This week we found that the tomatoes on the lower greenhouse shelf were growing upwards instead of making new leaves because they weren't getting enough light. Marvel if you will at the cleverness of nature but it gave a new urgency to needing to build the second greenhouse. This has now finally been done and the tomato plants are all in the new greenhouse at the bottom of the garden next to the shed. 

Some of the other greenhouse plants - sweetcorn and peas - have been put into the ground along with some extra mange-tout that we had been growing in a seed tray. The potato sets have also been planted into three separate sacks half full of compost, which you gradually fill up as the leaves grow taller. 

Over the bank holiday we had some unusually heavy rain and a bit of hail so were a little concerned for some of the plants but it turned out to just be a shower and it all seems to have survived. Hope you have had some nicer weather!

Our garden in May - An Illustrated Update

Now that it is getting much warmer the plants are all enjoying the weather and shooting up nicely. A lot of the plants have come a long way since being inside on the windowsills so we are more hopeful of a decent crop soon! Here is an illustrated update of whats been happening...

First of all we bought two mini greenhouses as we were running out of space inside and we have built and filled one of them already! Everything is growing much better in this new environments, the peas (top shelf) and sweetcorn have done especially well and are almost getting too big for the greenhouse so they will be hardened off and planted in the soil before too long. You can also see some pepper plants which have been repotted in individual pots, our tomato plants and herbs. We have found that takeaway trays are perfect for putting pots in so that they don't get overwatered

This is a view of the whole garden from the house, you can just about see the soil bed on the far right and the grass needs cutting, any volunteers?!

Below are the onion and shallots sprouting lots of lovely green shoots, the mangetout which we have set up some netting for as they are beginning to send out tendrils and the cauliflower plants which are still growing lots of leaves but no vegetable yet!

This is the two lettuce seed mats that we have grown so far, it's the only thing that is ready to harvest and is very tasty which is hopefully a good sign for the rest of the garden!

We planted a couple of gourgettes in a grow bag a few weeks ago and as you can see they have grown lots more leaves and seem to be holding up well being outside.

This next one is the first pot of carrots that we planted, the second planting is also growing well but needs thinning out. Hopefully there are lots of mini carrots growing beneath the soil!

Ooo yes the sweetpeas are doing really well, they too have sent out tendrils so we have tied some string between the supports to encourage them to grow up the poles as at the moment the tendrils are wrapping round adjacent plants! We also got some plant ties this morning so have tied some of the outer stem to the poles and string.

Below are some pictures of our fruit plants which have been busy growing flowers - various types of strawberry plants, a Chandler blueberry plant and one of our tomato plants although the latter doesn't have any flowers.

This last picture possibly explains the lack of slugs and pests in the garden although there are plenty of spider! We noticed this little frog whilst doing the pea netting before it hopped under next doors shed.
Other than that the sprouting potatoes are just about ready to be sown so we will be doing that this weekend and as well as some weeding and setting up the second greenhouse.

The plants have had a treat to drink this week in the way of actual rainwater as it has been less dry recently, we hope they are not getting too cold though! The lettuce is almost ready for picking now and the next batch is well on the way. Onions are sprouting and lots of big green leaves are being grown. Germination is still going well too although we are quickly running out of space inside as the tomato seedlings have been transplanted into individual pots and we have a second lot of various seeds on the go. The latest addition has included perpetual spinach, brussel sprouts and cucumber. Our potatoes sets arrived too so we have put them on top of the fridge in egg boxes to sprout until they are ready to go into their sacks.

Should have some more photos up soon as everything has grown much bigger since last time and the garden is getting quite full!