[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

Gary - try sowing your beetroot in tubes or newspaper pots in your mini greenhouse. Although a lot of my directly sown seed has come up this year (for a change) the ones set off on the bench and planted out are romping away.

I'll give it a try Trev. I have done a lot of stuff that way this year but I didn't think about doing the beetroot that way.

Lots of stuff happening on the plot.

My broad beans are flowering and the bees are very happy about it!


Broad beans in flower by garynortheast


Broad beans by garynortheast

First two rows of peas are in. A row of sugar snaps "Norli" and a row of "Kelvedon Wonder".


Peas and peasticks by garynortheast

Planted my sweetcorn out this afternoon.


Sweetcorn by garynortheast

Potato towers are getting taller.


Potato towers by garynortheast

Mabel on guard duty, making sure nobody tries to steal our spuds!


Mabel on guard by garynortheast

The bean bed is now ready for the runner and climbing French beans. I'm going to wait till the end of the month though just to be on the safe side as I lost a load of my runner beans to a late frost in the final week of May last year.


Bean bed and poles by garynortheast

Resowed the carrots and parsnips in the bottom bed. Onion sets are growing on ok but none of the onion seed has germinated.


Resown bottom bed by garynortheast

I have fruit growing on my pear trees, and the trees are looking healthier than they have looked for many years, after being fed and mulched.


Pears by garynortheast

My gooseberry bushes have fruit on them too, despite being hacked back to less than a quarter of their original size.


Gooseberries by garynortheast

Lots more stuff to be planted out yet - leeks, Romanesco cauliflowers, courgettes, cabbages, runner and climbing French beans, sunflowers, and gooseberry and blackcurrant cuttings.


Stuff to be planted out by garynortheast

More in the mini greenhouse too - cucumbers, more cabbages, tomatoes, poached egg plants.


Still full by garynortheast

More on the potting bench too - cabbages and caulis, garlic chives, and a lavender I've just been given.


And more.... by garynortheast

I still have a lot of earth moving to do yet. The new fruit beds need building as do all the footpaths, and I also still have several piles of stuff waiting to be gathered and put in the compost bins.
I have an area at one end of the plot waiting to be cleared and levelled ready for a polytunnel later this year.

While I was carrying a trug of stuff up the steps to the compost bins a couple of days ago, this chap or chappess jumped out of the grass, bounced of my hand and landed on the step. I picked it up in cupped hands and took it on to the veg garden intending to put it somewhere safe where it wouldn't get either stepped on or fall prey to something. When I opened my hands to let it go, it just sat there looking at me. We sat like that for probably 3 minutes before I gently pushed it off my hand and into the safety of a space behind a board leaning against the edge of one of my beds.


Common frog by garynortheast

The front garden is looking good at the moment. I sowed it with wildflower seeds last year to fill the gaps between the permanent stuff - roses, hydrangea, cornflower, osteospermum, and geraniums. This year all I did was weed out the grass, and prune back the roses and hydrangea. This all came up without me doing any more. The white flowers are sweet rocket and the scent from them is fabulous, especially in the evening.


Front Garden by garynortheast


Front Garden by garynortheast


Front Garden by garynortheast


Front Garden by garynortheast


Front Garden by garynortheast