A Gift from Down Under

There was a whoop of excitement in the Matron household this morning when the postman delivered a letter from Australia. Scarecrow had offered to send me some Queensland Blue pumpkin seeds! Thank you! I remember my Father growing this variety years ago on our allotment, there is nothing quite like it - I remember a lovely dry texture almost like a sweet potato. These blue pumpkins have really hard skins and they keep extremely well through the Winter. Elsewhere in the greenhouse the tomatoes are being potted up almost daily. This Sungold tomato has flowers already, as do the Noir du Crimee and Great Wall of China behind it.

A great success from last year was this climbing courgette Black Forest. Extremely productive and grew to over 8ft tall. Wonderful variety if, like me, you are a bit short of space.

There is always space to grow sweet corn in between pumpkins and squashes. They are happy bedfellows and do not compete with each other. I might even grow a few climbing beans up them too. This variety Conqueror is one which will do well even in our milder British Summers. I had a good crop last year even in our wettest dullest Summer ever!

Now hold on to your hats... Matron does not do flowers... but... couldn't resist a snap of this beautiful French lavender. I have relaxed my principles only if certain flowers attract bees into the garden to pollinate my veggies!