The pumpkins in the greenhouse on the allotment appear to have designs on the whole known universe! The Builder has them growing up strings. They’re now reached the roof and are busy making their way along the wire the string is tied to. One of the plants has three tiny pumpkins. I wonder if I’ll need to support them with nets when they get bigger (They’re Queensland blue pumpkins, so not small ones). The cucumbers in there are also doing quite well. Even the melons are starting to perk up a bit and the sweet potatoes are producing quite a good crop of leaves. I hope they are also producing a good crop of sweet potatoes!

It was just as well we went up yesterday. The Builder had been up and watered on Saturday so we nearly didn’t bother, and the greenhouses were very dry. The beans were quite dry too.

We’ve now dug up all the Arran Pilot potatoes. Will eat those and the rest of the ambos before starting on the maincrop potatoes – blight permitting! We also picked the first two rows of peas (on the allotment). There are still a few pods to go on those rows – but we took home 1.6 kg of pea pods! There is also a LONG row of peas still in the kitchen garden, but they’re not quite ready yet. We also pulled the autumn planted white onions a couple of weeks back. The spring planted ones should be all right for a few weeks, although the shallots are nearly ready.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen garden. The Builder has now fully glazed the greenhouse and we have found some trellis for the kiwi fruit vine to grow up. We must plant that – it’s getting a bit dry sat in the very warm greenhouse in a small pot. And speaking of things in pots in the greenhouse – the Christmas potatoes have appeared. I’ll let them get a little bigger then cover them over and plant the second lot.

I had gone down to pick some broad beans for last night’s dinner. As I was wandering back, I thought: That’s odd; I could have sworn I picked the zucchinis earlier. Then I thought: that can’t be a zucchini. There aren’t any in that bed. They’re all over in that bed there. So I went to look. Tucked under a leaf was a zucchini-sized cucumber! I thought we only had wee, tiny embryonic ones. It is amazing how sweet young cucumbers are, fresh picked from the vine. There’s another one on the other cucumber plant. I must remember to check the vines in the greenhouse. There may be more hidden up there too.

Otherwise, all is well. We have finished almost all of the fruit, except for a few raspberries and some tayberries. The apples, of course, are not ready yet. The flower garden has run amok but seems happy enough. I need to plant some more wong bok and pak choi – I was too tardy in planting them out and they’ve run to seed. I must do that this week.