Pumpkins and peas

There was gentle rain at the garden today but it didn`t stop us pottering for a couple of hours.

I planted 2 trays of Bellis daisies. There was quite a lot of deadheading to do on the cornflowers and the calendula. I want to keep them going. The dahlias needed disbudding. I remove the 2 side buds to make the central flower bigger.

The pumpkins are escaping from the confines of the raised beds. There`s no stopping them. Soon we will have to stop them ourselves, once the fruit has formed. After a more careful look, we found three are quite large. Here is one that`s just a bit smaller than a football (so far) Its on the path.

They`ve had plenty of water this year so we might beat last years weights. 

The largest in 2011 was 43 pounds. We ate a lot of pumpkin soup last winter and spring!

 The tomatoes are doing well. These are Gardeners Delight, a very flavourful fruit.

These are Super Marmande.

These are plum tomatoes.

It is nice to have the different varieties. Last year we only had plum varieties at the garden.

The sunflowers are looking lovely. It was worth all the tying to canes and finally to stronger posts. The prevailing wind makes it necessary to secure firmly.

The fennel is going strong, taller than my husband, Steve.

 (On Friday we shall have been married for 38 years!!??) He`s usually a barefoot gardener. 

The fennel seeds itself everywhere and we are careful where we allow it to grow. Once the roots go down it is hard to get out. It has a very long taproot. The hoverflies love it later in the season but we don`t put the seeds on the compost!

Here is our harvest for the day.

These are the peas after podding. We had 16 family members for dinner this evening (to celebrate my birthday which was yesterday) so I only had about 6 peas on my plate. Still can`t believe we sat outside for most of the evening in lovely sunshine.