Week 24 - Bed DD7

Four weeks after planting, only some of the peas have sprouted. Perhaps some of the seedlings were eaten or pulled up when they emerged, but there is no trace of stems or other remains of plants. It is possible that the conditions were not favorable or it was a poor batch of seeds.

The main crop potatoes are looking very strong and healthy, and show no sign of being affected by the frost that hit the gardens at the end of May. They were likely to small and still sheltered by the warmth of the soil.

Week 24 - Bed DD6

Nine weeks after sowing, the beetroot and chard in this bed are growing well, except in the lower left corner of the photo for some reason.

Some of the Storuman Beetroot are growing very quickly, while other are more more stunted. This is likely due to the lack of thinning, especially in the case of the clump of seedlings in the lower left of the photo. In situations where levels of soil moisture low plants need more space to find the water that they need, and we have had a very dry spring.

Week 24 - Bed DD5

Five weeks after planting, only the rocket and chicory have germinated successfully.

Week 24 - Bed DD4

Nine weeks after planting, most of the onion, garlic and shallot sets that we planted are up and doing well. Some of the young plants were pulled up after a few weeks, probably by curious birds, and we replanted the ones we could and replaced others. There are still some gaps, and a few of teh plants are considerably smaller than the others.

Week 24 - Bed DD1 Planting

This bed was prepared last week and in the north end we planted 2 courgette plants:

• Genovese Courgette (one 5 week old transplant from pot) - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit
• White Volunteer Courgette (one 5 week old transplant from pot) - an old open pollinated variety, with many short fat pale green fruit

Newly transplanted courgettes at the far (north) end of the bed.

Two week old sweetcorn beginning to emerge.

Week 24 - Bed EX8

9 weeks after the initial planting, the south end of this bed has grown enough to cover most of the soil, but the potatoes at the north end are still struggling, having been nocked back by a very late frost at the end of May.

The peas are starting to produce pods, one more week until they will be ready to harvest.

The lowest flower clusters on the broad beans have been replaced by a few small pods. There are fewer pods than expected, only one for every 6-10 flowers, which is a very poor rate of pollination. It is possible that there are not nearly enough bees around.

Week 24 - Bed EX7

9 weeks after sowing, this bed is growing well, especially the potatoes, which were only slightly affected by the frost that we had at the end of May.

Week 24 - Bed EX6

After 5 weeks all of the plants are growing strong.

View of the brassica seedlings from above. They need to be thinned, so that each plant has more space to grow.

The arugula is growing well, but has many holes in the leaves caused by flee beetles. These tiny beetles can affect all of the brassica family plants, but only the arugula has been affected. Perhaps this is due to a natural higher susceptibility of this plant, turning it into a sacrificial crop, or it could be that the recent weather conditions have not suited the arugula and has weakened the plants.

Week 24 - Bed EX5

After 9 weeks, the chard and beetroot are all doing well. We have harvested some of the beetroot thinnings to eat as part of a salad or as a steamed vegetable.

Week 24 - bed EX4

After 9 weeks, all of the plants are up, though some of the onions and garlic plants were pulled up, probably by birds. We replanted those that would survive and planted some more sets in the remaining gaps.