Legumes and soft fruit

Having replaced most of the wooden fence and a "patch up" job on the shed, for the first time I am quite proud of the fruit and veg patch behind the greenhouse. At the moment it seems the only area that is vaguely under control. I cut some of the raspberries right back last year but they seem to be doing just as well as the ones I only hard pruned - an interesting experiment. The redcurrant bush is weighed down with fruit again this year and the red gooseberry seems happy although I can no longer think of it as a standard in shape! The three new blackcurrant bushes look healthy enough but are not going to bear fruit this year. The new blackberry is taking its' time to get going though, having put on hardly any growth. In the veg line I planted shop-bought seedlings of broad beans, Tom Thumb peas, a purple-podded pea variety and some dwarf yellow french beans. The 4 courgettes seeds and 12 purple climbing french beans I planted ALL came up. I learned about courgette plants last year so have already given 2 away! The first little pea pods are already well-formed on Tom Thumb so hopefully everything won't all come at once. In the greenhouse are 4 tomatoes (Sarah Raven mix - one failed so they refunded me £ 1.64p!!!) and a couple of chili peppers. Thinking about planting a cucumber of two since my trip to Cyprus where it appeared at virtually every meal - and why not!

May exhuberance

While I was away walking in Cyprus in 30+ degrees of heat, the south of England was also having glorious weather. I could hardly believe how green it all looked from the window of the plane and the beautiful patches of white daisies growing on the verges right near Heathrow airport! My garden is also flourishing and for once last weekend's Bank Holiday weather permitted wall to wall gardening which I needed in order to catch up. I can't really single out anything that's of particular merit this year other than the roses which seem to be flourishing everywhere. I have never had so many buds on any of mine although I have sadly lost the little bright orange "Warm Welcome" which was sickly last year and just totally died this spring. Maybe it has been suffocated by the herbaceous clematis "Wyevale" which is a bit of a thug and needs serious thinning out. Not sure whether I should try another rose in the same place but it's hard to find anything which does quite the same job! One mark of the prolonged cold spring is how late the dahlias have been to get started - even in the greenhouse. I planted the tubers from Sarah Raven almost as soon as they arrived but a couple only began showing shoots last week. Ironically, in spite of some extremely cold snaps, I DID manage to overwinter some tubers from last year, packed in foam chips in a large cardboard box in the greenhouse. I have been brutal with digging up and chucking out the tulip bulbs now they are over and for once am left with a few patches of bare earth as the dahlias grow on sufficiently to be planted out. Not sure where I will find space for them all now!