Fruit, lovely

The soft fruit looks really good this year. Raspberries have begun to ripen - I needed to cover them with nets. I've taken nearly a kilo of blackcurrants and I've scarcely begun. The gooseberries are just beginning to ripen and there are plenty of them too.

Courgettes are beginning to produce fruits and I'm taking them quite small this year. The broad beans also have some pods ready to take. There will not be loads of beans as the later flowers don't seem to have set into pods, but the ones that are ready seem good and are very tasty. 

The peas are growing very well with the beginnings of flowers forming. They are getting too tall for the netting so now I have to decide if I should take a gamble and remove the nets or risk getting the peas tangled in them. My feeling is to remove the netting, but we'll see.

The sweetcorn is growing well next to the purple-sprouting broccoli that Gary gave me. The new savoy cabbage is also doing well. The spinach is doing well, in a week or so there may be some big enough to harvest. Spring onions and beetroot are both growing well, but the newly sown onions need watering so they don't wilt in the heat of the day. Carrots are doing quite well and the last sowings are sprouting.

All in all, things are doing well and this evening I had a meal that included courgettes and broad beans followed by raspberries. Lovely.

Seeds are sprouting

I sowed spinach, extra beetroot, extra spring onions and more carrots and I'm pleased to say they have all sprouted. The weather has been very good for growing, with warm sunny spells and a plenty of rain. No baking hot weather, so very little watering. I fed and therefore watered, the courgettes to encourage them to fill out a few fruits.

The blackcurrants are beginning to ripen, the gooseberries are fattening but remaining green. The raspberry canes are covered in fruit but it need to swell a lot yet before it ripens. I have a couple of ripe strawberries and because I didn't clear the weeds around them very well the plants have not done well. I think I'll start again with new plants next year, probably in a slightly raised bed.

Some broad beans are close to being ready, runner beans are developing a few flower buds, mange touts are growing well but with no sign of flowers yet and sweetcorn is a bit small, but looks healthy. Everything is netted, wired or has dangling CDs over it. This hasn't stopped carrot tops being eaten but they are recovering. The fleece wall around them will hopefully keep off the carrot fly.