Everything I planted is doing incredibly well with the exception of one thing and that is Marrows. I have grown them very successfully in the past so why they have rejected my tender loving care this year I have no idea. Never giving up totally on anything, I have this week pushed a few more seeds directly into the ground and will live in hope. The courgettes are thriving so I suppose I could allow them to grow large and just pretend they are marrows.
We are now reaping the benefits of our labours and are enjoying lots of salads, spinach, cabbage, turnips (surely the most under-rated of all vegetables) and swiss chard.
This is the first year we have grown swiss chard but it certainly won't be the last. This week we picked some and cooked it by the simplest possible method, just steaming, stalks first for three minutes, then adding the roughly shredded leaves for a further five minutes. Absolutely delicious and my only regret is that we didn't discover this delightful vegetable years ago.
We have also had quite a surplus of spinach but, not wishing to waste a thing, I discovered a recipe for spinach and celery soup and this proved to be really good. I have now made a batch and put it in the freezer ready for cooler days.
The runner beans have begun to climb very nicely up the canes and the tomatoes, both in the greenhouse and in the garden, are beginning to fruit.
One very small problem has been the lack of rain so my long suffering husband Peter (no gardener himself) has spent many hours standing holding the hose pipe. Maybe I should buy him a sprinkler system for his birthday, now there's a thought!.
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