Another slow year...

...again in the kitchen garden.  Last year, what with one thing and another, not a lot was done out there ~ this year is much the same!  I have finally managed to tidy most of the raised beds but the borders are a different matter entirely ~ hence the lack of photos of said borders as I'm a tad embarrassed to show them to you 😉

The onion sets, Red Winter, should have been planted last autumn but I just didn't get round to it until March.  

They took off quickly but, of course, now I'm on constant alert for them bolting so every time a flower appears I chop it off in an effort to keep them going.  Hopefully this year I'll get the sets planted in the autumn!

The potatoes were also planted in March, a little early perhaps for up here, but better to be out in the soil than hanging around after they'd chitted in our rather less-than-suitable porch.

The plants at the far side are Red Duke of York and the rest are Picasso.

The Red Duke of York should be ready for harvest from June, so I will have a dig around in there soon to see how things are going.  Picasso should be ready from September.  I grew this variety last year and it was very tasty.

I shan't be growing potatoes in the raised beds, though, after these have been harvested.  I've decided to try them in large tubs instead as I've had so many stray plants coming up from the tiny little potatoes that get missed.  It's a bit of a nuisance when they start forcing themselves up through whatever new crop has been planted there ~ this year, the strays have been coming up through my lettuces and sweetcorn!  No doubt I shall have the same issue next year with the bed above 😕

The lettuces, Cos...

...and Little Gem are doing well although some were pulled out when they were first planted.  I suspect it's birds, perhaps the Collared Doves, or one of the local cats who like to dig in the beds.  In an effort to discourage the latter, we've now made mesh panels to surround each bed.  Hopefully the little buggers will be too lazy to make the effort to jump over the panels!

The strawberry bed was a terrible tangle of self-rooted runners and the Funberry plants sending up shoots all over the place!  The latter have now been (hopefully) confined to large pots 😉 I decided to let the strawberries have the whole bed to themselves; I started with 12 plants, I now have 24 plus a handful in pots 😄

In the interests of honesty, I decided to share this photo of my poor blackberries being overtaken by the weeds ~ oh, the shame of it 😲  Never fear, clearing up the bed is on my never-ending list of garden jobs to be done 😉

This is just about the only section of kitchen garden border that hasn't been swamped by weeds, perhaps because it's so densely planted with ornamentals.

I'm absolutely delighted with this Weigela Rosea, it's so full of blooms this year.

It's spilling onto the path somewhat too much, so I will have to cut it back a little later in the year.

After a rather slow start where I thought it wasn't going to survive, the Weigela Florida Nana Variegata now seems to have settled down well.  It too has a mass of flowers this year.  They are both very pretty shrubs.

And finally, a little look at the purposely "wild" section of garden!  Even though I decided to let the plants pretty much do their own thing, I think I shall have to have a wee bit of a tidy up/thinning out exercise in there at some point!  I'm hoping I can bribe someone with food and alcohol to help me.....I'm looking at you, Beverly and Lyndi 😄