Update from the home plot::

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our home plot guide to Growing your own veg in Raised Beds. There's been quite a lot going on recently both at the plot and at home too, with veg growing on really well, in spite of the very changeable weather of late. This pic shows one of our Tomato plants, now overflowing with green trusses of toms, just waiting for the sun to ripen them off. Looks like we should get another decent crop this year. We are also growing some Yellow toms for the first time, and cant wait to try them.


Our late sowing of Dwarf Yellow podded French Beans are starting to shine, with an abundance of pale yellow / white flowers, bearing the promise of beans to come. This planting - a half a dozen plants - was more of a space using exercise than anything else, and it looks like we'll be well rewarded for our efforts.







Our "small" plot of Butternut Squash(v.Hunter) plants are growing well too. Flowers are starting to form on the ever growing plants, and where the flowers form, we are removing some foliage to let the sun in. We've not grown these before, but the seeds were free and we had a bit of space. As the plants will grow up to 20' long, they will easily outgrow their allotted space, so we are now trailing the stems over the paths. One for the allotment next year we think!




One one remaining Courgette "Zucchini" is now starting to put on good growth. Again, this was a late planting. Despite the best efforts of the local slug population, we are now starting to see some fruits forming. We have a lot more plants growing at the allotment, so we should end up with a few for the table!




Our first effort at growing Sweetcorn seems to be on track. We have about half a dozen plants in this block, and we are carefully nurturing them as they grow. Cant wait to taste some freshly buttered cob's !









Our Rhubarb has done exceptionally well this year, provide large quantities of fruit. Apart from the usual "Crumble's" we've also got a large stock of jams including "Rhubarb & Ginger", and a mixed fruit jam consisting of Plums, Rhubarb & Gooseberry. Yum . Let us know if you want any of the recipe's !





And finally, what garden could be complete without a hanging basket or two ? These were created by Jen, and with regular watering are flowering profusely. They need a lot of dead heading, but then they do attract a lot of bee's.





That's all for now. We hope your gardens & plots are doing ok too.

Take care all and pop back soon for more updates.

TTFN.