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| Aubergines, peppers and cucumbers growing in pots on the patio |
Full of sensible elderly intentions, I decided not to try growing annual vegetables this year: too much watering, feeding, pest control and compost required. But my sister gave me some home-sown aubergines, peppers and cucumbers (and the compost to grow them in) and tomato plugs kept arriving that I had forgotten I'd ordered and I was also given some heirloom dwarf cherry tomato seeds at Christmas which I have just sown and are thriving. So I have more veg this year than ever before and have used up all my sizeable pots. Of course, I love them all to bits, am specially looking forward to the aubergines and already have a tiny cucumber plus coriander, basil and frilly mustard to liven up salads.
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| First tiny cucumber |
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| Two un-nibbled aubergines |
Mustard - slightly chewed |
| Unusual cherry tomato seed - just sown |
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| Coriander, basil and tomatoes in veg trug |
The biggest problem just now is pest control: dealing with slugs (mostly small and brown) and snails (large grey-shelled and pretty little yellow striped ones). Last night, at midnight I ventured out with a surgical glove, a torch and a small bucket filled with beer. Slugs in particular are very slimy and the slime is really difficult to wash off, hence the glove. I caught dozens of slugs and snails just on the vegetables and stopped counting when I reached 50.
I have to admit, there is no easy way to get rid of them. Being trodden on is probably quick, but you can't tread on 50 snails. The best way, from the snail's point of view is probably to drown in beer. And that's what mine did. But once dead, you still have to get rid of them or they will putrefy so I dug a hole and buried them underground. Poisons are out and throwing them into your neighbour's garden is not an option either. I suppose I'll have to keep this up until the veg are big enough to be unappetising.
Meantime, a year and a half ago I planted five perennial leeks. I didn't harvest them last year because I wanted to give them time to settle in and one has produced a stately stalk with bulbils growing at the top. When these are ready I will plant them and have several leeks which I should be able to go on harvesting year after year. The others can still be cut to the ground and eaten and their below-ground bulbs split and replanted. So one thing I should not be short of in future is a leek.
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| Babbington's leek, growing next to decorative alliums |
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| Red currants just beginning to turn |
As for fruit, the red currants are just beginning to ripen, at least two weeks later than last year. I hide them behind an overturned folding chair and am hoping the birds won't discover them before I pick them.
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| Unknown but elegant rhubarb |
Does anyone recognise this rhubarb? It was given to me by a French friend. It is a lovely deep dark red and very slender and I haven't been able to identify it.
Mustard - slightly chewed
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