a tale of two cucumbers

i don't think that i even like cucumbers but i wondered if i might change my mind if i could grow them myself.

these two began life as seedlings together, One stayed at home, against a wall and in a pot, whilst the other went to the allotment and barely got off the ground.

tim will be having tuna and cucumber sandwiches for lunch tomorrow thanks to the one that stayed at home, and if it's any good then i'll know what to do next year.

grown at the allotment, in the ground, against the greenhouse

grown at home in a smallish pot against a sunny wall

 quiz: how many frogs can you see here ?

 four !

 

i think kim's carrot bed looks like a beautiful painting, she's very good at that.

and some drying garlic

we're eating now, a few:

tomatoes

dwarf french beans

courgettes, yellow and green,

onions

garlic

kale

raspberries

alpine strawberries

rainbow chard

frogs legs (joke)

sweet peas  :  garlic  :  green courgette  :  yellow courgette  :  peas 

Teasels are flowering

zinnia

zinnia

zinnia

i cycled up to plant out the last of the french beans this morning and noticed this leek, quite literally bursting into flower. beautiful

dodging tennis and finding a frog

i snuck out, to escape wimbledon on the tv, one afternoon this week and spent some happy time picking fruit.

and finally got to meet the frog that has moved into our pond.

the light is different here in the afternoon.

lovely visitors

lots of beautiful visitors this week - we're open for anyone anytime, just let me know if you'd like to come

 

a cammomile and phacelia posy

broad beans

rampant cammomile

baby gooseberries

cherry tomato plants in the greenhouse

peas

phacelia as green manure

 

 

 

purple asparagus

 

barely any rain for weeks now but everything is growing  remarkable well reagrdless, no doubt due to our constant efforts to improve the soil. looking for a place to plant out the goji plants this week, and lots more seed sowing.

first crops

our very first asparagus spear is up, and very cute. not for eating though, this year or maybe even next.

but the rhubard is plentiful and jewel-like and delicious.

starting an asparagus bed

long term project: starting an asparagus bed.

the crowns take, probably 2 years to settle in and then keep going for up to 20 years.

they look like aliens

first you dig a trench into which we added some compost and some rock dust

then you make a ridge along the centre of the trench

then you spread the roots of the alien asparagus crown either side of the ridge, like this:

then you sit back and admire your new asparagus bed, carefully fill the trench back in

add labels

and wait ...

'pond cigars'

the spring sunshine made us very happy on sunday morning, letting us back to play at the allotment after such a long time.

we admired the fragile memories of last year's life, and found plenty of evidence of vigorous new life. 

the goji berry plants have sheltered in the greenhouse over the winter but had lost all of their leaves and i was less than hopeful for their survival, but look !

dried artichoke head

crocus

goji - made it through the winter

another goji made it too

 

and although things may still feel a bit bleak, and look a bit sleepy, spring is there alright, and here we shall encounter all kinds of abundance very soon.