Sunshine!

London has been bathed in hot sunshine for the past few days. The plants that I planted out in the ground have come on leaps and bounds just in a couple of days. This crimson flowered broad bean has almost come into flower now, they provide a spectacular display of flowers, followed by tasty (if a bit small) broad bean pods.

The bees really love these flowers too, so that's a double whammy!

The three sweet corn 'Extra tender and sweet' in the front are some that survived the frost a couple of weeks ago, the ones at the back are new seeds that I planted the day after. I think the big ones are ready to plant out and the little ones will have caught up in a couple of weeks. The length of daylight this time of year makes plants grow much faster than at other times.

The frosted tomato plants are springing back to life with a vengeance in the greenhouse. Even the plants that I thought were completely dead and gone have started to grow side shoots again. I think it is a case now, of creative pruning on my part - deciding which shoots to keep and which ones to pinch out - and which shoots to pot up to make extra plants!

I was fortunate that a few of my prize specimen tomatoes I had chosen for greenhouse growing and were safely inside the greenhouse on the night of the frost. I have three indoor tomatoes, 'Country Taste', 'Sungold' and 'Chocolate Cherry' growing like this one. Looking good!

Now I want to make it clear, perfectly clear, that Matron does not do flowers.. however, 2010 is the year of biodiversity, and this week after all, is the Chelsea flower show, and I want to do my bit for the cause. Just a few carefully selected flowers might just have a place in between my veggies in order to encourage pollinating insects on to my vegetables - and only for that reason! These are Limanthes, or Poached Egg Plant - very pretty but inclined to be a bit of a creeping thug if you don't keep your eye on them self-seeding all over the place!