The party is in full swing!

   Sugar snap peas (Oregon Sugar Pod) sown and summer/winter squash and pumpkins transplanted. Then it rained overnight - result! Just what was required. Broad beans harvested and over 3 kilogrammes frozen. Great Lakes lettuce from the poly tunnel cut and the cherry trees scaled and a good amount picked. There were almost  too many to eat but we managed a good number! Still, quite a few got away! Cauliflowers from the poly tunnel cut and frozen. Last of the "Christmas" potato's dug. up. Starting to pick peas. Beetroot thinned out. Minidor yellow french dwarf beans sown and more Great Lakes lettuce transplanted in the poly tunnel. Lettuce leave and lemon basil transplanted, also in the poly tunnel. Phew!
    Sunday dinner (23rd June) was all Champeau Bas produced produce - roast chicken, broad beans, carrots, peas and potatoes. 
   Weeds, weeds, weeds. Always weeds! And the grass - umm. I can only mutter dire threats against the grass. The weather has suited the garden but not me. I would love to see some sunshine last longer than just a couple of hours and without broken cloud please!  It has been  on the cool side (for this area) and damp. There have often been rain showers and the soil is warm to the touch which means everything grows fast. including weeds and grass. 

Tomatillo in the poly tunnel 

   
  

There are things to eat in the garden....

Digging the runner bean trench

   The next sowing of peas has been done, variety Hatif d'Annonay dwarf pea. I am making use of the old sheep fencing to support the peas. French dwarf beans have germinated. Lots of plants to transplant and I am in a 

Giant cauliflower All the Year Round   

real hurry to get them out before the weather turns too hot. I have now transplanted 200 tomato plants - Moneymaker, Latah, Champeau Giant Yellow, Millfleur, Oregon Spring, Edith Watkins Best and Romano. The last eight went into the tomb and now need to be staked up. I also have cucumbers to transplant. These will be going outside, variety Wautoma. Time also to transplant squashes and courgettes! Soon need to plant the next lot of beans and carrots.
   The sweet peppers and aubergines transplanted a while back are looking very sick. They look like they have been attacked by some sort of aerial fungal disease. It is a problem here when it is very humid. It is also very noticeable in the poly tunnel. My wonderful looking Little Gem lettuce has also been badly hit although we are managing to eat the majority. There is also the problem of there being too much rain and leaching of trace minerals manifested in the pale green leaves of the parsnips and carrots. The soil here is short on magnesium at the best of times.
   I have had a nice surprise. One of the cherry trees that I thought was a sour cherry turns out to 

Freshly picked cherries

be a sweet cherry tree. This year it has had a lot of fruit on it and it is fast becoming a competition to pick the fruit before the birds get it. Fingers crossed this year could be a bumper year for fruit.
   Turkeys and table chickens have now arrived at Watermeadows. 

Time to get on!
 

Ever forwards rain or no rain....

   29th May.
    The start of the week has been cool and wet. I struggle on, weeding and cutting the grass whether border verges or the lawns.
    Finally I have celery germinating. It has taken four sowing's of half seed trays of seed to get them to germinate. Guess the celery did not like the cool conditions! Hopefully with the long growing season here I will manage to produce some. Tomato's are now becoming a urgent case to transplant outside and my attention turns to them. The tomato beds are ready for planting just need a pause in the rain! I got the pause and 90 tomato plants transplanted - Moneymaker, Millefleur, Champeau Yellow Giant, Romano. Also the sweet corn I have planted in modules is germinated and growing well. The sweet corn bed needs attention! The strawberry beds need weeding! Arrgggh!
    Broad beans in the poly tunnel are now ready to pick and I think I will take a serving and leave the rest, as planned, for seed. The tomato's in the poly tunnel are growing well with the variety Latah in flower and hopefully they will soon turn into tomato's. The tomato's I have grown with the hope that they will grown on into the autumn are also growing well in their pots - Oregon spring and Ethel Watkins. Both are supposed to tolerate cooler conditions.
    There are now spout and cabbage plants that need to be transplanted and there are tomatillos too that need to go out. Sprouts and cabbage have been put out but now I have pigeons to deal with! 

Pigeon strike!

 And what caused this damage to my potatoes? It happened overnight while the chickens were shut up. Badger? Fox? Deer? So far I have not seen any other clues. I do not think whatever it was is after the potatoes as the tubers are not yet formed. Ants and their eggs are more likely but a lot of dirt has been moved. 

   Today I have seen the first tomato in the poly tunnel. It is a Latah tomato and it is only the 4th June! Yep, this variety are most certainly early. It will not be long and the summer/winter squash and courgettes will also need to be found space. In the mean time the grass and weeds grow! I noticed that the vine is now well and truly taking off. That will need pruning before you can say Jack Robinson! Busy busy busy!