the freezer and I've left some for the birds although they were sitting in the Ash tree glaring accusingly at me.

I found traces of gooseberry saw fly on one branch. Looking up organic remedies and found I should have infused foxglove leaves for 2 days and then poured the water over the bush before the caterpillars appeared, or sprayed with nematodes again before the caterpillars appeared, too late for this year but must remember next year.

We have had an almost unprecedented period of good weather comparable to the summer of 1976 so I have been watering every night. Thank goodness I had an outside tap fitted and bought a new hosepipe. 

Despite a good soaking every night the spinach is going to seed.

The courgettes are doing well this year, I almost didn't get any this year as for the last two years they have suffered from blossom end rot and not produced anything . Today I have five in the kitchen waiting to be eaten. I have already had two more.

So I searched for recipes and came up with spinach and courgette lasagne. I fried them up with some mushrooms , onions, garlic, spinach and nutmeg, made a cheese sauce and mixed it all together,

and layered it with lasagne sheets. The finished dish with some strawberries from the garden.

Meanwhile back in the vegetable garden the onions are filling out nicely, next year I must take note of what varieties I get and which do best. This year I bought three varieties but mixed them up in one bag, duh.

The chard is coming on nicely.

And as for the tomatoes, what can I say.  I used old seed and not expecting it to germinate I didn't take note of varieties again. Now I have two minigreenhouses full of them and more plants dotted round the garden all with flowers on.

As if that wasn't enough I bought some Tumbling Tom plants, little cherry tomatoes for hanging baskets.

The runner beans nave flowers on, but I have a sneaky feeling the birds are picking them off😡.

And the french beans have littlemauve flowers on.

And I've dug up the first row of potatoes,

and have started some peas, marrowfat variety Onward, and some dwarf beans, Hestia to plant out to follow on from the potatoes.

The beetroot are coming along nicely and are nearly ready for harvesting and the cut and come again lettuce are going mad so I had some with chilli prawns, coleslaw and potato salad made with my potatoes for my tea tonight.