Around the solstice

The Under Gardener has planted three small cucumber plants in the bed which has the watermelon plants in it.  And I have taken out one of the watermelon plants which was clearly not thriving, and have replaced it with a sweet melon seedling.

We are now eating carrot thinnings from the boxes we planted up first.  We are also eating chard thinnings, lettuce thinnings and small broccoli heads and full sized radishes.  The sweet cherries are now ripening fast (although there aren't very many of them, alas - all that blossom and then the fruit all blew off in the spring ;-(  ).  The raspberries have SUDDENLY begun to ripen. And the different coloured currants and the gooseberries are all ready for picking.

Sunday vegetables. Clicking on the picture should take you to the web album

We have had a first picking of peas from the allotment.

The flower garden continues to look lovely.  Ramshackle, but lovely :-)

We could really do with some rain.  It seems that parts of Sheffield had loads of rain on Saturday.  Didn't get to us, though.

The chickens have now been with us for 12 months and seem to be thriving.  One of them is off the lay and has been for ages - but she seems happy enough.  The Under Gardener has been threatening her with the stock pot, but she doesn't seem to believe his threats! But in the 12 months we've had 1115 eggs at a grand total of 43p per egg.  We're almost reaching the supermarket price per free range egg!!

Here is the kitchen garden plan as it stands today: