Gooseberry glut

I have a glut of gooseberries, but what to do with them? There's only so much crumble you can eat right? Why not try ice cream then? So I did and wow what a deliciously refreshing dessert it makes. I recommend it dear reader. You are reading this aren't you, I wonder sometimes?

The harvest continues with the strawberries, red currants and blackcurrants with which I made a very nice cordial using the big allotment challenge recipe.

The strawberries are not so good this year, I'm going to dig them up and buy new plants but good enough for flavouuring ice cream and cordials. 

Tomatoes are on the way.

And the peas

And the broad beans are probably ready.

The kohlrabi are fattening up. Such a lovely colour.

Finally, I dug up some spuds (kestrel). Yes, there's a good yield and tasty with salads.  

The garlic has been dug up, it's variable with good sized bulbs but also very small ones too.

I've planted some purple sprouting broccoli in the gap.

I have next week off so I'll be harvesting and cooking ... a lot.

A new hoe

I got a nice shiny toy for Father's Day.

I had my eye on this combined hoe and harrow tool for some time knowing that it could deal with my clay soil. Moreover, it's a Wolf tool which is expensive but built to last. Trying it out this weekend was a joy; it ripped through the weeds and I weeded the beds and the front garden in no time.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are benefitting from the watering system and look healthy and strong.

I dug up one of the garlic plants to check that there is a good bulb, which there is.

I've read on the gardening forums that the garlic isn't so good this year and certainly mine have grown strangely with split stems.

Also, the onions have collapsed stems.

I'll have to wait and see but the garlic is OK. I'll be digging it up soon to make room for the purple sprouting broccoli.

At least the courgettes seem quite normal.

But the tomatoes I planted outside are struggling and have hardly grown but there are flowers at least. Perhaps it's a consequence of the no dig method and the roots are struggling to establish.

The plums are plentiful and I must check how to thin them which I need to do otherwise I'll end up with broken branches and mouldy fruit again.

I'm contemplating digging up my asparagus bed as it isn't giving good yields and is growing poorly. I am considering planting rhubarb there as my plants produce nothing much under the trees.

No dig method

There's been plenty of rain of late which is a good thing for me.  It has softened the soil up so that I can plant the veg out.  This year I'm trying to save backache and just planting holes with the trusty dibber.  The soil is too heavy to dig over each year, well at least for me who now seems to find gardening quite hard on the muscles.  So I just stick in the dibber remove the soil and pop in the plants. Then, if I have some spare compost I will mulch.

The dibber!

I've planted the tomatoes into their containers for the greenhouse and they are sitting in the trays with the automatic watering system set up. 

I've planted out a lot, most have been hardened off in the new cold frame for a few days. I'm never organised enough to leave them longer and anyway the soft soil dictated when was the time for planting.

Leeks

Tomatoes

Beetroot and kohlrabi

Climbing beans

Peas

I've planted the peas where the carrots were sown which didn't germinate. I still struggle to be successful at carrot sowing, I think I sow when the ground is too dry and cold. Perhaps I need to wait until mid to late May. Or just not bother.

The wet weather has brought on the potatoes

and the broad beans

The fruit is coming along nicely except for the greengages. The pigeons have had them (again). Any ideas how to keep them off?  But there are a good number of pears which is an improvement on last year when they all got blown off.

A new coldframe

A shiny new cold frame arrived. It didn't take too long to assemble. It is kinda urgently needed for the cactus to live in through the summer whilst the greenhouse is occupied with tomatoes and cucumbers.

Mouse attack and seedlings emerge

May already!  I've got a mouse in the greenhouse. I've sown peas twice now and each time there are little holes in the pots the next day. I naively thought the sweetcorn would be immune but I was wrong. Here are the tell tale signs.

But the watering system is working well and the tomatoes look fine.

I've also sown radish

and cucumber and courgettes.

I've spread compost between the veg in an effort to improve the soil and keep it moist.

The blossom is lovely at the moment. The apple has a lovely red hue.

And there's plenty of cherry blossom.