Turning Colour

I've been out every day to look at my strawberries. Today here is the first sign that they are starting to ripen. Only a couple of days now and I will be eating my first fresh strawberry.

I must get the net over them now because if I have noticed them, then you can be sure that the birds and the labradors have noticed them too!

The fine weather has brought on my lovely Royalty dwarf beans. They are fully hardened off now and planted out. Unfortunatlely the local cats have also decided that they will take advantage of the newly dug soil and have dug several of them up already and used the bed as a toilet. Grrrrrr!

I have also taken the plunge and planted out some of my Queensland Blue pumpkins. They are covered at night with a plastic cloche to keep a little of the warmth overnight. Another squash I have planted out are the Hunter Butternut squash. These have been specially bred to withstand the British climate, so they will compliment the Queensland Blue that prefer the warmer climate.

It is always worthwhile leaving some veggies to go to seed. These are some of my Oarsman Leeks which I left to flower and go to seed, alongside some brussels sprouts and broccoli. These beautiful blue Alium flowers will break open soon. The bees will love them.

Meanwhile in the greenhouse these Bishops Kiss chilli plants are enjoying the heat and the light. Very good going in the greenhouse for the heat loving plants.

These Mexican green Tomatillo plants are romping away too. I think they have doubled in size in nearly a week. You can see the benefits of these long days now!

And finally, Leo went for another swim today. I couldn't hold him back, he loves it! He even took a few jumps off the side of the pool into the water to go retrieve his toys! He just swam round and round without much encouragement. Brilliant exercise!