The first rain this summer came on midsummer eve, and I for one was dancing with joy. Before the rain my garden was looking dusty and sad, as my valiant efforts to water it were no match to a good old rain. Then, during the next two weeks it rained properly at least every other day giving the plants a good old root soak. In just three weeks the transformation in the vegetable patch is unbelievable! Suddenly everything has gone "woosh" and yesterday we got to enjoy the first sweet little beetroots for supper.
The Yellow Mini tomatoes have grown abundantly these last weeks, and it is impossible to walk past them without picking the ready ones and eating them like candy. I think it is because of the unevenness in watering, with first the long drought and then the sudden abundance of rain, that their skin cracks. Never mind, they taste just as good eaten straight from the bush even when they aren't perfect.
The globe artichokes are also coming along leaps and bounds. It seems they love the sandy soil and sudden rain. Still, it will be a month before they start to flower.
The broad beans have started flowering. This year I'm growing the early variety called Express as well as my favourite old variety called Solberga.
Solberga is a variety brought back to life through the POM initiative, which is a Swedish program for maintaining plant diversity. It originates from Bohuslän, Sweden, where it was grown for many hundreds of years as an important food source that stores well over winter. These seeds come from Lars and Lennart Eliassons farm Ödsmåls Västergård in Bohuslän, and although they are by all means grown without chemical intervention they are not certified organic. I don't mind as I love supporting small producers and the certification process is so strict it is no wonder not all producers can achieve it.
After a slow start the Little Gem squash is finally beginning to grow, and soon I hope to have plenty of its fruits on the table!
I mostly keep the kale and broccoli under wraps as they are so easily attacked by cabbage moths and other pests, but here they are in all their glory.
Last year I had plenty of the purple red variety, but this year it sadly failed. Sometimes it goes like that, irrespectively of good intentions.
The Blue Salad potatoes have finally started to flower. I'm super exited to see what - if anything - will come of them as it is the first time I'm growing blue potatoes in my garden.
Happily the Gem Glass corn are still growing. They too have been a bit slow, but hopefully they will start to shoot up now after the rains.
And last but not least, two pictures showing the vegetable garden from different angles. I still plan to cover the paths around the raised beds with wood chipping, but as there are so many more important tasks and projects to do right now it seems that it will wait until autumn.
