Tip – Water the seedlings regularly until they’re established. Once they are sturdy, don’t water them unless the weather is dry. Start watering them again when the flowers appear. Too much water when French beans are young encourages leaf-growth at the expense of flowers and pods.

The butternut squash plants had taken over the nursery bed and the area around it. Tangled amongst them were the Gardeners Delight tomato plants which were devastated by Blight. We removed the tomato plants and all the weeds to allow the squash plant more room.

The Runner Beans were heavy with the crop which had gone way beyond the stage that I would normally harvest. I did pick a whole tray though and I shall work through them and freeze what I can. Runner Bean Firetongue turned out having to be shelled as the outer skin, whilst very beautiful, didn’t look good enough to eat. The Barlotti beans also were way past their best and again I picked just a tray and have divided them into ‘good to freeze’, ‘good to dry’ and ‘use for seed next year’.

We picked a whole bowl of lovely tomatoes of all descriptions which had survived the Blight as they were safely tucked away in the lean to.

Today I have sown more beans in pots to start off at home. Runner Bean White Lady, Climbing Bean Blauhilde, Black Bean Delinel and some unlabelled small white beans sent to me by a forum member last year.

Yesterday I potted on some Tomatoes Sweet Millions given to us by a friend along with a Cherry Belle and an Alicante.

Puddles also seems full of beans as he waits patiently for Jemima, who is sitting on a clutch of eggs, to produce his offspring.

I had a lovely day yesterday as my son Sean and his partner Debbie came to visit. They brought an enormous bunch of Rhubarb from their garden. The leaves were massive. They are veggie growing nutters too so we all went down to the plots to join Rob who was working hard digging over the remaining empty beds. We took a flask of tea and sandwiches for the worker. It was really cold and windy down there. I wish the weather would warm up a bit so we could start planting. On the way back home we popped to see my other son Adam before going back to make Cottage Pie for tea.

Just as we were setting off  yesterday Simon arrived with the laths for the tunnel and we were able to deliver them to the plot and this morning Rob and Glenn have gone down to tie them on to the ribs of the tunnel for the next stage of the tunnel building project. Much sleep has been lost pondering on the best way to make the structure secure.

I have just put eight Runner Bean seeds in a 7″ pot. They are Thompson & Morgan’s ‘The Teenie Beanie’. They are described as ‘baby podded’ and ‘prolific’. Germination takes 7-10 days. They are red flowered.

I put twelve of these seeds in a 7″ pot and into a polythene bag to germinate. I have also sown a few more lettuce seeds. Little Gem, Lollo Rosso and Raddichio. The first sowing of peas I put in at home need planting out now so we intend to do that this afternoon, weather permitting. We are putting them around the inside of the old brassica cage. The peas sown direct by Rob have begun to shoot now. The potatoes planted in pots in the lean to are doing well but we shall need to move them outside soon as the space will be needed for the cucumbers and tomatoes. The melons sown at home that have survived are going very leggy and leaning over so the sooner they can go into their permanent bed the better.

I also put about 40 Pea Starlight in to soak. We sowed these last year but didn’t get a very good crop as we were late with them.

I potted on 48 Cabbage Excel, 48 Calabrese Marathon and 48 Cauliflower Baldo Delicious.

I was given some seeds for these lovely beans by the previous plot holder and have grown them this year for the first time. I am not sure of the correct name for the ones I have but on doing a google I came up with the above. Well wether they are Barlotti or Borlotti I like them. The ones I have are dwarf  in habit but I think you can also get taller ones and I intend to try and get some seeds for next year. They are so pretty both on the plant and when shelled and they taste just great, very tender when picked young and I understand when dried can be used in many ways. I have harvested some and intend to freeze them. I did try them in the shells and cooked them as you would cook runner bean or french beans but found to be a little stringy. I prefer to shell them and mix them with a few peas and young broad beans. Yummy!