3rd July 2022 - 2nd month of summer and everything is going well
Back in the polytunnel, a few more lettuces now planted out. Everything else is very nice and green, and growing well. Looking forward to eating this basil as we enjoy al fresco eating on the terrace this year… will be amazing along with bountiful tomatoes.
Outside of the polytunnel, on the new small raised bed we have planted cucumbers. This is the first time either of us have tried growing cucumbers, so we shall see how they turn out. We have also filled some of the space here with everlasting lettuce - just keep picking the leaves and they keep producing new ones.
Down on the sweetcorn patch, the sweetcorn is beginning to grow, but so are the runner beans. Looks like the beans might win the race, which could cause a problem with how we train the runner beans. The butternuts are also settling in… interesting to see how this plot develops with this 3 sisters approach.
These vertical pallets provide not only shape to this patch of land but they are also proving useful to store these blue water pipes, which we will be using when we find a use for them.
We have some of that orange builders' netting spare too, so we have used it to extend the netting between the pallets, which we will be using for some other cucumbers that are currently being hardened off.
The raised beds around the polytunnel are looking really good: plenty of peas, the Lobelia / lettuce bed growing nicely, leeks, beetroot and strawberry plants doing very well in the large raised bed too.
Down in the recently netted brassica plot. Hopefully this little lot won’t be overrun by the slugs. A mixture of cauliflower, red cabbage, white cabbage and pointed cabbage here.
Up by the polytunnel entrance the tomatoes are doing really well, the courgettes have had a bit of a difficult start with the slugs, the first two plants nearest to the polytunnel doing the best. Desi has brought her easel down with her to see if she can get some drawing in while the weather is good. That is sitting on top of the table. It's one of these unfolding easels.
Looking across the plot in the next photo, what a green picture! We are very grateful to have been able to get most things in the ground now but still quite a bit to go …
What a difference a few months makes to the front of the plot. The horseradish is requiring constant maintenance to stop it taking over, and the sweet peas require deadheading to stop them going to seed, which will then stop them flowering. The herbs are going well too!
On the other side of the workspace, these are the plants yet to go in the ground, there are some 40 cabbages or so, melons, and some sprouts. The scent is lovely here as the sweet peas are peeping over the fence and gracing the work area.
In the last picture this is the scene as we walk along the path to our plot(s). It is really awesome to see everything growing so well… perhaps early July is the best time? Everything is growing nicely, few if any pests or diseases are established, and first pickings of salad leaves, herbs, peas and broad beans, very delicious.
