Blooming enormous

I took this picture on a morning visit when the courgette flowers are open, they seem much bigger at this time of day because when they close up the ends of the petals twist down. The flower above is about 20cm in diameter.

This is a kobocha flower, when they're closed the don't look so different to the courgettes, this one is about 12cm in diameter.

Bean and gone

The broad beans have had their day so I've uprooted them because they were becoming messy and attracting black fly. I won't starve as their are two tubs of the beans in the freezer and now the French beans are ready for harvest.

I've picked a couple of tubs of these and their are many more yet to ripen, I'll be eating some tonight along with the courgette moussaka that I've made (yes I'm getting ever more inventive with those courgettes).

I've struck gold! My early potato plants were never very big and have now withered to almost nothing but the magic happens when you stick the fork in the ground and up come spuds, more and more with each turn of the soil.

My tomatoes are getting bigger but are staying green, it seems I have two different types. The ones above are like beef tomatoes and are already quite big and the other type is more like a plum tomato, they smell wonderful, I just wish they'd hurry up and change colour. Tomatoes are one of the few vegetables that I've had to buy over the last couple of weeks.

I put the 20 pence coin in this shot to give a better idea of the size of this kobocha, I've probably got about twenty of them although only a couple are this size so far. I've only ever had kobocha from the supermarket where they were dark green and knobbly I'm not sure if this will happen to these or not as I have no growing instructions, better try googling it!

The harvest festival shot, and most of the vegetables I'll eat this week. The courgette plants have slowed down slightly since last week but I don't think I'll starve.

Squashed

My leeks were completely overshadowed by the courgettes so I decided to do a bit of pruning. The stems of the courgette leaves are hollow and make a satisfying crunch when you crush them into the compost bin. I hope this give the leeks a bit more of a chance, some of them look rather squashed.

The kobocha have really started to fill out, I've nipped the ends of the longer tendrils so that the plants produce side shoots. There are already many small fruit beginning to form, the one below is a bit smaller than a tennis ball in size, not sure how long it'll be before they are ready? I also nipped the tops off the french bean plants as they had reached the top of their canes and were beginning to to grasp at the air, there will be a lot of beans ready soon.

Abundance

I feared that a week away in hot weather and I'd come back to a parched desert, but I was wrong. Everything seems to have come on leaps and bounds. I had about thirty courgettes to pick, some radishes, new potatoes, onions, garlic and lots of herbs. There are a few broad beans that are still worth picking even though we have two tubs full in the freezer and the lone dwarf bean plant had about a dozen pods on it that I also picked - and a few more raspberries to boot!

Here's a big courgette! I had picked all I could before I went away so this must have grown in one week! Paul hadn't even eaten all that I picked last week so I had to take some to work and give them away. People see to like the yellow ones best - they are quite and extraordinary shade of yellow.

The kobocha have gone crazy sending out long tendrils and were getting all caught up in the raspberry net. I've taken the net down now even though there are more raspberries to come. They also have lots of flowers and on the tendrils there are little fruits beginning to form as above.

Tiny french beans are forming, note how the plants grew anti-clockwise up the canes. There's almost too much to eat right now and I don't want to waste anything. I didn't have anytime to water things but luckily it has rained today. Tomatoes are beginning to form on the plants and I really should give them a feed soon. Some of the main crop potatoes have formed fruits, I know these are very poisonous but I don't know if I should just leave them or pick them and dispose of them?

'Gette powered

They're getting even bigger, the first row of courgettes has now over shadowed the leeks, I'm not sure why this row is so much bigger? The four green courgette plants grew biggest first but the yellow ones in this row are much bigger than their cousins in row two. My neighbour told me that he had a recipe for 'Marrow Brandy' that he was given by a gypsy woman that I could have, it's powerful stuff apparently. I think I'll stick to eating the flowers and courgettes, while googling for courgette flower recipes I found a site that sell the flowers, a box of 15 blooms cost £46! i guess at that rate we ate about £100 worth last week.

Row two is also producing courgettes already and I picked about twenty yesterday although some are still quite small. I needed to pick what I could because I'll be away all week from Monday. I also picked most of the first row of radishes (about twenty), a good selection of herbs, a tub of salad and about two kilos of broad beans! I had hoped to pick all the beans left but there were more than I thought, I put two tubs full into the freezer and nearly another tub in the fridge and their are still more that need picking. I thought it best to leave them now until next week, I hope they don't go too hard.

Row three of courgettes were the left overs that were planted slightly later, they're not so big yet but do have some flowers on them and I expect by next week some courgettes, next to them in the row are the tomato plants I was given. I bought some canes at the garden centre for them, in the shop the woman gave me a funny look when I asked for my 10% discount on them and some ties as it was only 46 pence off.

The french beans have also gone into flower, they've wound their way nearly to the top of the canes and are also finding purchase on the nearby chair. The kobatcha plants are also doing well in this warm weather, they've begun to spread sending out long arms from the central plants, one of which is doing it's best to climb up the netting for the raspberries.