Poised ready for summer

We've had a busy few days in the garden

The Builder has planted out his runner bean seedlings, and my bean seeds.  And I have planted out 72 sweet corn, two yellow pumpkin, two blue pumpkin, four mixed zucchini and four watermelon seedlings, not to mention lots of salady stuff.  The greenhouse is beginning to empty, although I do need to sort out the various cabbage seedlings in seed trays.

We have planted six tomato plants in one greenhouse on the allotment, and five in the other. We don't know yet what sort of tomatoes they will produce - they were from a packet of mixed heirloom seeds.  We have also planted up 8 tumbling cherry tomato plants in hanging baskets and disported them around the garden.  Plus we've planted hanging fuchsias in two more hanging baskets and put them outside the back door.

Monday brought us a day of lovely, steady rain which has made the garden much, much happier. Things are growing beautifully.  The lack of rain has meant that we haven't done anywhere nearly as well for rhubarb as we usually do.  And a lot of the fruit was set back quite badly by that late frost and the unseasonal high winds we had a week or so ago. So perhaps not quite as good a fruit yield this year as we had been hoping.  But there are lots of gooseberries coming along, and the red currants are beginning to turn.  Oh - and I've had some strawberries from the new strawberry plants.  They are very, very, very sweet!!!!! (Might buy replacements next year and get less sweet ones!!)

The chickens have not laid as well during May as they had been previously.  One of the brown ones went very broody and mopey.  They have all been moulting.  Even so, we had 77 eggs during May at a cost of 10p per egg, giving us a grand total in not quite a year of 1059 eggs at a cost (totalling everything we have spent, including the set up costs) of 44p per egg.  The total cost per egg is coming down to a price that is ever so slightly less eye watering!!

And here is the plan of what is happening on the allotment and in the kitchen garden

Kitchen Garden

Allotment