Our First Harvest of mixed leaves for salad 2020

       We celebrated our first harvest of delicious home grown salad leaves  !

Lovely Lettuce , Coriander  , Dill , Vietnamese mustard , purple sprouted broccoli micro-greens , spearmint and spring onions .

Runner-beans planted

Having hardened off my Runner-bean babies for a few days , in and out of the potting -shed , I decided to plant them out .

 Now then , listen to me , please bear in mind that I am down as far south as you can go in the U.K.  ( The Lizard Cornwall ) and the weather has been lovely and mild, hot even some days .
 It is recommended that elsewhere in the U.K Runner-bean plants should be planted out around the end of May to avoid the chance of frost and the closer up to Scotland , even later still mid June . SO PLEASE WAIT ! and don't say I didn't warn you !

 You are , however safe to sow the beans directly into the veg- garden now and I am going to sow some more a bit later on to give me a later  harvest .

 I might have waited another week , but if you look at this picture , you can see that my Runner-bean plants are just at the stage where in another day or two they would begin winding around each other and be really difficult to untangle .
 To get around this problem , you could give them each a stick to wind around  .

                                          I decided to plant them out .

 I watered them in , carefully one by one , trying not to get any water on the leaves .
 I fixed up a bit of protection from the wind , which usually blows in from the South and West here . It was all looking so good .

 I put up another smaller bean frame for some French beans which are just germinating up in the potting shed .
 I pulled more chicken wire and horrible plastic fencing stuff around the bed to protect from bunnykins and fixed up old cds to startle away the Pheasants .
 No sooner had I finished fixing up the windbreaks , than the wind began blowing from the East and the North ...sigh !
 Then the rain came ! Getting wet doesn't bother me but .....
  Exhausted , knees aching and back pain , all I could do was to lay the wheelbarrow on it's side around the back of the bed to shield the young plants , clear away tools and go in for a cup of tea and a flop .
  And we were in for a very windy night ! 

Everything is coming up and looking lush !

                                        Bowiea volubilis .....going up !

                                                Peas coming up !

                  Runner-beans  are up and are now being hardened off .
                       

                            It,s all looking pretty lush in the potting shed .
We have planted out some of the salad leaves into the veg trug and some I,m growing on in here , while they are looking happy .

                        I,m going to start harvesting all these lovely leaves .

                                          Lettuce , Coriander and Dill .
                                                       Sow more !

   Praise the Lord ! We,ve had some rain to re-fill the water butt . Fresh rainwater for my garden and for visiting wildlife to drink .
 The Ravens love to bathe and have a good old splash-about in the purple pool .

My back prefers me to be a no-dig gardener but Oh ! my goodness , there were weeds here that could only be got out by digging with my big fork .
 I had some seriously big weeds here !  I am preparing this bed for Brassicas .
   The trouble with digging is that it causes more weed seeds that are in the soil to germinate .
 After the weeding session I laid down some cardboard to help stop any more weeds from coming up .

 Today I am going to pull the hoops and environmesh out of the shed , to keep Percy Pigeon off my Purple Sprouting Broccoli , Cabbages , Sprouts and Kale .
 Environmesh , old net curtains , ballet tutu fabric to keep the butterflies and greenflies, and black flies off .
 Also make cardboard cabbage collars and sort out pots for slug-pubs .
 Also double check the chicken wire fence all around to keep the Bunnykins out .
  Brassicas are so quick and easy to grow , but so quickly and easily enjoyed by all manner of wildlife !  Protect ! Protect ! Protect !

                             Now then ....have I forgotten anything ?