Kitchen Garden Notes - Still alive!

The good news for this week is that we've managed to keep everything alive after last week's mass transplantation session! As an added bonus the snails and the slugs have been kept at bay. As you can see from above the three courgette plants we have grown from seed are looking particularly strong and healthy at the moment.

In order to keep away the slugs and snails from the greenhouse it does seem the hostas have been sacrificed. Thankfully we have plenty of them under the flowering currant so there is plenty to keep them happy and also enough to disguise the damage.

I was a bit worried about the carrots last week. My first concerns were about Carrot Fly which I seem to have avoided. However, after I had replanted them into the bigger tough they seemed a bit limp and pathetic. Over the week though they have not only perked up but started to grow and actually look like carrot leaves. On Saturday we visited a garden in Matlock as part of The National Gardens Scheme. It was an extremely fine and varied garden with a very large vegetable plot. The owner told us he sows carrots straight into a big trough and doesn't bother to thin out. On the way back we stopped off at farm shop and acquired two deep boxes they were chucking out (one polystyrene, one plastic) and now they have carrots sown in them.

Note the snails on the greenhouse glass looking hungrily in

Something else looking much better now is the wild rocket. It's growing well but I think it's still some weeks away from being able to harvest it. In the meantime I've found another packet of seeds in my collection which are some mixed lettuce leaves so I've sown them as well.

The tomato seedlings are also beginning to look like they should. There is a definite sign of 'tomato leaf' now. I wish I knew what variety they actually are rather than just 'Free from Dolmio'. On one of the other tomato plants which we bought there is the first flower showing.

There a few signs that we may be able to eat something soon. The radishes are just poking up...

...and the strawberries need just a bit more sun to ripen them.

If we can't enjoy our own food yet then the sparrows (those 'greedy birds' as my son calls them) are certainly enjoying the feast we provide for them.

It did take me some time to grab this photo as we had another visitor to the garden. The birds have nothing to worry about Panther though as she is definitely a lover rather an a fighter (and is also rather partial to a Sunday roast).

And finally...just to prove there is more to our garden than fruit and vegetables here's a red salvia from one of our patio containers.

Joining in with the green-fingered love with Annie at Mammasaurus and 'How Does Your Garden Grow?'