The garden is flourishing with the fine weather we have had these past few weeks. The early potatoes a pushing through strongly (below) If this warm weather keeps up and with judicious watering I should be digging new potatoes in about eight weeks time!

I have just put in the well sprouted main-crop potatoes that should follow on from the earlies around September time. Here in the South we could do with a few good days, or nights, of rain to improve the ground but that remains far off I think! 

Here are the courgette plants, recently planted out from the greenhouse to a nice, open position. This area, being fairly well shaded for the latter part of the day is highly prone to snail and slug attack and a vigilant watch needs to be kept for the signs of the unwelcome little visitors.

Here are the runner beans, currently about three feet high and growing quickly. This year I have sixteen plants over two arches which will hopefully be cropping from early July to mid-September. Again, the plants are susceptible to all sorts of creepy crawlies (if you’ll excuse the highly technical language!) but like the courgettes they are growing strongly.

Here we have the strawberries, the fruits already forming. There are now two generations of plants in this planter (It’s actually a defunct barbeque unit but it serves this purpose very well) 

The growth in the fruit cage has been very good too. As a precaution I have also planted the peas in here, having lost quite a few to birds last year. Nest building is going on in the trees all around at the moment meaning even more hungry birds needing feeding before too much longer.

Those still early the fruits can be seen forming on the runners and bushes. I’m hoping for a good crop of loganberries to make some wine for Christmas. Both the apple and the plum look to be fallow this year, so I shall not have them to fall back on. A gooseberry would also be good if I can produce sufficient for half a dozen bottles.

And finally, for this visit, a view down the length of the fruit cage with the roses just coming through in the background. I shall be doing a post of some of the roses in a few weeks time. Later this week, I shall be planting out the leeks, chinese cabbage and beetroot. 

to be continued . . .