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!