...as long as it's with salad!
We are now bringing home bountiful amounts of salad and also giving loads away. We have to keep picking it to keep the leaves coming and prevent the plants from going to seed. We are also picking some of the baby beetroot leaves to add to the salad mix
The broad beans are also being harvested. We are trying to pick them while they are small, but also making sure they have actually grown big enough to feel through the well padded pod. The black fly have joined us on the allotment now and we appear to have a very hungry, broad bean loving mouse living in close proximity too. I don't mind sharing, but it has now become a race to grow and collect them before the mouse and black fly completely run amok!!
Shelling the beans during coffee
Arrrrggggggh, BLACKFLY!
Broad beans, radishes, salad and our first FIVE ripe strawberries
The cabbage and sprout plants we grew from seed have settled in very nicely and are really starting to thrive. I find it amazing that these few leaves will become thick cabbages and massive stalks of sprouts - especially as they look virtually the same at this stage.
Cabbage
Brussels
The runner beans are starting to take off. I was discussing companion planting with someone last week and he told me nasturtiums attract blackfly and in turn leave beans alone. Ok, we'll try that one. So we have planted nasturtium seeds to grow over the arches with the beans. Too late for the broad beans but, hopefully, will benefit the runner and french beans.
At home, we have what we loosely call the Orangery. A small lean-to greenhouse. In this we have beef tomatoes, a moneymaker tomato, a cucumber and a melon. We decided to try this as last year the tomatoes didn't ripen. We have put cherry tomato plants in hanging baskets as they did manage to ripen.
...We shared them and bulked them out a tad with some strawberry and vanilla ice cream. YUM!
