Got to spend about 4 productive hours or so on the plot yesterday (dodging rain after doing other more mundane things that needed to be done first), and managed to get another bumper harvest!
The greenhouse gave us another 20 ripe cherry toms (with loads more growing), another cucumber and 8 more green peppers (most of which have now been processed and frozen), and from outside we got another 9 courgettes from the 6 plants, about another 1lb of rasps (the earlies are about done now, but lots of late rasps growing, so hopefully it wont be long before they are producing) and 2lb of blackcurrants (still loads left on the bushes to get a bit bigger before we harvest them), another 6lb of rhubarb, more spring onions and radishes, another 3lb of broad beans (still lots we've left to get bigger yet) and another 3 1/2lb of mange tout (still more of that coming on too!)
Had a good look at the sweetcorn, which is now producing cobs, and the squashes and pumpkins, which have a few fruits set, and placed some wood underneath the forming fruits to keep them off the ground as they grow! Two of our batches of peas are also now coming good, the rondo are beginning to pod and the purple podded victorian peas we got from a fellow 'grape' have loads of pods and more flowers, so I think we'll be ok for peas this year!) Our carlin peas are also now flowering, and the broccolli is going great guns, as are the cabbages! Looks like there's another 4 almost ready to harvest and the ones we planted that got munched by wabbits (that are now protected inside Fort Tesco do seem to be making a decent recovery!)
We also pulled a few carrots and a single enormous parsnip for tea, only to find that theyd been tunnelled by carrot fly, (tho we did manage to get some edible bits from them, about half of the 12" long parsnip was ok) so it looks like most of the first sowing of carrots (which were companion planted with the overwintering onions - doesnt look like that worked for us this year) and the parsnips (planted alongside some very nice and very smelly mint, in the hopes the mint would mask their smell) we've had growing for a while may be useless, but we'll leave them where they are and see what happens!
Because of the carrot fly we're going to build a second 'Fort Tesco's' on a couple of beds on plot 2 and plant them with carrots and parsnips in the hopes that the 4' high perspex walls will protect them from the attentions of the carrot fly (and the attentions of the wabbits that have been a munching the foliage) and perhaps give us some crops, even if their size is reduced by being planted late!
Thanks for reading, and I hope your carrots are fairing a bit better than ours have!
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