Surprise, surprise everything's growing!

28 & 29 May - Bank Holiday weekend
Spent most of the weekend of 28 & 29 May on the Farm tidying up, hacking back and fixing up.
The grass under the redcurrants and along our paths had gone bananas! Here are some before and after photo's.

Above: overgrown under the redcurrants & pears

After: grass massacred!

Above: strimming back the jungle next to the compost heap and storage area.

Fruit
Otherwise things growing wonderfully! It looks like we may have some pears this year. Last year a late frost killed off all the flowers and we didn't get a single pear.

Above: you can see the baby pears against the sky in the top-left corner of the photo

Strawberries are coming along nicely. We have put straw down around the plants so that the fruit ripen off the ground and less likely to rot. They also stay clean and it seems to deter slugs and snails.

Above: strawberries in flower

Chris has constructed some support for the raspberry canes growing in the hedge next to the shed, on the border of the Farm. See photo below. What you can see in the foreground on the left are radishes & some tiny spring onions; on the right are mangetout.

Above: raspberries

Waiting for rain...
Chris has also put up guttering to collect rainwater from the shed roof. This will collect in the two water butt type things we inherited on the farm. The one on the left was full of holes but have managed to repair it using washers and lots of silicone sealer! Now we just have to wait for rain.....

Above: guttering to collect rainwater. In the foreground are shallots & onions.

Vegetables
The some of the runner beans and dwarf beans were attacked by slugs & snails, which has set them back a lot. It's surprising that they recover at all. The ones that escaped the slime monsters have got off to a great start.

Above: runner beans and dwarf beans (note rampant grass in background....)

The broad beans survived the weevils and are going great guns. We've planted four rows of salad leaves next to them.