We spent a couple of hours this morning at home in the garden then popped to the plots for an hour. The rain kept off and the hour turned into four hours. We sowed more seeds of Parsnip Hollow Crown and Carrot Nantes into the bottom bed.

There was great excitement when we saw two asparagus spears peeping through already.

Rob put in some Peas Kelvedon Wonder in the bottom brassica tunnel. I had been swishing them for a few days and they were already germinated so should be off to a good start.  The Hurst Green Shaft that I put in the top tunnel are well up now and the Meteor are showing through too.

Rob has moved the obelisk that I grow the Sweet Peas up and I have planted the Spencer Mixed raised from seed at home. They are now situated at the bottom of the plot by the seating area.

We came home with another bunch of Raddish French Breakfast, my favourite. I shall have to sow more next time we go down.

At home I have pricked out the Gardeners Delight seedlings and potted on some Alicante and Black Cherry.

Tomatoes are packed with antioxidants and are rich in Vitamins A and C and lycopene, all helping to stimulate your body’s immune system.

Tip – It is a good idea to provide some sort of covering over your germination containers to preserve moisture. You can place the container in a plastic bag or cover it with a sheet of plastic. Allow for some air to circulate but don’t let the mix dry out. Dry seeds will not germinate.

I have also potted on a mix of new Tomato seedlings and sown seeds of Pumpkin Mammoth, Butternut Squash Avalon and Melon Honeydew. The tomatoes are Moneymaker, Tigerella, Lemon Tree and Alicante.

….and here is the buff plymouth rock chick too.

I have potted on the first seven of the Tomato plants now; thirteen more to go.

Indeterminate. This purple skinned, cherry tomato with dark red flesh and a sweet and juicy flavour fruits in abundance throughout the summer. Ideal for greenhouse growing, or outdoors in a sunny spot.

Ivory coloured cherry tomatoes that are said to be sweet without being sugary. An indeterminate.

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.

Tunnel one is doing its job and we have harvested some good stuff from there. Roy and Jan paid us a visit and went home with a few goodies including a bunch of carrots from the carrot bin, a cabbage, a courgette, a cauli, a swede and potatoes plus a jar of black currant jam we had taken for Keith but were too late as he is an early starter and had already left when we got there. 

Back at home we picked the first of the tomatoes. They were from the Sungold plant which has grown like mad and is now higher than the perimeter fence of the chicken run . We stood the tomato plants in tubs all around the chicken run, outside ofcourse, as last year we couldn’t get to the allotment every day and so couldn’t water regularly. Having them at home as been much easier.