Pushing up the daisies

Popped down very quickly this morning to take some pics, which I did. Then got to work and realized that I didn't have the lead to transfer the pics to the computer!! AArgh! The gods are against me on the picture taking front.
Anyway, there will be more strawbs to pick tomorrow, and maybe a lettuce. Quick update:

• Flowers: mixed: the sunflowers that took are doing well, I will try resowing some more I think, before it is too late. Some of teh seedlings seem to be flowers but I am loath to weed the flower beds in case I pull out the flowers. Nasturtiums are doing well, I am tempted to put them in various holes among the veg as they grow really quickly.
• Fruit: coming on swimmingly, tiny berries on gooseberries and good growth on the raspbs.
• Peas: No sign of the new ones, more bindweed seedlings springing up though.
• Beans: starting to look better, they are getting their true leaves. I will put more in this weekend.
• Tomatoes: Appreciating this week's warm spell, the Roma has its first fruit showing!
• Squashes/melons: Looking better. Think they were not too keen on the wet cold spell we had but they are alive so now it has heated up I am hoping they will start to grow better. Must give them some more compost on the weekend maybe. The gherkins are small but have a couple of flowers.
• Roots: Still my pathetic patch: parsnips doing OK and a few beets starting to look like real plants. There are carrot seedlings but they are small. The seed onions and fennel have come up though, good news.
• Spinach: I seem to be incapable of getting this to grow. Think I will give this a last go this weekend, maybe I need to net it? Otherwise I will give up for the moment I think.
• Radishes: Another failure, they stay small and then go hard. Maybe I need to pay them more attention, dig a deep bed with compost etc and try again?
• Potatoes; My success story so far. Flowers coming up on the main bed and in the potato bin.I might try and see if I can't get some early new potatoes out this weekend.
  
  

• Onion/garlic: Also fabulous. Now about 40 or 50 cm high, no flowers forming (which is what you want, because flowers sap the plant's bulb formation) and they are starting to turn colour which means that the bulbs are starting to mature. I think that the dry warm April really did the early crops a world of good, all the things planted in March are going great guns.

This weekend's objectives (probably completely pie in the sky but we'll try I have about two hours to work on the plot, and if I started weeding it would take up the whole time):

1. Dig the last section in root veg and sow leek, brocoli and brussel sprout seeds in a seed bed. Try last ditch spinach effort.
2. Plant final tomato batch. Give a compost dressing to the tomatoes if time.
3. Dig the bean patch over (it is resting under cover so should be quicker that the other bits) and put in the main bean crop (greens and yellows).
4. Net the gooseberry bushes and weed around them (there is a lot of grass and some bind weed).

PS - ALL these good intentions were thwarted by rain. Roll on next weekend...

Labels: beans, garlic, gooseberry, onions, peas, planting, potato, spring, squash, strawberry, tomatoes