The garden in late June

A wet June but it hasn't all been bad. The pears are amazing; for once I thinned then and it seems to have paid dividends as the fruit is developing nicely and we should have a good crop.

The artichokes always look beautiful and add structure.

Stargazer lilies and decorative poppies outside the kitchen door add colour and the courgettes are delicious - we've just eaten some!

 

Yippee, courgettes

Not many and not huge, but delicious. If the weather picks up maybe we'll get some more.

 

The garden in May

Our gite is now open for business. These are the photos I took of the garden last week to help promote it.

The greenhouse is being productive. After last year's tomato disaster I decided to keep two tomatoes growing under cover. The rest are in the veggie patch. The lettuces will be reay next week.

Celery to keep Max happy.

Last year a friend told me that you can keep weeds down by mulching with (untreated) grass cuttings so this year we decided to try it. I have them around the toms and lettuces in the greenhouse and around everything in the veggie patch that doesn't have a plastic mulch.

I DON'T like weeding!

 

New start in the garden

Today heralds a new start in the garden. It was a beautiful day and, apart from general maintenance, the first day we have actually done any constructive work towards this year's produce. This is a photo of the main veggie patch this morning:

The plastic sheeting is left over from last year and needed to be lifted so that we can reuse it this year. The greenhouse is fine after its wonderful overhaul last year. However it needs a clear out (Sunday's job).

This year I want to add an extra bed in here. We have too many paths and where there are paths there are an abundance of summer weeds. I don't mind using glysophate before I've sown/planted but once veg is in the ground I don't like to use it at all. So, my grand plan is to have an extra bed, thus cutting down on the paths between them.

I know the rotovator is the bain of all good, sensible gardeners but in this case we used it. I am quite sure the penalty will be paid later on but I'm hoping it won't be too bad with the help of the plastic sheeting.

Max turned the soil and by the end of the afternoon we had a well turned plot. Tomorrow I will put the plastic back and start planning what is going where.

One surprise that greeted me while I was weeding the asparagus bed:

I don't think I've ever seen asparagus shoots this early. More frost is forecast so I piled a stack of soil over the top to protect it for a bit longer.