All this sunny weather has done wonders for my vegetable garden. I’ve been eating strawberries by the handful, they’re so big and juicy, and perfect with a glass of chilled wine in the evening. The Gooseberries are nearly ready for picking, however, the Raspberries, and blackberries have a little way to go. That said I did get to eat a few Raspberries with my ice cream today.

In fact, everything is doing well, from the potatoes to the Onions, here’s some pictures from the garden.

My potato forest. Only main crop this year, Maris Piper and King Edwards

Cambridge and Elsanta Strawberries, lots and lots of them.

Now where’s that bottle of Chateauneuf du pape

The onions are coming along a treat.

Plump juicy Raspberries

A late crop of Peppers and Chillies

Pumpkins and Squashes

Peas, Mangetout, and Petit pois

My Rampant Rhubarb

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Its Easter, so as the weather has been fairly good for the past few days, I got out into the veg garden to do some much needed weeding, and planting. The day started with clearing the weeds, lots and lots and lots of them. (Note to self: clear weeds all year round) I dug in loads of compost and organic material, giving the vegetable  a nice growing medium. I’ve cut down on the potato varieties I’m growing this year too Maris piper and Desiree. Just main crop, as we had far too many earlies last year.

I’ve planted the onion sets, four types, and the garlic. It’s getting a little late for the garlic, but it was cheap, so I thought I’d give it a go anyway. I forced the Rhubarb and it’s growing nicely. The strawberry plants were moved a few weeks back, and I’m very pleased that they have taken to their new home surrounding the Gooseberry bushes.

Bring on summer.

300 onion sets planted and awaiting some sun

Gooseberry bushes growing in the strawberry bed

Rhubarb getting ready for the crumble and custard.

After much umm-ing and arr-ing I finally did it, I’ve lifted my onion crop. As you can see from the first photo the onions were in a sorry state, but growing well. However, I’d started to lose a few to seeding so I think the time was right for digging them up. So after an hour’s pulling and cleaning I have nearly 60lbs of onions. I’m not so sure Helen is happy with me hanging them out to dry on the washing line though.

I’m so glad we like onions!

Nearlly 60lbs of onions on the washing line . . . hmmm

My babies

This week I’ve harvested 11lbs of courgettes, a few cabbages, and some purple and orange carrots.

Some of the courgettes are a little bigger than they should be . . . .

I’ve attempted growing sweetcorn this year and I’m amazed how well they‘re coming along. Both the baby and the normal sweetcorn have flowered and the cobs are fattening up

Finally I managed to get out in the vegetable garden today, after dodging the heavy rain and thunderstorms to do some much needed harvesting. My Petit Pois pees are literally bursting off the bush and some have turned into pea pods as it’s taken me so long to harvest them!

I feel like I’ve been waiting for my carrots to grow for ages. Today I couldn’t wait any longer so I pulled a few up to check on their size. Some were ok as baby carrots and others were very tiny. So I will have to leave them for a few more weeks now. However, the Purple carrots are amazing.

As a vegetable gardener I do tend to get impatient waiting for things to be harvested.Some days like today when I’m harvesting other goodies, I often think I’ll just see if there’s any nice spuds I can harvest for tea. I do love rummaging around in the soil to reveal the potatoes which will soon be sitting on the dinner plate with a knob of butter and a few mint leaves. I also lifted a few Beetroot, both white and traditional, they went down a treat roasted with a nice pork chop.

Some of the Red and white beetroot

I simply love cauliflower (and a little cheese)

My Sweetcorn forest!!

It’s been a very, very busy time in the garden of late. Lost of weeding and tending to plants. The vegetables are growing so quickly, so much so, that we’ve started eating them. The carrots are fantastic. Anyway, heres some pictures of the vegetable beds so you can see how we’re getting on.

Petit pois pees and some strawberries in a pot

Moneymaker tomato plants

Baby sweetcorn, giant radish, courgette, and pees climbing the fence.

More Moneymaker tomatoes

Beetroot, cos lettuce, Little Gem lettuce, white beetroot, purple carrot, and some more pees on the fence

Spanish onions, Over 200!!

Baby Sweetcorn

A view down the garden. Parsnips in the pots

Chillies and Peppers

Rhubarb, artichoke, and Cauliflowers

Garden pees

Another view along the garden beds

Summer cabbage

Parsnips in pots

And finally our apples.

I’ve found cat poo on my vegetable garden . . .

If I didn’t love my cats, I’d be the proud owner of a very comfy pair of fluffy slippers by now!

It’s a warm and sunny afternoon, I decided to harvest all my 1st early potatoes to make way for some new vegetables. So with bucket and spade in hand I spent half an hour digging down into the bed. Lots of earth needed moving and it was easier to lift the potatoes using a large fork and going through the soil with my hands

I left the potatoes out on the lawn to dry a little before I put them into a sack for storage. I’m so happy with the results, I’ve grown just over 22lbs of new potatoes.

With the potatoes out of the ground, I had loads of free space for new vegetables. I planted Swede and a second crop of cauliflower.

Wow, what an unbelievable weekend, following the heavy rain at the beginning of the week and plenty of adulterated sunshine over the past few days everything in the garden has grown. As you can see from the photos, we’ve been eating our generous crop of radish.

The Petit Pois garden peas are over 18 inches tall, and are climbing the fence at a furious pace.

The Maris peer 2nd early potatoes are flowering, and will be ready for lifting around late June early July. In the picture below the onions are doing well, and the King Edwards are just over 4 feet tall! The smaller potato plants are my 1st early Swift variety, these do not flower and we’re eating them now. I’m hoping to lift them all this week and plant a second crop of potatoes for autumn.

The salad beds are stuffed to the gunnels with fresh and juicy vegetables, so it’s hard to stop myself grazing. Finally the gooseberries are plumping up and will be ready to eat soon.

I dug some of my first early potatoes today.

I have a very large patch devoted to potatoes this year. About 5 x 15 feet, and I’m very happy as it’s been growing successfully so far. As I’ve grown 1st Earlies, 2nd Earlies, and main crop potatoes, I’m able to enjoy a delicious crop of first-Earlies a few weeks before other crops are ready to harvest

So with fork in hand I pulled a handful of potatoes that were up near the surface. They were excellent. Fresh and yummy. I boiled the potatoes for a few minutes, and with a knob of butter sat down and enjoyed the first crop from the garden. They were wonderful.

I also planted out half of my tomato crop into the last empty raised bed in the garden. I’ve decided to try some tomatoes and the greenhouse and some outside. This way I’m hoping to get good crop.

It’s hard to describe how much nicer vegetables taste from your garden, I can’t recommend it enough.

It simply amazes me how much the vegetable garden is changing, especially this past week. We’ve enjoyed a great spell of super sunny weather, and the plants have taken advantage of it. I’ve now got a forest of potatoes. It’s hard to believe that four weeks ago they were just poking the heads above ground (inset) and look at them now.

Even my pototo bag experiments are reaching for the sky!

I have planted out some minipop sweetcorn, which are over a foot tall already, some courgettes, a row of climbing pea’s, and some mixed radish seeds (middle bed) as well as a whole bed of normal sweetcorn.

Finally, here’s a picture of the chillies and sweet peppers.

Here are a few pictures to show you just how quickly the potatoes are growing. The pictures have been taken 7 days apart. In the foreground are the 1st Earlies with the King Edwards behind.

What is the best way of ending my cat’s jihad against my lovely vegetables.

My nine month old cats, Dillon and Daisy have gone bonkers, and are taking out their pent-up energy on my vegetables. In the past few days, they’ve shredded the fleece covering the carrot bed, and pooped on the potatoes, which gives our garden that unenviable distressed look.

How do I convince Dillon and Daisy that the scratching post is really the better outlet for their aggression? I’ve put catnip around the garden where I’d like the cats to poop, but they don’t seem to be going for it.

Help me please, before I introduce the cats to IED’s