Brassica Action Day and First Fruit

Today I planted out my brassicas. Due to the weed suppressant fabric the ground was clean of weeds so I was able to get started straight away, needing only a knife and a dibber to cut a slit in the plastic and plant the seedlings.

The ground was moist despite the dry week, although I did water them in, cover with a net and apply slug control.

Once they are sitting up I will deploy the brassica collars to fend off the cabbage root fly.

We also picked our first strawberries (Marshmello) today:

Some redcurrants and raspberries were ready too!

These pictures are to prove to Cathy in Grenoble that we are only 4 weeks behind here in Edinburgh!


And just in case you were wondering how our bathroom ended up, here are the after pictures:

We are very pleased and very clean!

Sharks on a Sea of Plastic

 A week ago I planted out three of my Sharks Fin Melon seedlings. The name comes from the flavour of the under ripe fruit which is said to be very similar to "traditional" sharks fin soup. (Another name for these Cucurbita ficiola is "Fig Leaf Gourd" but the the leaves don't look much like fig leaves to me!)

They've had the royal treatment being planted through weed suppressant fabric and covered with fleece. Stiill I am pleased to see that they have adjusted to their new location and put on a bit of growth. Now they will have to do without the fleece 

The same can be said for Dwarf French Beans "Canadian Wonder" and the Runner Beans.

My main activity today was to mound the potatoes.  This activity gives me an inordinate amount of pleasure.  Perhaps that's because that will be the last attention they will get before digging them up!

In another corner the Jerusalem artechokes are stirring. For some reason last year they refused to grow, so I am happy to see there will be no repeat this year.

Brassicas are coming on belatedly at home, but as yet nothing planted out. Soft fruit is looking like a bumper year in prospect.  Will post about that.

From Gardening Blog to Bog Blog

I've not been blogging much lately, and the reason is that the house is in turmoil as we are getting our bathroom changed.  Currently it looks like this:

 Whereas the same view used to look like:

The reverse view is not a pretty sight either!

I am not doing the work, although I am buying all the parts for our trusty builder. There is dust everywhere.

I have been gardening too, but not well enough organised to remember the camera.  Today I planted out the courgettes, squash and sweetcorn through weed suppressant fabric - which now seems like the best idea I've had this year!.

Full of Beans

The toilet roll beans are brimming over and ready to be planted out.

They started off like this:

but have moved on to this:

It's going to be a busy weekend!

Craiglockhart Pond Cygnets

Last Sunday the new pair at Craiglockhart Pond hatched 7 cygnets. 

Last year we lost the pair that had been on the pond for 22 years.  First the male disappeared then the SSPCA removed the rest of the brood,  but the female still died. So the pair on the pond are new.  Happily they have proved successful.

Judging from their behaviour the new parents have got the hang parenthood. Out of the seven offspring six are centre stage here.  

It would be nice if they all survived. We will be keeping an eye on them.

Rievaulx

Rievaulx Abbey Ruins

On Saturday we had a rendezvous in Thirsk and managed a sojourn into the Yorkshire Moors and stopping off at this  pastoral spot.

Back home today I used the weed suppressant fabric offcut from the brassica patch to carpet our "Exotics".  Sounds better than curcubits and besides we can't move the blueberries as they sit atop a buried liner that helps create that acidic bog effect. This is where the courgettes gherkins and Sharks Fin Soup Melon  (also called Fig Leaf Gourd) are going to go this year.

At home the beanage is coming on nicely:

Next weekend looks like a frantic planting weekend.

Back to Rievaulx Village for a final picture which would be any estate agents dream:

Propagator Progress and a Challenge

 Here's the current state of play with the propagator:

There's Sungold, San Marzano, and Currant Tomatoes, Cucumber, Sweetcorn and the dreaded Celeriac. The Jalapeno Pepper and Kobocha Squash both failed. Not too impressed with the supplier. Their sweetcorn is looking good though.

Can you guess what this is?  

As a clue, there's a Jaws connection.