June Update: Drought and 1st harvest

I haven't posted anything in a while. It's been a bit busy. But the garden is still going, and we seem to have come through the drought quite well. It was so hot and dry all of May, one of the driest may-months on record. Most of western europe was thoroughly parched for most of the spring. But the last week brought some decent rain, and the weather seems to be getting better. For us it meant a lot of biking to the garden to water it as much as possible. We lost a few tomato plants to the extreme dry conditions and from a storm that blew them over. But we've still got some nice plants, and the tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing fine.

And the rabbits also took out a number of plants. Most of our broccoli and cauliflower (we've replaced them now) and one of our brussel sprouts. But for the rest, all the plants are doing well and slowly coming up. We had our first little harvest last month. The cucumbers are also in perfect shape, and 3 of our plants are giving some nice produce. We planted 2 extra cucumber plants a month later, so they should start delivering in a few weeks also. Lettuce, courgettes and squash are also pickable. I also couldn't resist pulling up one of the garlics to see how it turned out. I'm happy with the result. Big cloves, and a hearty garlic flavour.

To get back up to speed, I'll post a picture summary of what's happening in the garden.

Basil

Helping hand

 

Courgette and squash

from L to R: Aubergines, gherkin, cucumbers, tomatoes

Cukes

The first garlic

Red cabbage

 

Lettuce

Butter lettuce

Beets and Purple Queen Beans

Spinach

Raspberry

Squashling

More squash

Taking a break

Cheers.