The First of this years Llies

The First Tomato of 2011

The first tomato of 2011 I just have to decide whether to just eat it or have it sliced on a sandwich with back pepper

This is Stevia ,I've been trying to get hold of this for about 10 years. It is 40 times sweeter than sugar  yet has no calories  and doesn't effect blood sugar. I'm going to pick the first of the 10 pots next week and dry and powder the leaves for stewing fruit

Autumn planted Onions

These are the Autumn planted onions  that were planted last year.They will be ready to lift shortly. I must admit I am rather disappointed with this crop.what with the very hard winter and the very dry spring I feel that the space could have been better used for another  winter crop

Soft fruit

Red Dessert Gooseberries

Loads of soft Fruit ready for picking . pounds and pounds of it .All I can say is  when planning the fruit garden ,it seemed a good idea at the time . Its not only the picking but the fruit pies and crumbles for the freezer plus the jams ,stewed fruit and chutney's a lot of work ahead  

Boscop Giant Blackcurrants

Raspberries

Raspberry

Broad Beans in Greenhouse

Masses of flowers

 Believe it or not these are the Broad Beans I sowed on the 21st May . Only through doing this blog have I realised how quickly these beans grow when they are grown under glass. Before sowing I added a good dose of pure fish meal to the soil and rotavated  it into the top 5 to 6 inches. I plant them very close together 4 to 6 inches apart, in three rows in a 2 foot bed .They have to be  staked  and tied  in as they are liable to fall and then we get the domino effect The beans  are now 4 feet high and an army of very small bumble bees are fertilising them. Iwill have to stop them when they reach the glass which is 6 to 7 feet high. all they need now is water water and more water .

Giant Bulbs bloom

These are the very large Lily bulbs I bought from a newspaper in the spring .They are coming into flower and and are truly gorgeous. Well worth waiting for.

 The perfume is gorgeous 

Giant Lily bulbs flower at last .They are so beautiful

New Potatoes

I only thought tonight when I was lifting the new potatoes tonight that I had forgotten to blog my new potatoes. I lifted the first  lot over three weeks ago. These are Rocket and are huge more like the size of a maincrop they taste fantastic