Flowering

I sowed my broad beans back in autumn and overwintered them in the cold greenhouse. They were sturdy plants at the start of the year, and in a normal year, would have been planted out much earlier than they actually were, but because of the cold start to 2013, they were held back in their pots much longer than I liked. This encouraged them to grow rather leggy and they weren't the best specimens when they were eventually transferred to the plot at the beginning of April. Nevertheless, they seem to have rallied, they look much stronger than they did when planted out, and they're now flowering. It won't be long until I'm prising each bean from it's velvety bed.

It's been a busy bank holiday weekend here. Although there's plenty of jobs to be getting on with, both in the garden and at the allotment, we also like to have days out, and there's other jobs around the house to do too, so it's always a juggle to get the balance right. We did have some days out, but we also managed to get both the back and the front gardens tidied up, and the grass also got another cut, it's second of the year. It's grown so quickly since it was last mowed. The fruit bushes have finally been transferred to the plot. A bed was prepared and a blackcurrant bush, gooseberry bush and two rhubarb crowns now reside in it. I also got lots of sowing and potting on done. The five pepper plants are now in their final pots and look to be producing their first flowers. I've only grown one or two pepper plants at once before so I'm hoping for a better harvest than usual from them. I had a mammoth sowing session, two kinds of climbing French beans - Cobra and Blue Lake, dwarf French bean - Safari, runner bean - St George, mangetout, Golden Sweet, broccoli - Rudolph, swede - Brora, three varieties of squash - (summer) Sunburst, (winter) Crown Prince and Queensland Blue, two varieties of courgette - One Ball and Mikinos, sweet corn - Early Extra Sweet, five varieties of sunflower - Tall Single, Irish Eyes, Autumn Beauty, Paquito and Teddy Bear, and morning glory - Heavenly Blue. I also resowed my three varieties of cucumber - Crystal Lemon, Fanfare and Mini Munch, as the ones which germinated previously had grown rather leggy, and Fanfare didn't germinate at all, so I hope this batch do better. More containers were planted up with potatoes, there's now thirteen pots at various stages of growth and more yet to plant up.

I've got a list of jobs which should be done very soon. The tomato plants are growing nicely and should be potted on in to their final positions within the next couple of weeks. The Desiree potatoes which I bought to try at the allotment still need to be planted. The bed is all prepared so it's just a case of getting them in to the ground. A trench has been dug and filled with compost ready for the parsnips to be sown, so that's something else which I'll hopefully get round to this week. It's such a busy time of year, but with weather like we've had over the weekend, jobs seem to get done so much quicker. I hope you've all had a productive weekend too.