Saturday, 31 May 2008

Filling up nicely ...

Wow, these are my Globe Artichokes, they are enormous.

Globe Artichokes copy

Today I have been busy in the glass greenhouse. I bought a couple of bags of manure (from B&Q, so no idea how good it will be) and added one to the greenhouse borders and then planted up my tomatoes: 3 x Roma, 2 x Sweet Olive Plum, 1 x Marmande, 1 x SunGold and 1 x very small Tigerella. I've got lots of lovely strong and healthy plants remaining in the pottingshed, but have no idea what variety they are. I've been trying to match the shape and shade of the leaves, but I can't tell for sure what they are. I've moved the Mizuna seedlings to the right hand side of the greenhouse and planted two of my melons at the left hand side.

Greenhouse copy

Melon copy

Ken sent some surplus plants over the fence this afternoon - 2 x beefsteak tomatoes, 1 x plum tomato, 12 swedes and 10 beetroots. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I made a little space in the leek bed. Jenny also gave me a couple of tomatoes, 1 x Brandy Wine and 1 x Shirley, which is huge and already in flower. The greenhouse is almost full, so not sure where I'll put them yet:

SwedeBeetroot copy

Ken has been admiring my carrot bath. The support has suffered another set back. Because I didn't get any new staples and finish the barrier, it has been blown around by the wind and I've had to take it down. So back to the drawing board. Ken thinks I'll be OK for a couple of weeks. He suggested putting fleece across the bath, but that's what I did last year and not enough rain got through. Hmm, I need to get my thinking cap on (or go to Staples and buy some ... staples). I'm liking the straight lines:

Carrots2 copy

I just flippin finished weeding these carrots ... honestly sometimes I wish my camera was not so good.
Carrots copy

Phew, the beans have finally started to germinate ... my biggest problem now is that I forgot to label them and I'm not sure I can remember which are which LOL ! I still need to fix the supports and banish the stray potatoes:

Beanz copy

bean copy

The peas have reached the second support, I think I need to add a third soon. No sign of any flowers yet, but surely they can't be far off:

pEAS copy

Here is my seond attempt at Bella Cucumbers. So far so good ...
BellaCucumber copy

Two of the courgettes have pulled themselves around after the frost and are definitely growing again, but the other three don't look so good. I think I'll definitely lose at least one of them. Jenny said she has loads of spares if I need more. The Vales Emerald are looking very healthy, just a little bit of 'frost burn' left on the tips:

courgettes copy

ValesEmerald copy

Here is the first of my strawberries ... they look very promising so far:

strawberries copy

Could this be the first Crabapple making a shy appearance. I want to make some Crabapple Jelly, so I hope so:

Crabapple copy

Last years Phacelia keeps popping up. Once this years has burst into flower, I'm going to turn these plants in ... so the bees need to make the most of them:

beePhacelia copy

I love giant poppies, but haven't been very successful at growing them yet. Here is my latest attempt. I wonder if I am starting them too late in the season.

PoppySeedlings copy

I have no idea what this is, but its in the wild flower garden and I can't wait for it to flower, its huge:

wildflower copy

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