Art and veggies

Katie continues to enjoy art at the mo and is learning lots from her new book "How to Draw and Paint the Outdoors" by Moira Butterfield. Here's some horse pics and a lovely sunset:





On the veggies front the garden is looking brill. We've pulled and used all the onions and have now pulled all the shallots too (some were nearly as big as the onions). Tried pickling some, but they don't taste quite like the ones from the shops - perhaps they need to sit for a while to absorb the flavour.

The cabbages have been attacked big time by caterpillars which means we have a constant supply of butterflies for the cats (and chickens) to play with! I couldn't bear to squash the caterpillar eggs as suggested by websites and gardening books in order to save the produce. It's been fascinating watching them grow from tiny slithers to chunky crawlies; we're even watching one turn into a cocoon on the swingball pole! I did result to digging up four white cabbages which were really looking worse for wear in order to get some extra light to the corn and beans.

Obviously a little naive, but the dwarf beans I bought are dwarf in plant size, not in fruit! Having put in 6 foot poles for the plants to grow up, I was rather surprised to see them stop at about 45/50cms tall! The beans themselves are fabulous, real whoppers in size and taste wonderful! So, dwarf beans are great if you only have space for large tubs in your small garden/patio etc.

We still have some potatoes and carrots left in the ground/tub; saving them for a "rainy day" so to speak. Leeks are fattening up very well and certainly survived their thinning out a few weeks ago. Next lot of spring onions are coming along well too. The corn, which I'd only left space for 6 in two rows (needed so they can pollinate each other), are doing well but only the two middle ones are growing a good size. We'll see what happens. The "honesty box" in the village is selling individual corn-on-the-cobs at 30p each, so if mine don't produce, it'll not be the end of the world! Next year I'll dedicate a larger area for them, rather than putting in cabbages with lots of holes in them! Finally, the chillies and peppers. The indoor chillies are growing longer by the day but attract the hover-flies! The outdoors ones still have some flowers but no chillies as yet, probably due to the unpredicatable weather, but the peppers outside are now small chunky balls!