Oh I get it, aussie = upside down.    The right way up on my screen.

Really?!
It's not here.

Yep, the broadbeans were lovely, I dont normally eat them.  All i did was plonk a seed right in the ground and that is it other than weeding and watering.  Planted them in March when it was bitterly cold, they are hardy little buggers.

Rob, I'm watching a programme on Ch5 at the moment (while listening to the cricket on the comp) about an Aussie bloke who went on a juice only fast for 60 days and improved his health enormously.
It's really interesting.
It's also being shown on Ch5+ from the start at 6pm if you want to have a look.

With the amount of veg you'll get soon it would be dead cheap for you to have a glass or two of fresh juice a day, if you wanted to.

That is a lot of garlic, does that last until winter when hung up?

Nice looking garlic Foinavon...I've finally got around to posting some pics of what I have growing...I have a ton of garlic but it isn't ready to come out yet. Here's a link for anyone who is interested. I added comments to many of the photos. Everything is still in the ground but I'll be taking snaps once I start harvesting.

Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13783447@N03/with/9275922527/

Petrus... That looks like America.  Courgette lloking good, bet you will have them coming out of yourears soon.  All looksa lot tidier than my plot.

Thanks for your comments Petrus and for sharing your pics. I'm envious of the amount of space you have over there. What is your growing season like? It looks hot and dry at the moment and the outdoor tomatoes and squash are growing well. Do you grow other varieties of squash, other than spaghetti squash?

Your weather sounds much like mine (Midlands) and I always add 2 to 4 weeks to sowing instructions on seed packets if sowing outdoors as it seems they are aimed at gardeners in the southern counties. Mostly I start plants in trays and plant out when the soil warms towards the end of May.

Looks very neat and tidy Jack, excellent work.
Rhubarb tends to die back at this time of year so don't worry about leaf spots. They are very hardy plants and will send up some new leaves in a few weeks time when the weather cools. It's a good time to give them a liquid feed to build up strength for next season.
peppers and aubergines are tender plants and best grown with some protection.
Hope this helps. I'm off to do some watering on the allotment now.

That's a lovely work Jack: I like the way the slabs are small enough to be easily movable so next year you could line the beds up in new directions and sizes without too much lifting.
Also that border - you'd expect the grass close to it to be in recovery following all that standing on it when digging, but the grass looks in great shape.

- and this is the table for fruits:

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/fruit-nutrition.html


As you can see, both are from an American site (so include veg and fruits not common to us) but I can't find anything equivalent on a British one.

Good job Jack...nice and organised looking plot you have there :-)

root out, onions in

that's item 1 for my allotment to-do list tomorrow



(courtesy Fred Boycott)

Very good Fishy.

Broccoli is definitely the 'King' of veg, Delta.
If you were limited to only growing one thing on a plot broccoli would be the best thing you could grow nutrient-wise.

Cook root and trot imo.

Hi Blackbarn,
Thanks for the update, the Mediterranean weather should certainly help the Florence Fennel. Best keep them watered otherwise they will bolt. International Kidney is a good tasty variety but I stopped growing them as the slugs ate most of mine in normal wet years. This year I'm growing Wilja and Charlotte (second earlies), Desiree and Sarpo Mira (Maincrop). Sarpo have a degree of blight tolerance and slug resistance so can be left in the ground longer to form larger baking potatoes. There are lots of other good varieties and best to try several to find your own favourites. Another I would mention is Kestrel which is quick to mature and slugs tend to leave them alone.
Good luck with your other crops.

Yes, agree with you that Charlotte is one of the best for flavour especially for salads. I've never tried Ratte, is that a French variety?

nicked the tree

thanks for posting the pics bongo..


here

watered everything to within an inch of its life
garlic [winter] up  - good and bads ones
garlic [spring] part up - poor
broads beans up and finished [root left in for soil benefits] - spring ones good
peas up and finished [root left in for soil benefits] - poor effort - too cold earlier too dry latter imo
leeks planted [122 no.] where BBs were - fingers crossed
strawberry runners pinched/hooked into pots for new ones -


luckily last two days have given some respite on the hot front until tomorrow...

Cheers Delta and Foinavon,

There are strawberries growing wild on the old freight railway path near here, very small plants though, fragaria vesca is the posh name or Alpine strawberry as you said. They're not a commercial variety. They seem to like the thin stony/sandy soil. I'm presuming they will be out competed by grasses in the wild when there is a bit more sunlight and depth of soil. They've taken off since I ahem borrowed a couple to propagate from, and six plants have gone back to where they were taken from.

The site used to be a livestock mart until around 2007, with lots of hard-standing areas. It's had planning permission for 9 houses and a townhouse of 4 units since 2005, now lapsed. Until the developers re-apply and start building i'm 'borrowing' it. Haven't asked permission, just a few cyclists dog walkers and kids asking what's that, do you like cricket and can you fetch that football etc.