Things are growing

Managed to get our first harvest of the outdoor Strawberries this weekend. They're not as sweet as the ones from in the greenhouse, but there are far more of them.

One the flowers side, the Foxgloves and Ranunculus are in full swing.

The courgettes on the mini-mound are starting to look a lot better. A little less yellow in the leaves now. The flowers mean that they may well start producing soon.

Elsewhere things are starting to look better. The Onions are now a full grown thicket of greens.

The beetroot is looking like a decent crop.

And the French Beans are starting to progress. More so than the rather disappointing Runner Beans.

The "long walk" of Potatoes is not too shabby either.

But what's this at the far end? Do I detect the June Drop is starting on the Apple Tree?

Time to sweep them all up and throw them in the compost bin. Waste not, want not.

War on weeds

If your plot is anything like mine, then the weeds are everywhere you turn.

You uproot a weed, turn your back for 5 mins and another takes it's place. It seems like it's a never ending infestation of weeds all over the place.

The angle above doesn't really do it justice, but it's about 20cm deep pile of weeds that was roughly pulled out of just one bed and it's surrounds. The bindweed gets thrown in the bucket. The other weeds get thrown on the compost.

But at least the plot looks a little clearer now. (But still more to do.)

There is a marked difference between the strawberries outside, and those raised in the greenhouse. They're the same plants (the greenhouse ones were offshoots from runners). But the inside ones have certainly ripened faster. Only a couple of the outside ones have ripened. But the biggest difference is taste. The inside ones are very sweet but the other seem a little bitter. Maybe we should just wait a while until the rest are fully ripe. Not long to wait.

There are flowers appearing on the rogue potato. Not sure when you should actually harvest them. Does anybody know? The rogue is probably a Charlotte. The ones in the bags are Maris Peer's and Red Roosters. Although due to a mix up, we're not sure which is which.

Also... note the BlackFly. Yes that horrible scourge has returned in great numbers. Consider the Artichoke which always gets them.

Still there do seem to be a few Ladybird Larvae around. Go get 'em.

For the past few Sunday's we've been going to the local Car Boot sales. Not to buy. To try and offload some of the huge amount of "stuff" that we (read "the wife") has collected over the years.

Seems like a good way to make some space, and maybe raise a few coins. Problem is people are so stingy. Would you really bargain down something that's already priced at 50p?