Busy Busy

The debacle with the wig-wam left me traumatised and I haven't posted for ages ! However that's not to say that I haven't been busy. The main thing that seems to be growing at the moment are the weeds, The outrageous ammounts of unseasonal rain we have endured over the past three weeks have greatly limited the time spent at the plot and as a result it has suffered. I managed to spend four hours down there yesterday trying to get on top of things but it still looks like it could do with loads more work.

I have reclaimed my summer onion bed from the grass - the grass was higher than the onions themselves - no wonder they don't seem to be swelling very well the grass was probably stealing all the nutrients.

I have harvested approx 12 pounds of broad beans and have now cut them down to ground level due to chocolate coloured spots appearing on the leaves - I didn't like the look of it and as I try to be organic did not want to spray them with anything so I have put them in a black bag for removal from the site - didn't fancy composting them as they were diseased. I read somewhere that you can get a lot more nutrients from the beans if you leave the roots systems in the ground - so I have given this a go. Weeded this patch as well mostly grass -again !

In the pictures underneath you can see the leeks and in between them a row of carrots, to the left of them are the cauliflowers then a row of peas and next to them under the pop bottles are the pitiful melons, I say pitiful as the poor things have taken a kicking from the weather and I don't think they will survive so the pop bottle treatment was a last resort, they are supposed to be rufty tufty outdoor melons but the poor things were not expecting the onslaught of Wild Welsh Weather, the weathermen promised us a hotter summer than last year so I thought outdoor melons and peppers would be just the thing but boy did they get it wrong!

In between the leeks and the caulis you can see two flashes of lime green, these are two lettuce which have decided after three months that they finally fancy germinating, I prepared a bed and laid a cloche over it in mid March and sowed lettuce, radish, carrots and spring onions not a single thing germinated - so I swore at them dug the ground over and planted leeks and carrots - now they decide to grow - so I am leaving them to do their thing !!

And speaking of cauliflowers - isn't she a beauty in the making !!

Do I wrap her up now to protect her beauty or wait until she gets bigger ?

I am getting quite excited about my outdoor tomatoes ( that does it I really do need to get a life !) - they are growing beautifully they have already produce a raft of flowers and now these are gradually developing into tomatoes - well - all three of them at the moment but I am confident there will be more.

These are the first potatoes that I harvested about three weeks ago - my daughter helped to dig them up and I am not sure who squealed the loudest - me or her it was so exciting to dig them up take them home and cook them up with broad beans from the plot and strawberries for afters yum yum. I have put the pound coin in the picture so that you can get an idea of the size of them !

The only problem is .......

I think I have blight - well not me personally but my potatoes - it seem the best thing is the cut the greenary off to ground level and burn or remove from the site do not compost as it it could linger - I have dug up one of the affected plants to have a look at what was happening under the ground but all seems well with the spuds. It appears to be an ideal year for blight with the silly weather we have been having I only hope my tomatoes don't get affected as well.