Well i haven't had much opportunity to post of late but i have been getting on with a few things in the garden.

I finally sowed the sweetcorn the other day. It really is late as you are supposed to start it off indoors to give it a head start, but I decided I didn't have the room. I am hoping that we will have an Indian summer like last year so that the growing season will be long enough - fingers crossed. However, I went up the garden the day following planting and the fox had paid a visit and dug right where I had sowed the sweetcorn...I hope it will be ok.

The leaf beet I planted a few weeks ago is coming along nicely as are the peas, we have not just flowers but little pea pods, very exciting! The courgettes in bed 2 are coming on a storm. One plant has four courgettes growing on it another has two, Will soon be harvesting them. The courgette plants in the grow bags are doing less well, as expected, but I noticed this morning that one has a courgette developing on it so perhaps all is not lost just yet.

I have finished planting out all of the tomatoes. They really should have been out ages ago, (and have taken a check in growth because of this) but with one thing and another I never got around to it. So as well as the four I planted 2 weeks ago (they are now flowering) I have eight in grow bags and the remaining eleven in the large south facing bed (with the strawberries that I relocated). They are not the healthiest looking of plants BUT I said that about the first lot of courgettes I planted out and they are now thriving! Hopefully now they are in their permanent positions they will be happier.

The beans (French Climbing and Runner) are now climbing and I have sown a few more alongside them.

I picked my first raspberries today!!! Only two, lol, but I was excited. Strawberries are still quite green.

The Night Scented Stock is coming along well but think I may have sowed it too thickly - we'll see. I bought an Acer last week when I was at my parents and an Olive Tree to go with other pots on the sun deck. I wonder if we will have some olives...somehow I doubt it as the tree is tiny!

Quick update on frogs/tadpoles:

A terrible disaster occured whilst we we away at my parents....we left the hose on in the pond! Luckily our neighbour noticed (but only after it flooded his garden - no damage done thank goodness!) and turned it off. I hope we didn't lose too many tadpoles. There still seems to be a few but is difficult to see as the irises are now taking up most of the pond. I know i reported ages ago that i thought i had seen tadpoles that were starting to form legs but i think i must have been seeing things! None of the ones i have seen since look like they have legs yet???

Millie and i were counting frogs the other day and we saw ten, i am amazed! Makes you wonder how many there are altogether.

Planted out four of my tomato plants yesterday. They are not yet in flower, as is recommended, but as i have 24 plants in total (thanks to them all germinating) i thought it was worth the risk. I have planted them in a container and i am going to plant the rest in grow bags as there are so many and i can't find room in the raised beds.

The courgettes that i planted on monday(?) are doing well apart from one which has been demolished by slugs. There is nothing but a very wilted stem left :o(
Anyway....very exciting news....one of the courgettes has a flower already!! More exciting news... there are 5 french beans visable and 3 runner bean plants. Also, the radishes that i planted Monday have come up. It amazes me how quick these things grow.

Really should get out more. Ho Hum.

Had a good day in the garden yesterday. I planted out my 6 remaining courgette plants which i have been hardening off during the past week. A bit soon perhaps as you are supposed to harden off over 2 weeks or so, but they were taking up so much room in the house and Millie kept trampling over them so i thought that the risk was probably worth it. I have planted one in bed 3 with the two i planted out a few weeks ago and the remaining ones are in growbags as they need a square metre of space per plant! i have also planted out one of the cucumber seedings - the only one of the three to germinate. Haven't decided if i will sow any more yet.

I have planted some leaf beet (Bright Lights) alongside the pea row in bed 2. I've never eaten this stuff before, let along grown it so should be interesting.

I was weeding the veggie garden during the week and Millie was "helping". I had foolishly been sitting with my back to her and when i turned round she had pulled up an entire row of cos lettuce!!! I was not pleased. I shoved the smaller ones back in the ground asap and they seem to be ok though they do look a little bit limp. I planted another row of lettuce alongside them, some more radishes (Cherry Belle again as i have decided i prefer these to the Saxa II) and a third row of spring onions. So that is Bed 1 full now.

Need to start getting Bed 4 under control so that i can sow the marrows and butternut squash.

I will try and suss out how to add photos to this blog to jazz it up a bit (will have to sort through those old messages on MudPud), but sadly i think changing the skin is stretching my limited skills somewhat so you are stuck with blue i'm afraid.

Just got back from holiday and WOW i can't believe how plants can grow so much in a week!!! The garden survived well thanks to copious amounts of rain while we were away (unfortuately this also meant that the weeds had gone into overdrive) The seedlings in the house coped less well. In the absence of me turning them they had grown toward the patio doors and are looking rather spindly. I wish now that i had just chanced it and planted everything out before the holiday. Oh well, they may recover yet i suppose.

On Monday i sowed the first batch of runner beans (Butler) and climbing french beans (Neckar Queen - i think) the peas are coming along well now and are clinging on tightly to the netting.

All the strawberries are in flower now and the raspberries are now weighed down with foliage and immature fruit so i have stuck some more canes in this morning to support them.

Oh and we harvested our first lot of radishes last weekend. They are still a bit small but nice all the same :o)

Last Sunday i planted out the peas that had been growing in the guttering. So much for them "simply" sliding out. I had to hack them into chunks but thankfully none seem to have sustained lasting damage as they are coming along well and anchoring themselves to the netting. I also erected the bean row. Doing it slightly different this year. I got some of those little connecter balls from Lakeland and have used them to join the bamboo canes, it meant that i was able to to it myself, well mostly. I have strung up "dead" CD's to act as bird scarers along the bean row and amongst the raspberry canes. I'm not sure how necessary they are but they look beautiful, even our neighbour commented on how pretty they looked with the sun shining on them! I have also surrounded each bed with twine to deter Mr Fox from Pooing all over them....seems to have done the trick so far.

The Rhubarb seems to have died, not sure why though. It just sort of shrivelled up. However, the strawberries that i moved seem to have survived the transplant really well and are all in flower. One of the courgette plates has also shrivelled up. It was the one that had been munched by the slugs the most.

The parsley i planted ages ago is finally showing itself, (it's actually been visible for some time but i can only now distinguish it from the weeds as it has its "proper" leaves).
I planted some cucumber seeds in pots, the first of which is just poking through the compost.