My Favourite Place

 I made my annual pilgrimage to my favourite place this week.  There is something very special about walking through the Fruit Field at RHS Wisley. Hundreds of apple varieties to see.

 Varieties you have heard of, and many more that are unknown. Truly a feast for the eyes.

 Doesn't this make your mouth water?  Plenty of windfalls to .....er... examine!  Really interesting to compare different tastes of different varieties.

 Then on to the model vegetable garden. Despite using a pheromone trap to lure leek moths, even the Royal Horticultural Society can't avoid leek moth damage. This is a worrying development, I love growing leeks, they are a Winter staple. My crop have been badly damaged. Other than completely netting the whole crop there seems to be no cure for this problem.

 and reassuring to see that they have slugs too!  If the best gardeners struggle with this problem then I don't feel so bad about mine now.

 Their hundred weight pumpkins are looking good, grown on wooden pallets.

 I came back with an idea I have been mulling over for a while.  Several places in the vegetable garden there were rows of flowers for pollinating insects. A row of Lavender  to encourage the bees to pollinate the squash and pumpkins.

A row of borage flowers to bring the bees on to the strawberries and the rest of the veggie patch.  I might just give this a go!

Beanz

 These new Indigo Rose black tomatoes look quite stunning!

 I was imagining that they would really be a dark purple, but I must admit this is a really good black colour.

 The trouble is.. they are taking ages to ripen.  I contacted the seed company Suttons about this two-tone effect and they informed me that it must have direct sunlight - so remove the lower leaves on the plant.

 ... which I did weeks ago. These are in full sun, South facing with lower leaves taken off.. apart from growing them upside down, I don't know what to do to ripen the bottom half... just wait I suppose.

 Meanwhile these yellow beans from Seeds of Italy are simply stunning!

 These are Meraviglia di Venezia, a flat, yellow climbing bean that is a really good cropper, it has lovely attractive bright green leaves and they are lovely to look at.

 The best thing of all is that there is absolutely no stringiness, fur, or anything fibrous about these at all. They taste wonderful too. Definitely a keeper!

 I'm afraid I have found the opposite of these Aeron Vale purple star runner beans.  They ripen to this wonderful purple colour from green.

Even as a young green bean I find these were tough and stringy. I picked a few while they were still quite small and green but there weren't that many.... Still... it's great to experiment with wonderful new varieties!

Going to Seed

 Regular readers will know that I always try to leave some of my veggies to go to seed, the bees seem to prefer some veggie flowers like parsnip, broccoli and leek.  But when I left some of my Swiss Chard plants to overwinter and go to seed I had a surprise.  This one is probably a little over 10 feet tall! A Monster Swiss Chard!

 The main trunk (well it is a trunk now!) has a diameter of 5 or 6 inches and it put up huge branches of tiny tiny little green flowers - actually the bees weren't really interested to tell the truth.

 These tiny little green flowers gradually turned into little brown seeds..

 tens of thousands of Swiss Chard seeds!

I'm going to have a lot of volunteers to weed out over the coming months!

Unusual varieties

 Many veggies are really starting to swell and ripen.  These Indigo Rose black tomatoes are gradually ripening to black.  The bottom half of the tomato is still green, but I am assured by the seed company Suttons that with bright sunshine the rest of the tomato will eventually ripen to black.  I have taken some of the lower leaves on the plant so that the fruit has direct sunlight. Looks dramatic, but taste is more important to me. Waiting to find out.

 I picked the first of my Italian melon cucumbers yesterday. This lovely, round cucumber is from Seeds of Italy.

 Just a hint of sweetness to taste, definitely still a cucumber with a lovely crisp, refreshing texture. I love this one!

 I've not grown Oca before,  I have several different colours growing, yellow, white and red tubers were planted.  I'm not sure when they are ready, I am assuming they are a late crop in the same way that artichokes are.  Has anyone grown Oca?  When is it harvested?

 I'm picking lots and lots of these lovely yellow flat beans at the moment. Again from seeds of Italy these are Meraviglia di Venezia.  Tender flat beans that are really tasty with no strings at all.

Cucumbers are doing well too.  These small cucumbers are called Delizia, from Medwyns of Anglesey.  Again, lovely refreshing and crisp cucumbers. Very prolific and I love the small size.

A Volunteer Please!

 A Volunteer in the gardening sense is a plant which grows of its own accord.  Stray seeds overwinter in the soil (or a crack in the patio!) and without any help from us it wants to grow. This tomato is from a dropped tomato last year which fell between the cracks, quite literally!

 Parsley is well known as one of the seeds which is most difficult to germinate - which makes is presence between the cracks in the shady corner of my patio more fascinating.

 But this week I noticed some kind of squash or pumpkin growing on the patio! It won't come to anything but it just seems to have found a little moisture in the moss and dog hair!

 or how about this potato growing out of the kitchen compost bin?

There's even a tomato growing in my tomato patch!  Just amazing when you consider these seeds have been overwintered in the soil during Winter and just find their own way in life.

National Allotment Week

Matron has been nominated for a blogging award!!  Best allotment blog, please VOTE HERE for Down on the Allotment.

Leo and I thank you.

Allotment Week

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The First Tomato

 I picked my first ripe tomatoes today.  Quite late this year. Last year it was early July, and in previous years it has been in June.  These are all outdoor grown Sungold tomatoes.

 

 One of the best tasting tomatoes ever!

 Meanwhile, I am disappointed in these Indigo Rose tomatoes.

 Launched with flare and a fanfare this Spring... I have plants sent to me by Suttons seeds, and seeds grown by me from Suttons. Well... the top and shoulders are black, but the rest is stubbornly green.

 It looks like the bottom half ripens to red while the top stays purple...Hmmm let's see what happens with the rest.  Not as I had expected.

 Interesting varieties from Seeds of Italy do not disappoint.  This round, melon cucumber from Manduria, Italy is coming along nicely. Lots and lots on the vine. Can't wait to taste this one.

 These lovely gold flat beans from Seeds of Italy are Meraviglia di Venezia. Tender, flat and prolific with really healthy looking foliage. What a winner!

Meanwhile the bucket of comfrey liquid sizzles away in a smelly corner of the garden!