Fruit!

OK, so it's not much and it's soft fruit, but it's a start. And not a bad one, considering this is the first year I've had the soft fruit in my garden. This morning I pulled a couple of strawberries off the strawberry planter, and the rest of the blackcurrants off the one bush fruiting this year. These are now happily residing in my fruit box for lunch today.

I'm in a bit of a lull in the veggie garden at the moment, because of my haphazard planting this year. I pulled the last of the broad beans out last week, and the first lot of peas are done. The leeks are all in seed at the moment, and the spinach is finished. The cauliflower I planted last summer aren't yet ready. Because I was so late getting things planted this year, the french beans, courgettes and tomatoes aren't quite ready, so all that's coming out of the garden is a few salad greens, the garlic and the leek ramps. I could pluck the cabbage early if I were really desperate, but I'm fortunate that I'm not entirely reliant on the garden this year and don't have to worry about the 'hungry gap'.

Soon we'll be drowning in tomatoes, potatoes, courgettes, squash and french beans; and there are lots of seedlings in the greenhouse to follow up the veg coming into season though: more courgettes to follow the early ones, in case they catch powdery mildew, lots more beans and lots of salad greens, pak choi and spinach to settle into autumn and winter, more cauliflower and broccoli for next spring, and salad onions and herbs requiring heat to germinate. I'm also taking lots of cuttings of clematis, herbs and lavender at the moment so I can propagate those around. And this weekend I'll be planting lots of autumn root veg: more radish as well as turnips, swedes and parsnip.