At the Allotment

I picked the first of the french beans today, looks like there will be a bumper crop.



I'm getting a steady stream of courgettes now, but so far only from two of the plants. The one you can see at the back there has yet to produce anything but male flowers.

Here's the first pumpkin swelling nicely...

...and I think this is a Potimarron squash.

I planted out these leeks (foreground) a few days ago, the ones behind had a few weeks' head start.

And finally the first runner beans are beginning to show.

I had a good weed and tidy up this morning. I'm going to have to lift the red onions and shallots soon, I don't think they are going to grow much more, the foliage is all dying back now.

The outdoor tomatoes are not doing so great, the first trusses formed fruit, but the next few just shrivelled and dropped off. There are lots more coming though, so I've given them a feed and a comfrey mulch and will just have to keep a close eye on them.

I've got masses of aubergine flowers forming now, but I don't know how many fruits each plant can realistically support - I've never successfully grown them before, so I don't know whether to remove some of them. If anyone knows, do please let me know!

More on tomatoes

I can't get over how long these tomato trusses are. I wonder if the actual tomatoes will be quite small as a result. They look like it at this stage, but the truss still has some developing to do yet.



On the down side, there are greenfly and whitefly all over my chillies, and the cucumbers are covered with mildew. I am trying to keep this under control by spraying regularly with a solution of bicarbonate of soda, but it doesn't seem to be working that well. At first I used a solution of milk and water, which seemed to work well, but left a pretty awful smell. I have been growing some new cucumber plants, but they have already been affected by the mildew as well.

Tomatoes on the turn

Almost read to pick now! I have been buying a few tomatoes from the supermarket, but very reluctantly. None this week though, we should soon be eating our own.

I think this is a flower on the aubergine - there are two plants, with one flower each! Not the most productive plants, but it will be an achievement if they produce fruit, I've never had success with aubergines before.

There are lots of flower buds on my pepper plants, and this one is the first to start developing into a fruit.

Not sure what to do with my chillies, they are now touching the greenhouse ceiling, but there are lots of flower buds on the very tops so I don't want to cut them off...