New Season's Pickings!

Isn't June lovely?  I've been able to nip to the Hill any evening that I fancy a run, do a little light weeding, have a quick beer at the clubhouse and home in time for supper.

Mind you, it's been a season for slugs and snails - my beans have only just shrugged off the attacks, and it's the same with the tender crops - the courgettes and squash, and some lettuce.  But they all just about live to grow another day - which is more than can be said for my bed of spring onions, carrots and parsnips!

The tomatoes at home are romping away - a weekly feed and regular watering (every other day) seem to be paying off, so I have high hopes for them.

I don't grow tomatoes at the Hill any longer - a couple of dispiriting years when the plants were cut down by blight means that I am happier with them here, where they are at less risk.

And this week has been a week of first crops - later than other years, simply as I seem to have been a bit behind, for no particular reason.  All the sweeter, then, were these red berries, broad beans and the very first potatoes.

Magic.

Seed Sowing, Seedlings Growing

I do seem to be terribly behind this year (and no, not just with the blog, you wags at the back) - it's just that the time rushes by so quickly!

Since I last blogged, I went on holiday, I came back and we had the dahlia talk in the club house and the seed swap; I planted my seed potatoes; and sowed the beans, peas and tender crops in pots at home.

And a month on, all but the tender squash, cucumber and sweetcorn are now in their beds.

In my never-ending quest to grow some bloody carrots, I've made a tunnel, covered with netting. Now, I would be really pleased with this, as it was so easy to put together (once I'd scrounged some blue pipe from Chris at the bottom - thank you m'dear), except that the sharp-eyed will note from the photo that the tunnel is open ended,

This is not deliberate, but a miscalculation of how much debris netting that I had to buy from the store-shed.  It is not so much a protected bed as a windtunnel, or shelter for pigeons.  So a bit of a fail on that one at the mo, then, but I have extra netting now, and will be wielding a needle and shirring elastic at the weekend in order to complete the job.

I can see me doing more of these tunnels if it means that I can protect the beds from pests whilst the plants are young.  It looks like I'll have to resort to slugs pellets for the asparagus bed in future if I want to eat any of the spears myself - but I'm not keen on pellets without excluding birds or other wildlife with some sort of cover.

As ever at this time of year, I can't wait for the first veg to be ready.