A couple of days hard work....

   It has taken a few days to get there but the garden is looking under control again. Well, sort of. This time of year everything just grows grows grows. 
   In the outside garden over one hundred "storage" onions have been transplanted with the help of my two grandchildren. These onions are Yellow Rynsburger and hopefully will produce a yellow onion that stores well. More grass cutting around the vegetable plots and the sowing of Orbis root parsly. Never grown this before and I will be interested to see what it is like. Supposed to taste like a mild parsnip. The asparagus is really taking off now. New spurs popping up every other day or so. One more bed has been forked and cleared of weeds. Only half a border to do now and that has the green manure Lucerne growing in it so hopefully it will not be too hard to do. That area is marked to be a tomato bed so no particular hurry. Volunteer potatoes are popping up here and there and my ex-Christmas potatoes (now turned into first earlies!) are really motoring. I fear they will be frosted at some point but I will keep covering them up until they get too big. I have sown autumn/winter leek seed in an outside seed bed. My second row of parsnip which was seed gathered some time ago was a complete failure. I was not surprised and that seed has now been thrown away. Parnip is well known for poor germination and I have replanted the row with fresh Tender and True parsnip seed. First sowing of Cheltenham Green Top beetroot has been made. I really like this beetroot. It is hardy, tastes good and will stand in the ground over winter without any problem.
  In the poly tunnel the tomatoes are growing away. An early variety, Latah, is soon going to need to be planted out. Fortunately I have these earmarked for the poly tunnel. Others, Amish Paste, were destined for the outside garden but I do not know if I will be able to hang on until the last frost has past. First few radishes pulled but generally the 19 Jour (day) radish has been a disappointment. I suspect old seed. Asturian tree cabbage and Golden Acre cabbage have been sown in modules. The broad beans are now showing bean pods. Need to consider sowing winter cabbage.
  I have adjusted the mower and cut the grass shorter around the house. Looking out into the main garden I see that the grass needs cutting again. Unfortunately rain is forecast and yes I hate to say it but a little rain would be welcome. Rain yes. Hail no! Yes, it hailed. Least I did not have any lettuce out that was not under cover. It will encourage the recently planted seeds and transplanted onions. Plenty of jobs to do such as moving the cow manure heap and trimming borders not to mention cutting the grass!

Broad beans in the poly tunnel

All the Year Round cauliflower in the poly tunnel