The early summer potager
It’s all happening in the potager right now. Twice a day harvesting of salad leaves for meals. Strawberries picked and scoffed or saved for jam. Or breakfast.
And cabbage and asparagus galore.
Actually this is going to be the last shot of the asparagus for this year. I’ve decided to stop cutting and let the plants grow.
I need to weed, feed and mulch the beds and put them out of my mind for the rest of the year.
They are next to the burgeoning lily plants, so I will keep an eye out for lily beetles and the asparagus beetles which look similar. And generally hope to get better production out of them next year. 
We have very free draining soil, so nutrients don’t hang around much. I’m not one for artificial fertilizers, but I do need to get some serious mulch onto this bed.
Oh, now when am I going to slot that particular chore in? We have exciting storms predicted tonight. But not much rain. If the temperature cools. Or I can get out even earlier, then a wheelbarrow load of compost could find its way up to the asparagus.
No wait. I’m banned from heavy objects and lifting for a bit. Sciatica. So inconvenient in the growing season.
What a shame Manu the Muscles in on the Naughty Step for not turning up when booked. He could wheel the load.
For now I will stick to the lower vegetable garden where things are going mad. I let these parsnips go to seed because I need to collect seeds for next year’s sowing. And I love the look of them. Very Chelsea.
And my first dahlia is poised to emerge. About a month earlier than usual I think. But then hot sun and some pretty consistent watering by the drip hoses has yielded some good results.
The variety is Sugar Diamond. One of the batch from my Andrew order.
Oh and I even planted one new dahlia out. I had thought I had killed it with overwatering. But Otto’s Thrill has finally emerged and is ready to join the rest of the dahlias that put on growth six weeks ago.
I’ll be keen to see how it performs.
Who am I kidding? I’m keen to see how all the flowers will perform when they come into flower this month and the next.
And in the meantime, it’s broad beans galore. We’ve picked the first batch of Aquadulces which came through the winter. And now I have two and three more waves of veg to come.
It is hard work. But when you start to yield yields then it all feels worthwhile.