I can't believe how much everything has grown in the 6 days we were away - including the weeds! The piccy above is my lovely little Eriba caravan at the campsite.
I got back to beds full of the dreaded docks and my poor little parsnips were nowhere to be seen as the docks and other weeds were so big they covered them! I've basically had Sunday and yesterday flitting around not knowing what to do first, but have finally gotten myself organised and sorted my strawberries (netted), beans (slimy critter munched) and today weeded the parsnip bed. I think in my head I had it sorted once we had finished digging the last bed and had visions of me just wandering around the plot sowing, planting and harvesting! I guess not then! So, Plan B is to weed a bed everytime I go to the plot for a proper session and that way hopefully keep it under control. I am also going to mulch like mad!
The strawbs now netted. I had been watching my first fab strawberries ripen, though always in the back of my mind I knew I really needed to put netting over it. Well Saturday it had been nibbled and yesterday both had disappeared. Served me right. I hope the creature who ate it enjoyed it as that's the last one they're getting!
Somethig slimy has had a right go at my beans. To give you an idea of what you are looking at in the pic above:- Slightly to the left of the cane is the straggly sweetpea I put in, then next to that the stick is what is left of the bean. I think its the doing of a big snail I found hiding in the rocket! He's blackbird fodder now! Anyway, I sowed a couple more beans at each station of the worst affected and will pull out the weakest ones before they really take off.
I'm now getting peas coming on. They look good though are not filling the pods yet. Didn't stop me opening up my first pea pod and trying the baby peas. They were Rondo, sown in Autumn (though not strictly an overwintering pea, it managed to make it) and tasted delicious!Below are pics of the parsnip bed. You can see where I have started to weed one half of the bed and how full of weeds the other half was. I'm not saying there were no weeds in it last week - there was a smattering, but it then went crazy! The next pic shows where I have weeded the rest of the bed (properly, digging out ALL the roots) and have started to add the strawy manure as a mulch to try to keep the weeds at bay.
On Saturday I dug up the first potatoes of the year. One Red Duke of York and one Maris Bard plant. There wasn't the greatest amount of spuds on each one but they were fabulous! I dug some up on Tuesday and this time I dug only a RDoY plant and there were loads. As much as both of the previous plants put together. I dug a plant of both up again yesterday and got the boy to give them a wash. He loved the whole experience - like digging for treasure - now if I could only get him to eat them without pulling a face and smothering them in ketchup :o)
A creature (I'm thinking fox) dug up one of my Turk's Turban squashes and the other looked a bit mauled too. I planted it back in and have my fingers crossed for a full recovery. I'd be sad not to have them this year as I only planted two in total and gave the rest away as they get so big! 
In the greenhouse everything had also gone mad and they all seem to have doubled in size. I've a few toms swelling now too. The happiest are definately those sown later. I must keep my itchy fingers under control until at least March. The earlier ones are taller and actually have some toms on them, but look really skinny compared to the much more robust later ones.
Below - a pic of my Saturday bounty! I made a onion and spinach tart and french onion soup from all this. I now understand what happens to the middle of a leek or onion when they bolt - but they still tasted yummy in soup mmmmm!
And finally a pic of bees on my chives. At one point I counted 5 bees within a square foot! I do love bees!
To the back garden. My beloved rhododendron is looking glorious. This fella hasn't let me down since I hacked it back when we first moved in.
Another lovely sunny day on the plot. Today was a day of planting and I did loads. We arrived at 10.30, the Hubby and kids stayed until 2pm and I left at 5.
HUbby put up my two new arches, while I dug over the bed ready for the pumpkins and squashes. It was a doddle. Even though it was full of weeds when I started they lifted with mimimal effort from the bed that has carrots in last year. I planted Jack-Be-Little, Ornamental Gourds, Small Sugar and Early Butternut to go up and over the arches - two of each variety on each side, In Bed 2 I planted Turks Turban (2) (lots of room all round), F1 Sunburst (2) and another butternut whose name escapes me at the moment (2) (bit closer together). I'm going to plant my sweetcorn seedlings in the same bed when they are big enough.
Bed 9
My leeks from last year never really made the grade. They have very little white stem, mostly made up of leaves and have now gone to seed (as expected). I'll get it right this year hopefully and think I'm just going to let a few of the leeks run their course to see what the flowers are like and maybe save the seed.
I had been going on about needing a coldframe - until I realised that I actually already had one in the form of my carrot frame. With some plastic over the top if needed. It's working brilliantly!
And finally at home my countless varieties of beans (like the peas and toms!) are dtarted to pop up. The dwarf frenches are doing well and of the climbers the Cosse Violette are the winners! I cant believe how fast tehse things grow. Got up this morning they were like - this evening they are open and leaves out! They'd changed even in the first hour of being awake!! Fab!
