Late May Update

The weather's been a mixed bag lately, but mostly cooler and lots of rain. Quite a change from April. The potatoes don't seem to mind. I think as the leaves grow out, the pots are protected from excessive water. There are now 13(!) potato pots out, with the two horseradish pots tucked in the corner. One rather fragile pot of Cherokee Trail of Tears beans sit on the side, awaiting some poles to climb (hopefully!)


A few other pots have migrated out front as well, and are sheltering between the potatoes.


All the excess nasturiums are in a clay pot (another trough of them is hiding next to the wall). There are also three small pots of Paris Market Baron carrots. This is a small variety I'm trialling this year. Three calendula have moved into a trough that I'd intended for broad beans, but the beans failed to germinate properly.


Moving to the back garden, the borage is tucked in next to the porch and seems to be recovered from the leaves torn off in the near gales a while back.


It's a bit hard to see, but the courgettes are doing ok, although not as well as I'd like. I've dug in plastic bottles so they can be watered without pulling the covers off.


The kale's been blown around by the wind a bit, but I think it's doing better with the cooler weather.


I'm still hopeful that I'll manage to get the first full size spring onions before mid-summer!


In the plastic greenhouse, I've got the six Gardeners' Delight tomatoes from my neighbour plus the smaller Centiflor tomatoes.


The strawberries are sitting in the lee of the greenhouse, and doing quite well. There's a few pots of perpetual spinach and broad bean troughs in front.

Another view of the broad beans, etc.


And the carrots are just visible as well.


The first strawberries are developing!

The plastic coldframe has two deep rectangular pots with rhubard chard.


The red cabbages are sitting in the new aluminium coldframe, along with a few of the younger plants.


The lettuce is sitting on the other side of the coldframe.


Behind the coldframe are the weak second lot strawberries, which are beginning to look a bit better.


There are two types of mustard, Green Wave and Komatsuma, next to the back wall.

Outside the wall, the Jerusalem artichokes are getting pretty tall. The potatoes (in the middle) are just poking up their heads. The calendula don't seem to be doing much, and there's no sign of life from the horseradish.



Inside the house, a few cucurbit seedlings are beginning to take off.

I've also got runner beans and broad beans under the blue LED light.


There are also a few Cherokee Trail of Tears beans.

Mid-May wind and sun

Back from our second holiday (!) I've begun moving some plants into the front garden. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the trees in front of our house were cut down over the winter. I saw the benefit of more light, but the wind now whips through the garden.

Today the wind has been bad enough to tear leaves off the trees. It feels like Beaufort Scale 6 around here! When I was walking home from the shops, I could hardly make progress against the wind.

By the end of the day, leaves had torn on the borage plants. I ended up trimming them off and moving the pots into a more sheltered location out back. This is my first experience with borage, and I've obviously got a bit to learn. They don't strike me as very good container plants, since there are large leaves at the base which are floppy and easy damaged.

The strawberries are still out back, but they've grown quite a bit. They're flowering, although we seem to have very few pollinators around. No strawberries forming yet.


The next picture shows a mistake -- I ended up with extra strawberry plants (the small, sickly green plants). They sat at the post office for at least a week. I've potted them up, but I don't know how they'll do. They're sitting with two of the eleven potato pots, and a single pot of mustard greens.


The carrots are really too big for these pots now. I'm waiting for some sign of orange on the tips -- they're still green. In future, I am going to switch to larger pots for the Early Nantes carrots. In the same picture, the broad beans that have been sheltering behind the coldframe have grown quite a bit.


Speaking of too big, this mustard is outrageously large, but it's the last of about 10 plants. Tomorrow's dinner will take care of these, then the space can be turned over to the squash plants.


Under another cloche, the komatsuma is beginning to fill out. The flavour seems a bit mild, compared to the mustard greens. I guess we just like a bit of spice in our greens!

The next picture is a bit blurry, but the spring onions are growing fairly well, along with the radishes (a bit gnawed, but ok). I've never managed to get spring onions to a useful size, so I hope these come through.


This next picture is looking down into the coldframe. I've put four dill seedlings into a single larger pot (top left). There are also three tomato seedlings from my neighbour, as well as a courgette she gave me. I intend to move all the courgette plants into a polytunnel in the bed.


Not edible, but I'm surprised that the foxgloves are beginning to form flower heads. Seems a bit cool and early to me. I'll have to look up when they usually bloom. I haven't seen any wild ones getting ready to flower yet.

The thyme is flowering. Surprising since I just dug it up and moved the plant only a few weeks ago.


Outside the fence, the Jerusalem artichokes have sprung up a bit.


The direct sown potatoes are much smaller than the potted ones, which is understandable considering the weather. I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to earth them up.

Back garden view

The trees leafed out while we were on holiday. This is the view out our back window. Very nice!