Waiting Around in the Sunshine

After a wonderful week on holiday it was about time we returned to some gardening!  There were the typical amount of weeds that needed sorting and hoeing out but after that there is only a lot to admire. A huge weed patch had grown at the same place the sweet williams should have grown.  Rather than wait and the weeds grow too strong I hoed the whole area so they will have to wait for next year.

 We are still at the waiting stage there are a lot of things going on but very little to harvest.  We came home to find that the little gems had bolted so have only had tiny harvest of lettuce so far.  The strawberry plants have not produced anywhere near as much fruit as last year however they were moved out of containers this spring. The only ones I have tasted tasted odd, almost musty so they went into a glass of pimm's.  I'm hoping these ones will taste better:

The tomatoes have finally recovered from their trauma of being left in their pots a bit too long.

 At one stage I thought I would be blogging about how badly they have done and it looked like there would be no tomatoes to enjoy this year.  Now I can see the first signs of flowers and the plants remain a lush green.  Al pointed out a tiny greenfly in the photo but I don't think it's anything to worry about. I spray the tomatoes with dilute washing up liquid which seems to help because I never seem able to attract ladybirds.

All the beans and peas have started flower, I have to confess that most of the varieties we are growing this year were bought because the seeds were reasonable rather than majestic looking blooms.   I'm glad I can see flowers because I was beginning to panic I'd left them too late to be able to enjoy a lengthy harvest but it's clear now that this will not be the case.

Do you remember me posting about how we cheated and bought plants after the late frosts?  Well the first courgette plant is beginning to show a tiny courgette which will hopefully be ready to eat soon. I always have a knack for forgetting to pick the flowers for stuffing until they are too open to stuff.  My favourite time is when they are ready with the tomatoes so they can be made into a light sauce or ratatouille.  This year it will be even sweeter if the red onions are ready at the same time.