This morning I managed to get the front bed planted up and finished. There’s various trailing plants dotted around the edge – marrow, crown prince, jack ‘o’ lantern and a tromba courgette – I’ll train these up the fence so they don’t take up space in the bed. The rest of the plants are a cabbage walking stick plant (for our Hort Soc competition in the Autumn), early and late PSB, cauliflowers (snowball), brussel sprouts (Bedford – now earthed up and staked) and some autumn-fruiting raspberries. Two mesh tunnels will keep the pigeons and cabbage whites off the brassicas.
I’ve also filled the bed under the living room window. A few scraps of mesh have been joined together to keep the birds off the strawberries – we’ll be picking our first ones later today! There’s loads of fruit forming on the raspberries and in between is a blackcurrant, gooseberry and courgettes – black beauty and rubesa fruilana.
Out the back the beds are filling up.
From front to back are root crops, spring onions, spinach, rocket, radish, mangetout, garlic, broad beans, and runners/french beans on the canes right at the back. We’ve eaten spinach, rocket, radish and mangetout which was all very nice and the broad beans shouldn’t be too far behind.
And the cabbages are coming on well tucked up in their mesh tunnel.

Lastly the long roots in the pipes:
The parsnips and carrots are around 8″ high now, hoping they will be good enough for the show in mid-August. Hope you’re having a good weekend.









14 comments
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May 22, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Jo
It’s all looking great. We’ve just been to the garden centre to buy some new netting for the strawberries, they’re beginning to ripen now so the netting needs to go on asap if we want to keep those pesky birds from eating them all.
May 22, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Damo
Thanks Jo, the first couple of strawberries have been pecked a bit before I got the netting on.
May 22, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Sue
Two questions … Does the strawberry netting allow pollinating insects in? and
How do you support the squash when you grow them up the fence?
The parsnips and carrots look promising.
May 22, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Damo
Good point Sue, no it won’t but there’s only a couple of flowers left, the rest is fruit. I would normally use the larger gauge netting but I haven’t got any at the moment. I’m going to angle some bamboo canes between the bed and fence attached to some hard plastic wire netting that I’m hoping the plants will scramble up.
May 23, 2011 at 6:22 am
Mo
Great to see your ‘snips!
They look really healthy.
Cabbage Walking Stick plant tickled my memory bank, I’m sure there used to be a place in Jersey that did them? And now I shall have to go and Google
May 23, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Damo
Thanks Mo, yes the walking sticks do come from Jersey, it’s a comp our Hort Soc started a couple of years ago. At the Autumn AGM there’s various prizes for this year’s plants and also for the ‘things’ people have made from the previous year’s plants, be that a walking stick or other useful implement. Just a bit of fun really, they can grow pretty tall.
May 23, 2011 at 3:26 pm
Janet/Plantaliscious
Looking good Damo – actually, no, looking fab! The parsnips are rather magnificent – I speak as one without any this year
May 23, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Damo
Thanks Janet and sad to hear you’ve not got any. One of my favourite veg, I am hoping with the extra TLC they’re getting they’ll come good.
May 25, 2011 at 7:42 am
Flighty
It’s all looking good, I hope that the windy weather didn’t do any damage!
May 25, 2011 at 10:01 am
Damo
Thanks Flighty the plot is pretty sheltered so all survived OK.
May 25, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Mark Willis
I like it! Your attitude towards the maximum use of space is fully in accordance with mine. Bare ground is unusual…
May 25, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Damo
Bare ground just attracts weeds, there’s not much of it on my plot!
May 26, 2011 at 9:44 am
Carrie
Wowsers you are so far ahead of us in terms of growth! You must get so much more sunshine than us here in Carrickfergus (not that that would be hard!! haha)
Everything is looking great – I foresee many a prize veggie this year again!
May 26, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Damo
Let’s hope so Carrie, it has been a warm and sunny start to the season down here and the veg are making the most of it!