Beans and greens

Went to the plot on Saturday for a little while - just long enough to pick the first of our broad beans and a big bagful of strawberries to have after dinner. Mr Hussein (he's got a plot the other side of Phil) gave us advice on our garlic, pointing out some which had gone rotten in the soil and telling us which ones looked like they were going to be good. He then gave us one of his own garlic bulbs, to show us What A Good One Looks Like. Apparently, you can tell if it's a good bulb of garlic if, when you pull it up, it has "a big moustache"... he meant the size of the roots - his English isn't that great, but it's a lovely phrase anyway. When we pull up our garlic I will certainly be checking the size of their moustaches...

I podded the broad beans tonight and eesh! You get a lot of packaging, don't you? The beans themselves are actually still a bit small so next time some are ready we'll leave them a little bit longer.

We went again today to do a bit of tidying and also to plant out the courgette and squash plants which Louise had given us, as well as some tomatoes which a colleague at work had been giving away. She'd sown way too many seeds which is a good thing as our tomatoes are rubbish this year. We've been pampering them and they're still only about 3 inches high. I'm beginning to wonder whether it might be the compost we used - is there a chance it may not have the right nutrients or something and that's why they're not growing very fast?

Anyway, we planted out Louise's courgettes in the places where our original sowings failed, and we also planted four plants which we got from the garden centre. (I feel like a bit of a fraud. Does anyone else have feelings of guilt if they have to resort to buying plants?) So we've now got ten courgettes, at least five are regular green ones and then we've got a couple of yellow ones and a round courgette variety, and another two which are going to be a surprise.

We also planted four squash plants, and two outdoor cucumbers. And, we transplanted the successful sweetcorn so they're all in a block, and sowed some more sweetcorn kernels in the places left over. I know - it's a bit late for sweetcorn, but I'd have kicked myself if we hadn't tried to get a few more plants. Even if we only end up with one kernel on each, I'll be content.

Here's an overview shot - everything's lovely and green...

What else is going on... well, the peas are podding, as are the first rows of mange tout and sugar snap peas. The strawberries are still going crazy, so I might get to make that jam after all. The french beans are finally showing their heads above the soil and the runner beans are just starting to look like they might need a helping hand attaching themselves to the canes. The baby leeks are doing well, even the second sowing which I thought I'd done too late. The kohl rabi and brussels sprouts are also looking a lot better now we've covered them with netting (grr, pigeons) and the red cabbage are also looking a lot healthier - seems the aphids didn't follow them after all. Garlic, shallots and onions are swelling up, and we've got a few beginnings of raspberries and damsons, showing the promise of good things to come.