All mostly growing very well here and generally on a par with any year for a bumper harvest.
Peas and mangetout took a lot longer to get going, but have in last few weeks grown well and the second and third sowing has almost caught up now with the early one.
The sweet peas are now flowering as they normally do at this time, but have not reached the normal heights, only a third way up the poles.
My spinach and chard took ages to get going from seed in the ground, but finally have had a spurt last few weeks and now producing well and finally up to scratch sizewise.
All my other herbs have done well, including some chervil this year for the first time, but my Parsley is not its usual bushy plant it gets to this time of year. Some of the parsley plants are quite spindly and some of the lower outer leaves have turned yellow. Luckily its just time for sowing some more seed in a cooler area of the garden.
Broad beans have been ok and just starting to wither now. Had a good crop, they did get delayed a few weeks after that March snow, but I'd say its about 3/4 yield of what I normally get. No blackfly here for a second year running.
Whats doing well is'
My Autumn raspberries are fruit setting well and leafed high up the staked area.
Having a bumper crop of Strawberries from my own runners in pots.
Gooseberries producing well.
New potatoes are cropping well too, but two new varieties I tried (foregoing one staple I've used over the years of Pentland Javelin), Foremost and Carlingford were not the best yield, only producing 3-4lb per bag. Compared to my staple Charlotte, International Kidney, Pentland javelin and Duke of York that always yield about 10-12lb per bag and have done for the ones I've emptied this year so far.
As well as my Westland Autumn Kale I have grown for years, I'm also growing a few new varieties this year, Red devil, Fizz and Dwarf Garden. The Red devil and Fizz varieties tend to suffer through the day and bends over slightly, but after a late evening water, it recovers and is upright, ready for another hot day.
Tried some already from each variety and they are great tasters and different from my staple.
Cucumbers are now producing fruit, sweetcorn now strong 4-5 foot plants, tomatoes in greenhouse and outside all doing well for this time of year and all flowering with a few setting tomatoes.
Runner beans as ever have rampaged last few weeks and are flowering well and now little beans growing.
French Cobra beans are mad as ever and first bucket of beans will be ready to pick this weekend.
Purple Queen dwarf french beans in pots have done as well as ever and flowering nicely.
I saved some seed from my first year of growing Sonesta beans and they are doing fine in pots too. Loved those yellow beans last year, very dwarf, medium cropper, but tasty. Love how easy with beans it is to save seed
Turnips took their time to mature but all now fattening up nicely. A second sowing a few weeks back has just started to floursish too.
Leeks just look as they normally do this time of year, sitting proud.
Grow all my carrots, Chantenay and Touchon in pots now and eat them as baby carrots late Summer through to Winter. Always need thinning out, but all lush green and just gave a few pots a thinning with the thinnings now in another pot.
Was sad to pop round to a friends allotment, who tends to just spary water all over from height and his brassicas, tomatoes and beans all have badly scorched leaves.
He waters early morning and has done it like that for a few years. A lesson learnt I think for this year and others, but especially this hot dry spell.
