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Picking black currants and many other distractions

I should have the hoe out and be tackling the weeds that have sneaked into my dahlia bed, but the hot humid weather is better suited to picking blackcurrants and pottering in the kitchen garden. On my way to the soft fruit bed I noticed I was starting to get a few sweet pea flowers. Those of you who read my sweet pea posting will know that I sowed the seed late so the flowers are in turn a bit late too. I also made a silly error placing sunflowers (for cutting) next to them; they’re thriving, taking up lots of space and shading the sweet peas. So I’m not expecting huge posies of sweet peas this year, but even a few are enough for their English summer scent to drift through our home.

Sweet peasA few sweet peas

I popped into the greenhouse, where I’m greeted by a tomatillo forest; I blame the husband as he insisted I try them this year. They’re not endearing themselves to me, taking up too much space, overcrowding my gorgeous mini cucumbers and we’re yet to feast on them as I’m not really sure when they’re ripe. Every plant in my kitchen garden has to perform well to be allowed the following year, at the moment the tomatillos are out, let’s hope they make the most delicious salsa to redeem themselves.

TomatillosThe tomatillo forest!

Whilst wandering down through the kitchen garden I noticed Artichokes looking so stately, elegant architectural structure with a sophisticated colour palette. Shame about the black fly!

ArtichokesBeautiful artichokes

Then I’m drawn to my agapanthus attracting a bee. It’s a lovely cut flower which has a long vase life if the water’s changed frequently.

Agapanthus and a BeeAgapanthus and a bee

AgapanthusAgapanthus

Finally I made it to the soft fruit border at the bottom of the kitchen garden; to reward me for focusing on the job in hand I spotted one of our first ripe raspberries, Yum. RaspberryOur first raspberry

 

I have three bushes and they are laden this year, I plan to bake a black currant cake for the weekend, if it’s successful I’ll pop the recipe up on the blog next week. In one of Sarah Raven’s books she suggests to prune the oldest 1/3 of branches whilst harvesting, you can then strip the fruit off with a fork at your leisure. Traditional thinking is to prune in the winter months when the bush is dormant. I’m always up for trying out new ideas, the theory of pruning early during harvest allows new growth to mature sufficiently before winter and will produce fruit the following year. Fingers crossed for increased productivity.

BlackcurrantsBlackcurrants

Harvested blackcurrantsHarvested blackcurrants

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The kitchen garden in May

May is ending on a wet note. I’m not complaining, the weather this month has generally been good, friends have even commented on my gardening suntan. The newly planted dahlias have been looking a bit limp and in need of a good water. The dahlia bed is not linked to a watering system; past experience has proved that dahlias can survive a fairly dry summer. When first planted out they do need regular watering to give them time to establish. So this wet end to the month has come at the right time. I have finished constructing the frames in the dahlia bed. This structure gives the dahlias support as they grow. A strong wind can easily snap dahlia stems at the base restricting dahlia produce for the year.

Dahlia bed with frameThe dahlia bed with the completed frame to support the dahlias

 My herb bed which I planted outside the kitchen door last year is flourishing, the chives and thyme are both in flower and looking stunning. I will cut the chives back hard as the flowers go over, this will produce lots of new fresh growth and stop the flowers setting seed, leaving me with chive weeds everywhere. Once the Thyme has finished flowering I will lightly prune this, stimulating new fresh growth to crop for the kitchen.

Thyme in flowerThyme in flower

Chives in flowerChives in flower

 My Broad bean plants are well over 4 feet high, laden with flowers and at last I have some miniature bean pods developing at the bottom of the plants. Hopefully I’ll only have to wait another couple of weeks to savour this produce from the garden. I have spotted today that black fly have discovered the fresh luscious top shoots of the broad bean plants. It’s now time to cut off the tips, taking away the temptation for the black fly, who if allowed will heavily infest the plant resulting in poor pod formation.

Black fly on broad bean tipsBlack fly on the broad bean tips

 We had our first dish of turnips this month. Once they reach golf ball size they’re ready for the kitchen. I simply steamed the turnips until tender. Cut them into 1cm sized cubes and finished them off in pan with melted butter and a selection of fresh herbs presented to me by my eldest, a handful of marjoram and thyme. They were delicious and got thumbs up from the whole family.

TurnipsTurnips

The greenhouse has thrived this month, we have lots of green tomatoes, a tomatillo forming, mini cucumbers and lots of basil, a companion plant for the tomatoes, the basil helps repel whitefly, mosquitoes, spider mites and aphids, it improves tomato health and flavour.

TomatilloTomatillo ripening

Tomatillo flowersTomatillo flowers

Green tomatoesGreen tomatoes

We’ve started to crop our perpetual spinach; this really is a kitchen garden essential. I only put last years plants on the compost heap last month. There aren’t many vegetables that provide produce 11 months of the year. The shallots which I sowed in modules and planted out without separating individual plants are doing really well; they seem to be spreading out making space for themselves. This is a great time saving tip for growing shallots from seed.

Shallots and SpinachShallots and perpetual spinach