I reckon I've bin ad!

So... I planted some melon seeds Agora hybride F1 and the blurb on the packet said "Charentais variety, firm flesh sweet and perfumed" (all in French, of course) The picture on the front of the seed packet was of a small orange fleshed melon so I thought, I'll have a go at growing some.

Imagine my surprise when they actually grew into this:


There are about 10 fruits on two plants and this one is about the same size as a full sized football and is showing no sign of stopping Eek! The flesh is definitely not orange (whitish, in fact) and doesn't smell at all of melon - trouble is, I have absolutely no idea what it is and if I can eat it. One thing I know for sure is that it ain't no melon.

The other day I spent a happy few hours weeding and pottering about in the garden, this is the result: Ok, so the picture doesn't do it justice but, believe me, it is better.


The weather was warm with a cooling breeze and I was in my element. Imagine the scene: the buzzards (young ones I think) were wheeling about and making their lovely call, the swallows were singing above my head except for when a Hobby passed overhead and threatened to have one for dinner. The great green bush crickets were making their almost Mediterranean sound and there was not a car in sight on the road. As I often say to Keith "Good ere innit"

The fruit is just about over now but we did manage to pick the last redcurrants before the birds got to them and they went from this:


to this:


and it is now in a demijohn bubbling away nicely turning all that juice into alcohol.

Looking at my Bleu d'Auvergne potatoes the other day, I saw a strange growth on the flower stalk. On checking, I find that they are seed pods (poisonous too) I didn't even know that they grew seeds so I am quite excited. They are the best potatoes I have grown this year and I have saved a couple of pods for a planting trial next year. I don't know yet exactly what to do with them but I'm sure I can find out from my friends at the Grapevine



Lastly, the sweetcorn is growing well and we are thinking about harvesting the first cob pretty soon. No chance though that they will reach the boiling water as we like to eat them straight off the plant Mmmm. You should just about be able to see the cobs at the bottom of the picture:


Anyway, I can't stop here chatting to you lot, the sun is shining and the weeds are a beckoning and Keith is starting on the solar dryer - well, I'm going to have to do something with all those tomatoes when (if) they get to be a decent size.

Windy!!

Today is very windy and I had to tie the little greenhouse down - remember what happened to the last one?


We have had a bit of a mixture of sunshine and rain - perfect growing conditions, trouble is that the weeds and the grass like it too and we are having a job keeping on top of both.

The week has been pretty good veg wise. I have started to harvest the early potatoes: Rosabelle. I say earlies but I can't be sure, they are huge and look more like maincrop to me. I am not too bothered though because I won't be growing them again, they are very nice looking and big enough for jacket potatoes but they are very floury and don't have much flavour. They look pretty good for all that though.


We have had a few peas but I didn't manage to get to the kitchen before they podded themselves and jumped into my mouth. I also planted the mangetout peas and we will wait to see how they get on. My peppers were looking a bit sad in the greenhouse and the leaves were all curling up, so I looked on my trusty forum - The Grow your own Grapevine - and it seems that they might have a deficiency of some sort. I planted one and it seems a little better so, as soon as the wind dies down I will plant the rest outside. The chili peppers, however, are fine. I think I will leave them inside in the safety of the greenhouse.

We have started harvesting the soft fruit with a vengeance. Apart from the strawberries, which are slowing down now, we have been picking a lot of gooseberries, black and redcurrants and raspberries. This is just some of the resulting produce.

No, I didn't grow the lemons but I thought it added a bit of colour to the picture. There is still a lot more fruit on the bushes. I think I shall probably harvest and freeze it, and then think of what to do with it during the cold winter months.

The "unknown" tomatoes are starting to flower. I say unknown, because I just kept the seeds from a shop-bought one last year and planted them. Trouble is, as I don't know what variety they are, I don't know how to look after them (I had the same trouble with the kids). I am guessing, but now they are flowering, I feel a bit happier.

Courgettes, yellow, green and round are all doing well and, now I know how to keep the slugs off the tender plants, I have some tomatillos and auberjeans coming on nicely in the greenhouse. One of the melons has a fruit on it and I played pimp and fertilised it with a male flower so I am hopeful that we can manage at least one melon ball starter this year.

The only other thing of note is to give you an updated picture of the front bed: A bit better than than a couple of weeks ago don't you think?