Fields of garlic

Sting sang about 'Fields of Barley'.  I think 'Field of Garlic' sounds much better!

Planted on shortest day, looking forward to harvesting in longest day.

The Tomato factory

Lots going on at the moment especially as it's warm and raining.

Tomatoes not getting the rain of course but doing better than I know what to do with.  I think I need about 8 plants if last year is anything to go by.  I planted a whole packet of seeds and they pretty much all came through so I now have a tomato factory on my hands.

And

About 100 or so, so at a pound each that's erm . . £100!

Construction

Raised bed number 2 complete, no idea what I'm going to put in it yet.

Also got a couple of pyramids built, 1 for runner beans (I know, I know, no-one likes them much but they are really nice to grow).  2nd one is for Sweet Peas which are coming on nicely in pots inside and outside the greenhouse.

Second raised bed in the making (45% complete)

First one was a triumph of 'measure twice, cut once'.

Second is bit more 'let's see how it goes'.  Thinking of raising one side on bricks - radical!

Rhubarb for dessert

'Forced' rhubarb doesn't sound very humane does it.  Grow rhubarb in complete darkness and the young shoots are very sweet, apparently.  Sounds similar to the production of veal and, seeing as I love  veal, I figureI'm going to like forced rhubarb.

Looked at few cool forcing pots in the green centre but decided to use an updsice down flower-pot instead 'cos I had a flower-pot and didn't fancy spending £40 on a 'forcer'.

Here's the results; the rhubarb uncovered; the harvest; ready for the oven; puréed; and the finished dessert.

Seed planting for lunch

Took an hour off for lunch to plant some seeds before it gets too late.

Tomatoes  

    San Marzano    Look like plum tomatoes, good for space apparently
    Alicante    Look like normal tomatoes

If every seed germinates and grows I'll be giving a lot of plants away in a few days (hmmm - or maybe selling them!)

Chili Peppers

    Gusto Puprle


And managed to get something in the 'raised bed' that I built recently


Spring Onions   White Lisbon

Rocket

Scarecrow Repairs

Regular visit from the Scarecrow builder, Elisa, meant that we could do a few running repairs and get her (the scarecrow, not Elisa) positioned to scare pests from the broad beans.

I actually think we need to work on a scare-slug design for this year.